Italy vs South Africa: Historical population data
Historical population data over time
- Italy
- South Africa
How they compare
South Africa currently reports 63.10 million Persons against 58.94 million Persons in Italy, a difference of 4.16 million Persons.
That makes South Africa's figure about 1.1 times Italy's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 76 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Italy ahead.
Italy ranks 14th and South Africa ranks 13th of 43 countries.
Across the 8 decades both report, Italy averaged higher in 7 and South Africa in 1.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Italy | South Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 48.45 million Persons | 14.43 million Persons | 34.01 million Persons | Italy |
| 1960s | 51.88 million Persons | 18.89 million Persons | 32.99 million Persons | Italy |
| 1970s | 55.17 million Persons | 25.38 million Persons | 29.79 million Persons | Italy |
| 1980s | 56.57 million Persons | 34.50 million Persons | 22.07 million Persons | Italy |
| 1990s | 56.84 million Persons | 44.05 million Persons | 12.79 million Persons | Italy |
| 2000s | 58.03 million Persons | 48.26 million Persons | 9.77 million Persons | Italy |
| 2010s | 60.06 million Persons | 55.20 million Persons | 4.87 million Persons | Italy |
| 2020s | 59.08 million Persons | 61.30 million Persons | 2.22 million Persons | South Africa |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher historical population data, Italy or South Africa?
- South Africa, at 63.10 million Persons against 58.94 million Persons in Italy as of 2025.
- What is the difference in historical population data between Italy and South Africa?
- 4.16 million Persons, with South Africa ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Italy and South Africa?
- 76 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2025.
- How do Italy and South Africa rank globally for historical population data?
- Italy ranks 14th and South Africa ranks 13th of 43 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Historical population data. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
This dataset presents annual population data from 1961 by sex and five year age groups as well as the share of children, youth, the elderly, old-age and total dependency ratios. The data is available for all member countries as well as for the EU27 and G20 countries, Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and the World total. The data refer to mid-year estimates of the population. See country details in Historical population metadata.