What is the difference in population between Madagascar and Saudi Arabia?

2.07 million people, with Saudi Arabia ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Madagascar and Saudi Arabia?

241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Population. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Madagascar vs Saudi Arabia: Population

Madagascar

31.20 million people

in 2023

Saudi Arabia

33.26 million people

in 2023

Madagascar rank

49th

Saudi Arabia rank

48th

Population over time

Madagascar
Saudi Arabia

How they compare

Saudi Arabia currently reports 33.26 million people against 31.20 million people in Madagascar, a difference of 2.07 million people.

That makes Saudi Arabia's figure about 1.1 times Madagascar's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 241 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Saudi Arabia ahead.

Madagascar ranks 49th and Saudi Arabia ranks 48th of 238 countries.

Across the 40 decades both report, Madagascar averaged higher in 16 and Saudi Arabia in 24.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Madagascar	Saudi Arabia	Difference	Ahead
1000s	200,000 people	2.00 million people	1.80 million people	Saudi Arabia
1100s	283,333 people	2.07 million people	1.79 million people	Saudi Arabia
1200s	366,666 people	2.15 million people	1.78 million people	Saudi Arabia
1300s	450,000 people	2.22 million people	1.77 million people	Saudi Arabia
1400s	533,333 people	1.95 million people	1.42 million people	Saudi Arabia
1500s	700,000 people	2.00 million people	1.30 million people	Saudi Arabia
1600s	850,000 people	2.25 million people	1.40 million people	Saudi Arabia
1700s	1.00 million people	2.00 million people	1.00 million people	Saudi Arabia
1710s	1.02 million people	2.01 million people	988,600 people	Saudi Arabia
1720s	1.03 million people	2.02 million people	981,640 people	Saudi Arabia
1730s	1.05 million people	2.02 million people	973,800 people	Saudi Arabia
1740s	1.07 million people	2.03 million people	965,020 people	Saudi Arabia
1750s	1.08 million people	2.04 million people	955,180 people	Saudi Arabia
1760s	1.10 million people	2.05 million people	944,150 people	Saudi Arabia
1770s	1.12 million people	2.05 million people	931,780 people	Saudi Arabia
1780s	1.14 million people	2.06 million people	917,910 people	Saudi Arabia
1790s	1.17 million people	2.07 million people	902,310 people	Saudi Arabia
1800s	1.54 million people	2.02 million people	480,597 people	Saudi Arabia
1810s	1.63 million people	2.07 million people	434,478 people	Saudi Arabia
1820s	1.80 million people	2.11 million people	309,242 people	Saudi Arabia
1830s	2.09 million people	2.16 million people	68,762 people	Saudi Arabia
1840s	2.43 million people	2.21 million people	217,694 people	Madagascar
1850s	2.65 million people	2.23 million people	424,637 people	Madagascar
1860s	2.71 million people	2.21 million people	499,555 people	Madagascar
1870s	2.77 million people	2.18 million people	587,351 people	Madagascar
1880s	2.85 million people	2.16 million people	693,033 people	Madagascar
1890s	2.79 million people	2.13 million people	660,585 people	Madagascar
1900s	2.61 million people	2.15 million people	464,755 people	Madagascar
1910s	2.51 million people	2.24 million people	265,119 people	Madagascar
1920s	2.65 million people	2.43 million people	217,063 people	Madagascar
1930s	3.06 million people	2.66 million people	391,291 people	Madagascar
1940s	3.58 million people	2.92 million people	657,339 people	Madagascar
1950s	4.45 million people	2.01 million people	2.44 million people	Madagascar
1960s	5.77 million people	2.89 million people	2.87 million people	Madagascar
1970s	7.66 million people	4.52 million people	3.14 million people	Madagascar
1980s	10.31 million people	7.99 million people	2.32 million people	Madagascar
1990s	13.91 million people	13.03 million people	878,840 people	Madagascar
2000s	18.95 million people	20.15 million people	1.20 million people	Saudi Arabia
2010s	25.14 million people	28.77 million people	3.63 million people	Saudi Arabia
2020s	30.07 million people	31.94 million people	1.87 million people	Saudi Arabia

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher population, Madagascar or Saudi Arabia?: Saudi Arabia, at 33.26 million people against 31.20 million people in Madagascar as of 2023.
What is the difference in population between Madagascar and Saudi Arabia?: 2.07 million people, with Saudi Arabia ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Madagascar and Saudi Arabia?: 241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.
How do Madagascar and Saudi Arabia rank globally for population?: Madagascar ranks 49th and Saudi Arabia ranks 48th of 238 countries.
Where does this data come from?: HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Population. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Population
Unit: people
Source: HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 239 places, 51,002 data points, 1000–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Population by country, available from 10,000 BCE to 2023, based on data and estimates from different sources.