10 Countries With The Lowest Population Growth & 10 With The Highest
The Fastest Diminishing and Fastest Growing Populations In the World
Due to environmental, economic, and social factors, some countries' populations are disappearing at an alarming rate. In contrast, decreasing mortality rates, high birth rates, and immigration have created unmanageable population booms in other places. Here are the ten countries with the lowest population growth and the ten with the highest.
1. Saint Martin
Saint Martin is a small Caribbean island near Puerto Rico. Its population is declining at a rate of 4.8 percent largely due to Hurricane Irma which ravaged the country in 2017.
2. Cook Islands
The Cook Islands are located in the South Pacific, northeast of New Zealand. The population on the islands has been declining steadily since 2012 due to economic hardships which have caused many people to leave. In 2024, the population declined at a rate of 3.5 percent.
3. Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean halfway between Australia and Hawaii. The population on these islands has been decreasing at a rate of 1.9 percent because of a large emigration rate attributed to the fact that the islands are shrinking due to rising sea levels.
4. Greece
At 1.3 percent, Greece's fertility rate is one of the lowest in Europe. That coupled with mass emigration due to the economic crisis of 2010 to 2019 leaves Greece with a population decline of 1.2 percent.
5. Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific near Guam. The population of these islands declined at a rate of 1.16 percent in 2024 due to the closure of job-supplying garment factories, the collapse of the casino industry, the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2020's Typhoon Yutu which destroyed much of the country's infrastructure.
6. Tuvalu
Tuvalu is an island halfway between Australia and Hawaii, near the Marshall Islands and Guam. Like the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu is slowly shrinking due to rising sea levels causing mass emigration and a population decline rate of 0.9 percent.
7. American Samoa
American Samoa is a cluster of South Pacific islands located halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii. The population of these islands decreased at a rate of 0.8 percent last year largely due to high emigration and low fertility.
8. Moldova
Moldova is a country in Eastern Europe with a population decline rate of 0.79 percent. This is largely due to a high emigration rate, low birth rate, and high mortality rate.
9. Czech Republic
The population of the Eastern European country of the Czech Republic is declining by 0.6 percent. This is because deaths have outnumbered births in record numbers but immigration from other countries has mitigated the decline.
10. Estonia
Estonia, another Eastern European country, has a declining population rate of 0.6 percent, with the country reporting 16,000 deaths and only 10,000 births in 2023. However, immigration from nearby Ukraine is likely to mitigate this decline.
Now that we've covered the countries with the lowest population growth, let's talk about the ones with the opposite problem.
1. South Sudan
South Sudan, an African country next to Ethiopia, has a population growth rate of 4.6 percent. This is due to a large amount of immigration from refugees fleeing neighboring Sudan along with a cultural preference for large families.
2. Niger
The West African country of Niger has the highest fertility rate in the world with an average of seven children per woman. With births far outstripping deaths, the country's total population growth rate is 3.6 percent.
3. Angola
The central African country of Angola has one of the fastest-growing populations at 3.3 percent. This is largely due to the end of a decades-long civil war in 2002 and a high fertility rate.
4. Benin
Benin is a French-speaking country in Western Africa. Because of its political stability and relatively open borders, migrants from surrounding African countries have been coming to Benin in increasing numbers since the 90s. As a result, the population growth rate is one of the highest in the world at 3.29 percent.
5. Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea is a small country on Africa's coast. It has a population growth rate of 3.2 percent thanks to an oil boom that occurred in the late 90s and early 2000s, bringing in a large amount of migrants.
6. Uganda
The East African country of Uganda has a birth rate of 3.18 percent. This is due to a high fertility rate, with an average of six to seven births per woman, and a low mortality rate.
7. Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the fourth most populous country in Africa and that number is quickly rising with a growth rate of 3.1 percent. This is largely due to the high fertility rate coupled with a decreasing mortality rate and rising life expectancy.
Raul De Los Santos on Unsplash
8. Chad
The Northern African country of Chad has a population growth rate of 3 percent. This has a lot to do with the crisis in neighbouring Sudan which is causing mass immigration of Sudanese refugees.
9. Mali
Mali has a fertility rate of 5.5 children per woman, one of the highest in the world. What's more, the country's mortality rate is declining, contributing to a population growth rate of 2.9 percent.
10. Zambia
The central African country of Zambia has a population growth rate of 2.8 percent. This is driven by the high birth rate which is largely due to a lack of contraception and education for girls.
