West Africa is home to 39% of the sub-Saharan African population (with East Africa just behind, at 38%), or 316 million people in 2007 including Chad and Cameroon. The regional population should be more than 400 million by around 2020 and exceed 500 million between 2030 and 2035.

Forecasts for the future should be considered cautiously. While they illustrate a regional trend, they should be regarded with greater circumspection at the national level. It is indeed impossible to predict the region’s future population and settlement restructuring/composition, in particular intra-regional migration dynamics.

The West African population annual growth rate is close to the sub- Saharan average: 2.6% in 2000-2005 and an expected 1.2% in 2045-2050. However, in many countries this decline has not yet begun. Globally, West Africa is proving to be one of the last regions in the world to begin its demographic transition. Some countries such as Niger, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Liberia and Sierra Leone are still in Stage 2, with accelerating population growth.