Natalie Cowling
Research Expert South Africa
Demographics of Angola - statistics & facts
Angola has one of the largest populations in Africa. Nearly 33 million people live in the country, which is expected to record a population growth of 3.15 percent per year until 2025, the second highest rate on the continent. For comparison, the population change in Africa is forecast at 2.37 percent yearly in the same period. The end of a three-decade civil war in 2002, combined with high fertility rates, influenced the recent rapid growth in Angola. By 2025, almost 36 million people are expected to be living in the country.
Young and growing population
In addition to growing fast, Angola’s population is also young, following a trend observed in most African nations. As of 2020, the country’s median age was 16.7 years, one of the lowest on the continent as well as in the world. Moreover, only two percent of the population is aged 65 years and older. In addition, the mortality rate fell by over 60 percent in ten years, while life expectancy at birth progressively increased. In 2019, a newborn infant was expected to live 61 years in Angola, which is an improved level compared to previous years, although still below the African average.Rural-to-urban migration
The population growth in Angola is accompanied by a fast expansion of the urbanization rate. More than 66 percent of Angolans dwell in urban areas, a rate that has been constantly increasing in the last decades. Around one third of the country’s population live in the Luanda province, where the namesake capital is located. Just in Angola’s capital, the population count surpasses 2.7 million inhabitants, ranking Luanda as one of the most populated cities in Africa. Rapid urbanization, however, has consequences such as the development of poor and informal settlements. For instance, almost half of the urban population of Angola live in slums, locally known as “musseques”.4 in 10 Angolans are poor
Reducing poverty is a major challenge in Angola. The country’s poverty rate is 41 percent. That means that this share of the population had a level of consumption below the poverty line, calculated at roughly 12.2 thousand Kwanzas (approximately 22 U.S. dollars) per month. In rural areas, the poverty incidence jumps to 57 percent, against 30 percent in urban areas. Furthermore, over 60 percent of all income earned in Angola between 2018 and 2019 was concentrated among the richest 20 percent of the population. By contrast, the poorest 20 percent of the population obtained 2.3 percent of all earnings.
