Population, total in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone: Population, total was 8.82 million in 2025. ▲ Rising

Latest (2025)
8.82 million
Change on year
up 2.1%
World rank
100th
of 215 countries
All-time high
8.82 million
in 2025
All-time low
2.27 million
in 1960
Years of data
66
1960–2025

Population, total in Sierra Leone, 1960–2025

2.0M4.0M6.0M8.0M196019922025

Source: World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN).

Analysis

The most recent figure for population, total in Sierra Leone is 8.82 million, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 66 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.1% on the previous year and up 25.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, population, total in Sierra Leone peaked at 8.82 million in 2025 and was at its lowest, 2.27 million, in 1960.

Sierra Leone ranks 100th 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

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 2.45 million 2.27 million 2.66 million 10
1970s 2.95 million 2.71 million 3.21 million 10
1980s 3.62 million 3.27 million 4.03 million 10
1990s 4.22 million 4.16 million 4.32 million 10
2000s 5.34 million 4.42 million 6.06 million 10
2010s 6.97 million 6.22 million 7.73 million 10
2020s 8.37 million 7.91 million 8.82 million 6

Countries ranked near Sierra Leone

  1. 97 Austria 9.21 million compare
  2. 98 Switzerland 9.09 million compare
  3. 99 Belarus 9.09 million compare
  4. 101 Togo 8.59 million compare
  5. 102 Laos 7.87 million compare
  6. 103 Turkmenistan 7.62 million compare

See the full ranking of 264 places →

More climate change data for Sierra Leone

All data for Sierra Leone →

Frequently asked questions

What is population, total in Sierra Leone?
Population, total in Sierra Leone was 8.82 million in 2025, according to World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN).
What is the highest population, total recorded in Sierra Leone?
The highest recorded value was 8.82 million in 2025.
What is the lowest population, total recorded in Sierra Leone?
The lowest recorded value was 2.27 million in 1960.
How does Sierra Leone rank for population, total?
Sierra Leone ranks 100th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
Is population, total rising or falling in Sierra Leone?
Over the last ten years it is up 25.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Sierra Leone data come from?
The figures come from World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Population, total. 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

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

Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.