Madagascar vs South Africa: Rural population

Madagascar
21.97 million
in 2025
South Africa
23.43 million
in 2025
Madagascar rank
27th
South Africa rank
24th

Rural population over time

  • Madagascar
  • South Africa
5.0M10.0M15.0M20.0M25.0M196019922025

How they compare

South Africa currently reports 23.43 million against 21.97 million in Madagascar, a difference of 1.46 million.

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

Across all 66 years both countries report, South Africa has been ahead every year.

Globally, Madagascar ranks 27th and South Africa ranks 24th of 215 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Rural population
Source
World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
264 places, 17,394 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.