Libya
population: UN projection (1 Jul 2025) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 4 metros tracked
🗺️ Geography3 of 4 metros
Libya 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.
🏙️ 4 tracked metros
| Metro | State | Tier | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #862 | Tripoli★ Capital▲ Largest | Libya | 2.2M | 2.1 | Emerging Metro |
| #1544 | Benghazi | Libya | 807K | 0.8 | Local Metro |
| #2341 | Sabha | Libya | 153K | 0.3 | Local Metro |
| #2925 | Misratah | Libya | 664K | 0.2 | Local Metro |
📋 At a glance
- Official language
- Arabic
- Currency
- Libyan dinar (LYD)
- Government
- Republic
- Legislature
- House of Representatives
- Constitution
- 1951, 7 amendment events since
- Demonym
- Libyan
- Time zones
- Eastern European Time, UTC+02:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +218
- Internet TLD
- .ly
- ISO 3166
- LY
- Established
- 1551
- Highest point
- Bikku Bitti (2,267 m (7,438 ft))
- National anthem
- Libya, Libya, Libya
Facts via Wikidata.
💹 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 & Organisations6 full memberships
Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer
🏛️ Leadership History15 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.
Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh✦ Current
2021–PresentPrime Minister
Aguila Saleh Issa✦ Current
2014–PresentPresident
Mohamed al-Menfi
2021–2014President
Fayez al-Sarraj
2016–2021Prime Minister
Fayez al-Sarraj
2016–2021President
Aguila Saleh Issa
2014–2021President
Abdullah al-Thani
2014–2021Prime Minister
Nouri Abusahmain
2013–2016President
Ali Zeidan
2012–2014Prime Minister
Mohammed Magariaf
2012–2013President
Abdurrahim El-Keib
2011–2012Prime Minister
Mahmoud Jibril
2011–2011Prime Minister
Show all 15 leaders
Mustafa Abdul Jalil
2011–2012President
Muammar Gaddafi
1969–2011President
👑 Idris I
1951–1969King
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh✦ Current | Prime Minister | 2021–Present |
| Aguila Saleh Issa✦ Current | President | 2014–Present |
| Mohamed al-Menfi | President | 2021–2014 |
| Fayez al-Sarraj | Prime Minister | 2016–2021 |
| Fayez al-Sarraj | President | 2016–2021 |
| Aguila Saleh Issa | President | 2014–2021 |
| Abdullah al-Thani | Prime Minister | 2014–2021 |
| Nouri Abusahmain | President | 2013–2016 |
| Ali Zeidan | Prime Minister | 2012–2014 |
| Mohammed Magariaf | President | 2012–2013 |
| Abdurrahim El-Keib | Prime Minister | 2011–2012 |
| Mahmoud Jibril | Prime Minister | 2011–2011 |
| Mustafa Abdul Jalil | President | 2011–2012 |
| Muammar Gaddafi | President | 1969–2011 |
| 👑 Idris I | King | 1951–1969 |
📈 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.
⚔️ Conflicts since 194510 interstate wars · click to expand
| Conflict | Years | Against | Combat deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libyan civil war (2014–2020) | 2014–2020 | Libyan National Army,Libyan Air Force,(LNA–aligned),Libyan Navy,Wagner Group,(from 2018),Egypt Egypt,United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates,RSF (from 2019),Ba'athist Syria,(2020),Hezbollah (allegedly) | — |
| 2011 military intervention in Libya | 2011 | NATO,Qatar,Sweden,United Arab Emirates | 72–403 |
| Libyan civil war (2011) | 2011 | Tunisian Army,Tunisian Police,Egypt | — |
| Chadian Civil War (2005–2010) | 2005–2010 | Sudan (until 2010) | — |
| First Liberian Civil War | 1989–1997 | the Liberian Civil Wars and spillover of the Sierra Leone Civil War | — |
| Uganda–Tanzania War | 1978–1979 | Tanzania,Mozambique | 4,135–4,323 |
| Chadian–Libyan War | 1978–1987 | Chad,France | 8,500+ |
| Egyptian–Libyan War | 1977 | Egypt | 500+ |
| Six-Day War● | 1967 | Israel | 12,336–19,264 |
| Chadian Civil War (1965–1979) | 1965–1979 | FROLINAT (from 1966) | — |
Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”
👥 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 Libya: 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
Libya on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.
