Burkina Faso

AfricaCapital city: OuagadougouCapital metro: OuagadougouPrime Minister: Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de TambèlaPresident: Ibrahim Traoré
2026 population
24.1M
Rank #59 globally
Area
273k km² (105k sq mi)
Metros tracked
4
26% of population in metros
Composite score
2.8
Rank #164 globally

population: Official projection (1 Jul 2025) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 4 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography4 metros

Burkina Faso metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
4 polygons

Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 4 tracked metros
4 metros
#1090Ouagadougou★ Capital▲ Largest
Centre · 3.0M · Emerging Metro
1.5
Hauts-Bassins · 1.5M · Local Metro
0.8
#2396Kaya
Centre-Nord · 885K · Local Metro
0.3
Nord · 826K · Local Metro
0.3
🗂️ Regions

13 entries listed under Burkina Faso. Select any to see its metros and footprint.

13 total
📋 At a glance
Official languages
Dioula, Bissa, Mooré
Government
Military junta
Legislature
National Assembly of Burkina Faso
Demonym
Burkinabé
Time zone
UTC±00:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+226
Internet TLD
.bf
ISO 3166
BF
Established
1960
Highest point
Mount Tenakourou (749 m (2,457 ft))
National anthem
Une Seule Nuit

Facts via Wikidata.

🗣️ Languages of Burkina Faso

Mossi first; 3 languages share the country; 1 official.

LanguageShareStatus
Mossi40%None
Dyula32%None
French25%Official
Fula0%None

Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.

Effective languages
3.1
Official-language gap
75%
French is spoken by 25%

Burkina Faso on the languages board · Language power

💹 Economy and developmentLow income
Human Dev. Index
#184 / 191
0.459
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#117 / 193
$27.6B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#172 / 193
$1.1k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#175 / 190
$3.1k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#175 / 192
$980
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#185 / 194
61.3 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
17.3 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#175 / 194
29%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
2.2%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#100 / 193
84/km² (218/mi²)
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#112 / 193
3.1%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#98 / 175
0.48
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#100 / 166
37.4
World Bank · 2021
Internet users
#171 / 193
28%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
★ #6 / 185
-0.6%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#22 / 192
0.3 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#128 / 186
17%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ 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 & Organisations2 full memberships

Political & Economic

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History14 leaders · click to expand
Ibrahim Traoré✦ Current
President · 3y 8m 27d
2022–Present
Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba
President · 8m 7d
2022–2022
Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla✦ Current
Prime Minister · 4y 5m 10d
2022–Present
Lassina Zerbo
Prime Minister · 1m 13d
2021–2022
Christophe Joseph Marie Dabiré
Prime Minister · 2y 10m 14d
2019–2021
Paul Kaba Thieba
Prime Minister · 3y 13d
2016–2019
Roch Marc Christian Kaboré
President · 6y 25d
2015–2022
Yacouba Isaac Zida
President · 1y 1m 10d
2014–2015
Yacouba Isaac Zida
Prime Minister · 1y 1m 10d
2014–2015
Michel Kafando
President · 1d
2014–2014
Luc-Adolphe Tiao
Prime Minister · 3y 6m 12d
2011–2014
Blaise Compaoré
President · 27y 16d
1987–2014
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#159 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)

The power line 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.

⚔️ Wars and conflicts2 interstate wars · click to expand
Liberian government,Loyalist Armed Forces elements,ULIMO (1991–1994),ULIMO-K (1994–1996),ULIMO-J (1994–1996),LPC (1993–1996),LUDF,LDF (1993–1996),ECOMOG,Nigeria (from 1990),Ghana (from 1990),Guinea (from 1990),The Gambia (from 1990),Sierra Leone (1990–1991),UNOMIL (1993–1997)
Combat deaths: 15,750+
Combat deaths: 142+

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.” Figures marked “COW battle deaths” are Correlates of War battle-death counts, which run lower than total deaths.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
23.0m
#60 in the world
Since 1800
14×
from 1.7m
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.28%
0.17% in 1800
6.2m12.3m18.5m24.6m18001850190019502000

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.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Burkina Faso: 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
after 2100
still growing at 2100
2050
37.3m
95% band 29.6m to 46.5m
2100
49.9m
95% band 22.6m to 118m
2100 against 2025
2.07×
median still rising in 2100
31.0m61.9m92.9m124m1950197520002025205020752100
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
183k born · 119k died · -18k net migration
TFR 5.82 · life expectancy 33.0 · median age 18.6
1960
221k born · 129k died · -23k net migration
TFR 6.25 · life expectancy 36.1 · median age 18.7
1970
268k born · 140k died · -29k net migration
TFR 6.68 · life expectancy 39.5 · median age 17.9
1980
343k born · 138k died · -15k net migration
TFR 7.22 · life expectancy 46.5 · median age 16.5
1990
432k born · 158k died · -33k net migration
TFR 7.01 · life expectancy 49.3 · median age 15.4
2000
539k born · 183k died · +4k net migration
TFR 6.52 · life expectancy 50.8 · median age 15.4
2010
699k born · 183k died · -42k net migration
TFR 5.94 · life expectancy 56.3 · median age 16.0
2020
703k born · 179k died · -6k net migration
TFR 4.44 · life expectancy 60.5 · median age 16.6

Every country to 2100 →

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.

🏆 National Teams

Burkina Faso on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.