Africa went from 32% urban in 1990 to 46% in 2025, and the UN projects nearly 60% by 2050
The share of Africa's population living in urban areas has climbed steadily since 1990 and United Nations projections show it passing half the continent before 2040.
Africa's urban share rose from 32.4% in 1990 to 46.4% in 2025, and the UN projects it will reach 59.7% by 2050 [S1][S2]. That is a shift from roughly one in three people in cities and towns to nearly six in ten within one lifetime. The 2030, 2040 and 2050 figures are projections, not observations, and depend on the UN's demographic assumptions. The numbers also use national definitions of what counts as urban, which vary by country, so cross-country comparisons should be read with care. The values here were read from Our World in Data's reproduction of the UN source rather than the UN portal directly.
- Africa's urban share nearly doubled from 1990 to 2025, from 32.4% to 46.4%.
- The UN projects Africa will become majority urban between 2030 and 2040.
- By 2050 almost 60% of Africans are projected to live in urban areas.
- TIER B Our World in Data (UN DESA Population Division), Share of population living in urban areas, 1950-2025, Africa (2025). https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-urban
Primary source is UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects: The 2025 Revision (POP/DB/WUP/Rev.2025/F15), national definition. Carries the historical urban share values 1990 to 2025. - TIER B Our World in Data (UN DESA Population Division), Share of population living in urban areas projected to 2050, Africa (2025). https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/urban-population-share-2050
Primary source is UN DESA World Urbanization Prospects: The 2025 Revision. Carries the projected urban share for 2030 (48.8%), 2040 (54.0%) and 2050 (59.7%). - TIER A United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects (2025 Revision) official portal (2025). https://population.un.org/wup/
Confirms the dataset and revision year (2025 Revision) that underlies the figures above.