Rural population growth in Madagascar
Madagascar: Rural population growth was 1.7% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Rural population growth in Madagascar, 1961–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN). Measured in annual %.
Analysis
Madagascar recorded 1.7% for rural population growth in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 65 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 3.5% on the previous year and down 25.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population growth in Madagascar peaked at 2.9% in 1998 and was at its lowest, 1.7%, in 2025.
That places Madagascar 29th out of 207 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 65 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2.3% | 2.2% | 2.4% | 9 |
| 1970s | 2.5% | 2.3% | 2.6% | 10 |
| 1980s | 2.5% | 2.4% | 2.6% | 10 |
| 1990s | 2.7% | 2.5% | 2.9% | 10 |
| 2000s | 2.6% | 2.5% | 2.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 2.3% | 2.0% | 2.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.8% | 1.7% | 2.0% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Madagascar
- 26 Tanzania 1.7% compare
- 27 Belize 1.7% compare
- 28 Congo 1.7% compare
- 30 South Sudan 1.6% compare
- 31 Equatorial Guinea 1.6% compare
- 32 Kyrgyzstan 1.6% compare
More agriculture & rural data for Madagascar
- Agricultural raw materials exports 1.6% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 2.3% (2024)
- Rural population 67.1% (2025)
- Rural population 21.97 million (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 21.7% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 4.26 billion current US$ (2025)
- Land under cereal production 2.22 million hectares (2023)
- Cereal yield 2,426 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal production 5.39 million metric tons (2023)
- Fertilizer consumption 7.28 kilograms per hectare of arable land (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population growth in Madagascar?
- Rural population growth in Madagascar was 1.7% in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population growth recorded in Madagascar?
- The highest recorded value was 2.9% in 1998.
- What is the lowest rural population growth recorded in Madagascar?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.7% in 2025.
- How does Madagascar rank for rural population growth?
- Madagascar ranks 29th out of 207 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rural population growth rising or falling in Madagascar?
- Over the last ten years it is down 25.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Madagascar data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population growth (annual %). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 65 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Annual rural population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear rural population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage. 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.