Brunei

AsiaCapital city: Bandar Seri BegawanCapital metro: Bandar Seri BegawanMonarch: πŸ‘‘ Hassanal Bolkiah
2026 population
459K
Rank #181 globally
Area
6k kmΒ² (2k sq mi)
Metros tracked
1
69% of population in metros
Composite score
2.9
Rank #163 globally

population: Official estimate (1 Jul 2025) Β· indicators as of 2026-09-05 Β· 1 metros tracked

πŸ—ΊοΈ Geography1 metro

Brunei metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
1 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

πŸ™οΈ 1 tracked metro
1 metros
#701Bandar Seri Begawanβ˜… Capitalβ–² Largest
2.9
πŸ—‚οΈ Districts

4 entries listed under Brunei. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

4 total
πŸ“‹ At a glance
Official languages
Malay, British English
Government
Islamic state
Legislature
Legislative Council of Brunei
Time zone
UTC+08:00
Driving side
Left
Calling code
+673
Internet TLD
.bn
ISO 3166
BN
Established
1368
Highest point
Bukit Pagon (1,850 m (6,070 ft))
National anthem
Allah Peliharakan Sultan

Facts via Wikidata.

πŸ’Ή Economy and developmentHigh income
Human Dev. Index
#60 / 191
0.837
UNDP Β· 2023
GDP
#145 / 193
$15.0B
World Bank Β· 2025
GDP per capita
#41 / 193
$32.2k
World Bank Β· 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
β˜… #8 / 190
$92.4k
World Bank Β· 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#36 / 192
$34.8k
World Bank Β· 2025
Life expectancy
#82 / 194
75.5 yrs
World Bank Β· 2024
Median age
31.8 yrs
UN WPP Β· 2023
Urban population
#58 / 194
75%
World Bank Β· 2025
Pop. growth
0.8%
World Bank Β· 2025
Pop. density
#97 / 193
87/kmΒ²
World Bank Β· 2023
Foreign-born
#19 / 193
25.9%
World Bank Β· 2024
Internet users
#18 / 193
96%
World Bank Β· 2024
Inflation
β˜… #9 / 185
-0.3%
World Bank Β· 2025
COβ‚‚ per capita
#190 / 192
26.0 t
Global Carbon Budget Β· 2024
Renewable electricity
#178 / 186
0%
Ember Β· 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; β˜… marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations7 full memberships

Political & Economic

Energy

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

πŸ›οΈ Leadership History2 leaders Β· click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

πŸ‘‘ Hassanal Bolkiah✦ Current

1967–Present

Monarch

Tenure: 58y 8m 28d

πŸ‘‘ Omar Ali Saifuddien III

1950–1967

Monarch

Tenure: 17y 4m 0dabdicated
πŸ“ˆ Power over timeThe Power Atlas β†’
Today
Minor#157 Β· 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Brunei Β· share of world power, 1984–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

πŸ‘₯ Population over time
Population 2023
459k
#176 in the world
Since 1800
203Γ—
from 2k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.01%
0.00% in 1800
117k235k352k470k18001850190019502000
Brunei Β· people, 1800–2023 Β· dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

πŸ‘₯ To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Brunei: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
2055
521k on the UN median
2050
520k
95% band 346k to 721k
2100
465k
95% band 132k to 1.3m
2100 against 2025
1.00Γ—
median falling from 2056
Deaths outnumber births
from 2053
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
338k676k1.0m1.4m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
2k born Β· 842 died Β· +1k net migration
TFR 6.98 Β· life expectancy 50.6 Β· median age 21.1
1960
4k born Β· 1k died Β· +982 net migration
TFR 7.32 Β· life expectancy 58.7 Β· median age 17.8
1970
5k born Β· 936 died Β· -2k net migration
TFR 5.80 Β· life expectancy 64.5 Β· median age 16.7
1980
6k born Β· 861 died Β· +995 net migration
TFR 4.07 Β· life expectancy 69.0 Β· median age 19.0
1990
7k born Β· 1k died Β· +992 net migration
TFR 3.29 Β· life expectancy 71.6 Β· median age 22.2
2000
6k born Β· 1k died Β· +2k net migration
TFR 2.40 Β· life expectancy 74.0 Β· median age 24.8
2010
7k born Β· 2k died Β· +2k net migration
TFR 1.94 Β· life expectancy 74.8 Β· median age 27.0
2020
6k born Β· 2k died Β· +462 net migration
TFR 1.80 Β· life expectancy 75.1 Β· median age 30.3
Show all 16 decades
2030
6k born Β· 3k died Β· +214 net migration
TFR 1.66 Β· life expectancy 76.5 Β· median age 35.0
2040
5k born Β· 4k died Β· +439 net migration
TFR 1.63 Β· life expectancy 78.0 Β· median age 39.0
2050
5k born Β· 5k died Β· +513 net migration
TFR 1.61 Β· life expectancy 79.6 Β· median age 41.3
2060
5k born Β· 6k died Β· +560 net migration
TFR 1.62 Β· life expectancy 81.1 Β· median age 43.2
2070
5k born Β· 6k died Β· +608 net migration
TFR 1.61 Β· life expectancy 82.6 Β· median age 44.6
2080
5k born Β· 6k died Β· +320 net migration
TFR 1.63 Β· life expectancy 84.0 Β· median age 45.2
2090
4k born Β· 6k died Β· +234 net migration
TFR 1.63 Β· life expectancy 85.3 Β· median age 45.7
2100
4k born Β· 6k died Β· +214 net migration
TFR 1.64 Β· life expectancy 86.5 Β· median age 46.5

Every country to 2100 β†’

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

πŸ† National Teams

Brunei on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.