How national population density changed in Southern Africa

Mozambique and Zambia increased considerably

Mozambique’s density rose from 16.7 residents per square kilometre in 1990 to 44.0 in 2024. Zambia rose from 10.5 to 28.7. Their latest densities were more than double their 1990 readings. Source 1

Botswana and Namibia stayed below five

Botswana moved from 2.3 to 4.4 residents per square kilometre, and Namibia from 1.7 to 3.7. National figures average across sparsely populated land and much denser settlements. Source 1

Land area is the comparison base

The series divides population by land area. The same population in a smaller country yields a higher density. Local density for housing or service planning requires a settlement area and population measured within the same boundary. Source 2

The map uses national values at capital locations

Each pin uses a capital from the World Bank country metadata. Switch years to see the change in the national average associated with the location. The pins locate the country without assigning its average to the city. Source 4 Source 2

Sources

• World Bank and FAO population and land-area estimates via World Bank WDI
• Publisher metadata and indicator definition
• World Bank API, country and year records
• World Bank country metadata, capital coordinates