South Sudan
- Capital:
- Juba
- Continent:
- Africa
- Region(s):
- Middle Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa
- Abbreviation:
- SSD
South Sudan's population structure shows a slightly lower male to female ratio of 0.97 to 1, with a median male age of 18.78 years old and a median female age of 19.89 years old. The highest concentration of adults under 75 years old is in the 18 and 19 year-old age groups, while the lowest concentration is in the 74 and 73 year-old age groups.
Data after 2022 is projected based on recent change
* As of 2/12/2025
1 birth
Every 1.5 minutes
1 death
Every 4.4 minutes
1 immigrant
Every 1.4 hours
1 person
Every 2.2 minutes
It is estimated that around 11% of South Sudanese people were not surveyed, which, if correct, would mean that the population of South Sudan in 2008 was around 9.28 million people. The South Sudan population in 2011 was considerably higher - perhaps as much as 10-12 million.
There are more than 60 ethnic groups in South Sudan, including the Dinka, and also many different languages spoken. The vast majority of people in South Sudan speak one of the Nilo-Saharan languages, but the official language is English, and this is also fairly widely spoken.
Data on religion in South Sudan is also extremely limited. As well as indigenous religions, Christianity and Islam have prospered in South Sudan. The last census in South Sudan to survey religion, however, was held in the 1950s.
South Sudan is a fairly religiously divided nation. The top two faiths are traditional African religions and Christianity, and the percentages of each vary depending on who you ask. A study, “Religion in South Sudan,” by the Pew Research on Religion, stated that South Sudan’s population are 60.5% Christian, 32.9% follow traditional African religion, 6.2% are Muslim, and 0.4% are considered “other.”
All of the years of civil war in South Sudan has left its economy very weak and underdeveloped. South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries, and they have one of the highest maternal mortality and female illiteracy rates in the world. Most homes lack electricity or running water, and paved roads are very uncommon. The largest industry in South Sudan in the international export of lumber. The country also contains many natural resources like copper, chromium, zinc, iron ore, petroleum, mica, silver, gold, and hydropower. The economy is also heavily reliant on agricultural products like cotton, groundnuts, wheat, sugarcane, mangos, bananas, and sweet potatoes.
South Sudan is a relatively new country and doesn’t have much of an extensive history. Sudan didn’t become an independent nation until 1956 and experienced a few decades of civil unrest as the country settled. The United States launched a missile attack against a pharmaceutical plant in the city of Khartoum, claiming that they were producing chemical weapons. South Sudan participated in the United Nations efforts to end the genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s. The population increased significantly during this period because of the number of refugees in the region. South Sudan ceded from the rest of Sudan in 2011.