Eswatini Population 2024 (Live)

Eswatini faces several challenges, including the lowest life expectancy in the world, which holds its growth back. Despite an abundance of natural resources -- including quarry stone, small diamond and gold deposits and coal --and a high literacy rate compared to other African countries, 69% of Eswatini's population lives below the poverty line. Eswatini also has the highest HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate (26%) in the world. There are also issues with excessive hunting, overgrazing, soil degradation, and limited potable water. The country is currently growing at a rate of 1.5% per year in the face of these problems.

Eswatini has just 17,300 square kilometers of land (157th in the world), with an estimated population of 1,106,000. This is a moderate increase from the 2007 census, which found 1,018,000 residents in the country. There are about 68 people per square kilometer in Eswatini, which ranks 135th in the world. There is only one city with a population over 100,000: Manzini, with an estimated 2005 population of 110,500. The next largest city, and only city over 10,000, is Mbabane with 76,000. Approximately 21% of the population lives in urban areas.

Eswatini Demographics

The population of Eswatini is mostly ethnic Swazis, who speak siSwati, along with a small amount of Zulu and White Africans, who are mostly of British and Afrikaner descent. While the Swazi have traditionally been farmers and herders, many now work in government, the urban economy, and even mines in South Africa.

Eswatini faces several health issues, including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The country has a median age of 20.5 years with a life expectancy of just 31.88 years, the lowest documented life expectancy in the world and less than half the world average.