Rural population in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone: Rural population was 4.77 million in 2025. ▲ Rising
Rural population in Sierra Leone, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
Sierra Leone recorded 4.77 million for rural population in 2025. That is the highest value across all 66 years on record.
That represents a change of up 1.0% on the previous year and up 14.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in Sierra Leone peaked at 4.77 million in 2025 and was at its lowest, 1.87 million, in 1960.
Sierra Leone ranks 79th of 215 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1.96 million | 1.87 million | 2.03 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 2.14 million | 2.05 million | 2.25 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 2.47 million | 2.28 million | 2.69 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 2.77 million | 2.74 million | 2.82 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 3.37 million | 2.85 million | 3.74 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 4.13 million | 3.82 million | 4.43 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.64 million | 4.49 million | 4.77 million | 6 |
Countries ranked near Sierra Leone
More agriculture & rural data for Sierra Leone
- Agricultural raw materials exports 9.4% (2018)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.6% (2018)
- Rural population 54.1% (2025)
- Rural population growth 1.0% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 29.5% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 2.20 billion current US$ (2025)
- Land under cereal production 1.05 million hectares (2023)
- Cereal yield 1,470 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal production 1.54 million metric tons (2023)
- Fertilizer consumption 2.67 kilograms per hectare of arable land (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in Sierra Leone?
- Rural population in Sierra Leone was 4.77 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The highest recorded value was 4.77 million in 2025.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.87 million in 1960.
- How does Sierra Leone rank for rural population?
- Sierra Leone ranks 79th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rural population rising or falling in Sierra Leone?
- Over the last ten years it is up 14.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sierra Leone data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
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.