Sierra Leone: population and ages

In mid-1950 there were 2 million people, so the population is now 4.5 times as large.

The UN projects 261,000 births and 72,500 deaths in 2026, 189,000 more births than deaths.

The UN projects the first year with more deaths than births in 2099.

The median age is 19.9, which is 11.2 years below the world’s 31.1.

37% of the people are under 15 and 3.3% are 65 or older (world: 24% and 11%).

In the UN projection, children under 15 outnumber people aged 65 and over in every year to 2100.

Women have 3.5 children on average at today’s rates (world: 2.2), against 6.1 in 1950.

Life expectancy at birth is 62.3 years, below the world’s 73.8. In 1950 it was 28.9.

For mid-2050 the UN projects 12.9 million people, 44% more than now, with a median age of 26.3.

By the death rates of 2023, life expectancy at birth was 61.8 years. People who had reached 65 could expect 13.2 more years for women and 11.9 for men.

On 1 January 2026, there are 5.6 people aged 65 or more for every 100 aged 15 to 64. For 2050, the UN projects 8.2.

For 2100 the UN projects a population of 15.9 million, with a 95 percent prediction interval of 7.51 million to 37.8 million.

Life expectancy at birth is a period measure. It sums up the death rates of one year and is not a forecast of how long the babies born that year will live.

In mid-2024, 50,000 international migrants lived here, 0.6% of the population.

In mid-2024, 63,600 people from here lived in other countries.