Nicaragua

North AmericaCapital city: ManaguaCapital metro: ManaguaPresident: Daniel Ortega
2026 population
6.9M
Rank #109 globally
Area
130k km² (50k sq mi)
Metros tracked
5
36% of population in metros
Composite score
3.9
Rank #147 globally

population: Official estimate (30 Jun 2024) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 5 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography5 metros

Nicaragua metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
5 polygons

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

🏙️ 5 tracked metros
5 metros
🗂️ Administrative subdivisions

17 entries listed under Nicaragua across 2 types. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

17 total
📋 At a glance
Official language
Spanish
Government
Republic
Legislature
Asamblea Nacional de Nicaragua
Demonym
Nicaraguan
Time zone
UTC−06:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+505
Internet TLD
.ni
ISO 3166
NI
Established
1821
Highest point
Cerro Mogotón (2,107 m (6,913 ft))
National anthem
Salve a ti

Facts via Wikidata.

💹 Economy and developmentLower middle income
Human Dev. Index
#122 / 191
0.706
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#127 / 193
$22.2B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#137 / 193
$3.2k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#131 / 190
$9.3k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#140 / 192
$2.9k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#86 / 194
75.1 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
25.3 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#109 / 194
59%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
1.3%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#129 / 193
57/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#168 / 193
0.6%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#175 / 175
0.01
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#154 / 166
46.2
World Bank · 2014
Internet users
#134 / 193
61%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#59 / 185
2.1%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#49 / 192
0.8 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#55 / 186
62%
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 & Organisations3 full memberships

Political & Economic

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History10 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.

Other

Daniel Ortega✦ Current

2007Present

President

Tenure: 19y 5m 23d

Enrique Bolaños

20022007

President

Tenure: 5y 0d

Arnoldo Alemán

19972002

President

Tenure: 5y 0d

Violeta Chamorro

19901997

President

Tenure: 6y 8m 16d

Republic of Nicaragua

⚠️ Daniel Ortega

19851990

President

Tenure: 5y 3m 24dbackbone

⚠️ Anastasio Somoza Debayle

19671985

President

Tenure: 18y 0dbackbone

⚠️ Luis Somoza Debayle

19561967

President

Tenure: 11y 0dbackbone

⚠️ Anastasio Somoza García

19371956

President

Tenure: 19y 0dbackbone

⚠️ José Santos Zelaya

18931937

President

Tenure: 44y 0dbackbone

Fruto Chamorro

18531893

President

Tenure: 40y 0dbackbone
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#141 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%190019502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Nicaragua · share of world power, 1900–2026

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.

⚔️ Conflicts since 19456 interstate wars · click to expand
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Republic of Sonora,Nicaragua
Combat deaths:
Filibuster War1856–1857
Legitimistas (conservative party),Democráticos (liberal party),United States (naval support)
Combat deaths:
Malespín's War1844–1845
Combat deaths:

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
6.8m
#109 in the world
Since 1800
37×
from 186k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.08%
0.02% in 1800
1.8m3.5m5.3m7.1m18001850190019502000
Nicaragua · people, 1800–2023 · 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.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Nicaragua: 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
2071
9.2m on the UN median
2050
8.8m
95% band 7.6m to 10.2m
2100
8.6m
95% band 4.5m to 15.3m
2100 against 2025
1.23×
median falling from 2072
Deaths outnumber births
from 2076
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
4.0m8.1m12.1m16.1m1950197520002025205020752100

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
72k born · 32k died · -2k net migration
TFR 7.12 · life expectancy 40.6 · median age 16.5
1960
89k born · 34k died · -2k net migration
TFR 7.16 · life expectancy 46.4 · median age 15.1
1970
114k born · 32k died · -5k net migration
TFR 6.77 · life expectancy 53.8 · median age 15.0
1980
143k born · 35k died · -15k net migration
TFR 5.96 · life expectancy 58.0 · median age 15.1
1990
153k born · 32k died · -24k net migration
TFR 4.60 · life expectancy 62.5 · median age 15.6
2000
140k born · 31k died · -42k net migration
TFR 3.12 · life expectancy 66.4 · median age 18.0
2010
140k born · 29k died · -29k net migration
TFR 2.60 · life expectancy 71.8 · median age 21.2
2020
134k born · 44k died · -10k net migration
TFR 2.30 · life expectancy 70.8 · median age 24.3
Show all 16 decades
2030
128k born · 37k died · -9k net migration
TFR 2.07 · life expectancy 76.1 · median age 27.7
2040
122k born · 47k died · -9k net migration
TFR 1.94 · life expectancy 77.6 · median age 31.3
2050
114k born · 59k died · -9k net migration
TFR 1.86 · life expectancy 79.2 · median age 34.9
2060
106k born · 73k died · -9k net migration
TFR 1.80 · life expectancy 80.7 · median age 38.2
2070
98k born · 87k died · -9k net migration
TFR 1.76 · life expectancy 82.1 · median age 41.1
2080
91k born · 99k died · -8k net migration
TFR 1.74 · life expectancy 83.4 · median age 43.4
2090
84k born · 105k died · -7k net migration
TFR 1.73 · life expectancy 84.7 · median age 45.4
2100
78k born · 108k died · -8k net migration
TFR 1.72 · life expectancy 85.8 · median age 46.9

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

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