What is the difference in population between South Africa and Tanzania?

3.41 million people, with Tanzania ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for South Africa and Tanzania?

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.

South Africa vs Tanzania: Population

South Africa

63.21 million people

in 2023

Tanzania

66.62 million people

in 2023

South Africa rank

24th

Tanzania rank

22nd

Population over time

South Africa
Tanzania

How they compare

Tanzania currently reports 66.62 million people against 63.21 million people in South Africa, a difference of 3.41 million people.

That makes Tanzania's figure about 1.1 times South Africa's.

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

South Africa ranks 24th and Tanzania ranks 22nd of 238 countries.

Across the 40 decades both report, South Africa averaged higher in 12 and Tanzania in 28.

Head to head by decade

Decade	South Africa	Tanzania	Difference	Ahead
1000s	258,000 people	800,000 people	542,000 people	Tanzania
1100s	309,600 people	1.27 million people	965,400 people	Tanzania
1200s	361,200 people	1.75 million people	1.39 million people	Tanzania
1300s	412,800 people	2.23 million people	1.81 million people	Tanzania
1400s	464,400 people	2.70 million people	2.24 million people	Tanzania
1500s	516,000 people	1.75 million people	1.23 million people	Tanzania
1600s	602,000 people	2.12 million people	1.52 million people	Tanzania
1700s	860,000 people	2.50 million people	1.64 million people	Tanzania
1710s	843,752 people	2.53 million people	1.69 million people	Tanzania
1720s	827,505 people	2.56 million people	1.74 million people	Tanzania
1730s	811,258 people	2.59 million people	1.78 million people	Tanzania
1740s	795,011 people	2.63 million people	1.83 million people	Tanzania
1750s	778,764 people	2.66 million people	1.88 million people	Tanzania
1760s	762,517 people	2.70 million people	1.94 million people	Tanzania
1770s	746,270 people	2.74 million people	1.99 million people	Tanzania
1780s	730,023 people	2.78 million people	2.05 million people	Tanzania
1790s	713,776 people	2.83 million people	2.11 million people	Tanzania
1800s	1.47 million people	3.00 million people	1.53 million people	Tanzania
1810s	1.54 million people	3.02 million people	1.48 million people	Tanzania
1820s	1.72 million people	3.31 million people	1.59 million people	Tanzania
1830s	2.14 million people	4.03 million people	1.89 million people	Tanzania
1840s	2.67 million people	4.91 million people	2.24 million people	Tanzania
1850s	3.16 million people	5.43 million people	2.28 million people	Tanzania
1860s	3.52 million people	5.38 million people	1.86 million people	Tanzania
1870s	3.91 million people	5.32 million people	1.40 million people	Tanzania
1880s	4.36 million people	5.33 million people	972,053 people	Tanzania
1890s	4.85 million people	5.19 million people	336,371 people	Tanzania
1900s	5.56 million people	4.87 million people	688,521 people	South Africa
1910s	6.56 million people	4.76 million people	1.80 million people	South Africa
1920s	7.86 million people	5.10 million people	2.76 million people	South Africa
1930s	9.64 million people	5.88 million people	3.76 million people	South Africa
1940s	11.72 million people	6.89 million people	4.83 million people	South Africa
1950s	14.43 million people	8.57 million people	5.86 million people	South Africa
1960s	18.89 million people	11.36 million people	7.53 million people	South Africa
1970s	25.38 million people	15.93 million people	9.45 million people	South Africa
1980s	34.50 million people	22.22 million people	12.27 million people	South Africa
1990s	44.05 million people	29.68 million people	14.37 million people	South Africa
2000s	49.31 million people	38.79 million people	10.52 million people	South Africa
2010s	55.92 million people	51.54 million people	4.38 million people	South Africa
2020s	61.91 million people	63.78 million people	1.87 million people	Tanzania

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher population, South Africa or Tanzania?: Tanzania, at 66.62 million people against 63.21 million people in South Africa as of 2023.
What is the difference in population between South Africa and Tanzania?: 3.41 million people, with Tanzania ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for South Africa and Tanzania?: 241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.
How do South Africa and Tanzania rank globally for population?: South Africa ranks 24th and Tanzania ranks 22nd 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.