Cape Verde
population: 2021 census (16 Jun 2021) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 1 metros tracked
🗺️ Geography1 metro
Cape Verde metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.
Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.
🗂️ Islands
9 entries listed under Cape Verde. Click any to see its metros and footprint.
📋 At a glance
- Official languages
- Portuguese, Cape Verdean Creole
- Currency
- Cape Verdean escudo (CVE)
- Government
- Parliamentary republic
- Legislature
- National Assembly of Cape Verde
- Constitution
- 1980, 7 amendment events since
- Demonym
- Cabo Verdean
- Time zones
- Cape Verde Time, UTC−01:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +238
- Internet TLD
- .cv
- ISO 3166
- CV
- Established
- 1975
- Highest point
- Pico do Fogo (2,829 m (9,281 ft))
- National anthem
- Cântico da Liberdade
Facts via Wikidata.
📰 In the news2 stories
The Athletic · 28 Jun 2026
Cape Verde reach the knockouts; next up, MessiCape Verde, an archipelago of about 500,000 people, reached the knockouts on a third straight draw and now faces Messi's Argentina on July 3 in Miami.
The Athletic · 23 Jun 2026
Cape Verde stun Uruguay at first World CupFurther reading from the day's section on world cup upsets.
💹 Economy and developmentUpper middle income
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 & Organisations3 full memberships
Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer
🏛️ Leadership History13 leaders · 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.
José Maria Neves✦ Current
2021–PresentPresident
Francisco Carvalho✦ Current
2026–PresentPrime Minister
Ulisses Correia e Silva
2016–2026Prime Minister
Jorge Carlos Fonseca
2011–2021President
Pedro Pires
2001–2011President
José Maria Neves
2001–2001President
José Maria Neves
2001–2016Prime Minister
Gualberto do Rosário
2000–2001Prime Minister
Carlos Veiga
1991–2000Prime Minister
Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro
1991–2001President
Aristides Pereira
1975–1991President
Pedro Pires
1975–1975President
Show all 13 leaders
Pedro Pires
1975–1991Prime Minister
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| José Maria Neves✦ Current | President | 2021–Present |
| Francisco Carvalho✦ Current | Prime Minister | 2026–Present |
| Ulisses Correia e Silva | Prime Minister | 2016–2026 |
| Jorge Carlos Fonseca | President | 2011–2021 |
| Pedro Pires | President | 2001–2011 |
| José Maria Neves | President | 2001–2001 |
| José Maria Neves | Prime Minister | 2001–2016 |
| Gualberto do Rosário | Prime Minister | 2000–2001 |
| Carlos Veiga | Prime Minister | 1991–2000 |
| Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro | President | 1991–2001 |
| Aristides Pereira | President | 1975–1991 |
| Pedro Pires | President | 1975–1975 |
| Pedro Pires | Prime Minister | 1975–1991 |
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
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.
👥 Population over time
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 Cape Verde: 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.
Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.
What drives it
Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.
Show all 16 decades
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
Cape Verde on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.