South Sudan Population

South Sudan is the world's youngest state, independent only since 2011, and one of its youngest societies, with a median age around 18. Fertility remains high and life expectancy among the lowest anywhere, a legacy of the civil war that ran from 2013 to 2018 and of chronically weak health systems. Its numbers are also unusually volatile, swelling and shrinking with waves of refugees leaving and returning, but the underlying trajectory points to a near-doubling by 2100.

South Sudan is home to about 12.3 million people in 2026, the 81st largest population of any country. Set in Eastern Africa, its demographic path this century turns on the balance of births, deaths and migration. Population density stands at about 22 people for every square kilometre of land.

Growth continues for South Sudan until around 2100, the year its population is set to crest at about 23.8 million. From there a slow fall takes it to roughly 23.8 million by century's end.

Half of South Sudan is currently younger than about 18, but by 2100 the median age is projected to reach around 35, even as life expectancy improves from about 58 years. For now it remains one of the world's youngest populations, with a large generation about to reach working age. A rising median age means fewer working-age people supporting each retiree over time.

Fertility is high, around 3.79 births per woman, the engine of rapid, sustained growth.

All of this is a projection, not a prediction. The further out it runs the wider the plausible range becomes, which is why South Sudan's charts show a low-to-high band around the central line.