Central African Republic statistics — population, economy, trade and telecom
As global attention increasingly turns to fragile and conflict-affected states, the Central African Republic (CAR) remains one of the most data-critical countries on the continent. In 2026, understanding CAR’s demographic pressures, economic fragility, and infrastructure deficits is essential for policymakers, development finance institutions, and humanitarian actors. The country’s indicators serve as a baseline for measuring the effectiveness of international interventions and the slow, uneven progress toward stability and sovereign economic governance.
Population and Demographics
The Central African Republic’s population is estimated at approximately 5.5 to 5.7 million people as of 2024–2025, according to UN Population Division projections. The country maintains one of the higher natural population growth rates in sub-Saharan Africa, estimated at roughly 2.4 to 2.6 percent annually, placing significant pressure on already strained public services. The median age is approximately 18 to 19 years, reflecting an overwhelmingly young population with substantial future labour force potential — but also urgent demands for education and employment creation. Urbanisation remains relatively low by regional standards, with roughly 42 to 44 percent of the population living in urban areas. Bangui, the capital, concentrates the majority of urban residents and economic activity. Internal displacement continues to distort demographic distribution, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced by ongoing conflict in the country’s interior, complicating reliable census-based data collection.
Economic Indicators
The Central African Republic is consistently ranked among the world’s lowest-income economies. World Bank estimates put GDP at approximately 2.5 to 2.8 billion USD in current terms for 2024, with GDP per capita hovering around 450 to 500 USD — placing CAR near the very bottom of global per capita income rankings. GDP growth has been modest and volatile, with IMF projections for 2024–2025 suggesting annual growth in the range of 1.5 to 3 percent, heavily contingent on security conditions and commodity export performance. Inflation has been a persistent concern; consumer price inflation was estimated at roughly 4 to 6 percent in recent years, influenced by fuel import costs, supply chain disruptions, and the broader regional inflationary environment. The country uses the Central African CFA franc (XAF), pegged to the euro through the CEMAC monetary union, which provides nominal exchange rate stability but limits independent monetary policy. Unemployment figures are difficult to verify given the dominance of informal and subsistence activity, but underemployment is widely considered to be structurally high. The debt-to-GDP ratio has been a concern for multilateral lenders; IMF programme documentation suggests it has fluctuated in the range of 45 to 55 percent of GDP, with significant reliance on concessional external financing and debt relief arrangements.
Trade and External Accounts
CAR’s trade profile is narrow and heavily commodity-dependent. The country’s top exports are diamonds, gold, timber, and cotton, with diamonds and gold together accounting for the substantial majority of formal export revenues. Timber exports, though significant, have faced international scrutiny over illegal logging and supply chain transparency. Top imports include food products, fuel, machinery, and manufactured goods — all essential inputs that the domestic economy cannot yet produce at scale. Key trading partners on the export side include the United Arab Emirates, China, and various European buyers of timber and minerals. On the import side, Cameroon serves as a critical transit and supply corridor, with China also featuring prominently. The current account deficit is structurally wide; CAR depends heavily on official development assistance and budget support from the IMF, World Bank, European Union, and bilateral donors to finance its external gap. Industry reports suggest that a significant share of mineral trade occurs through informal or unrecorded channels, meaning official trade statistics likely understate actual resource flows.
Key Sectors
Agriculture is the backbone of CAR’s economy, employing the majority of the working population and contributing an estimated 40 to 45 percent of GDP. Subsistence farming, livestock herding, and small-scale cash crop production dominate. Cotton remains the principal cash crop in the south-west, though production has declined significantly from historical peaks due to insecurity and infrastructure collapse. Mining is the sector with the greatest economic potential. CAR sits atop substantial deposits of diamonds, gold, uranium, iron ore, and oil, but extraction remains limited by conflict, governance deficits, and lack of infrastructure. The Kimberley Process partially suspended CAR’s diamond exports in 2013; a partial lifting of restrictions has allowed some certified exports to resume, but the sector operates well below capacity. The services sector, including government services, trade, and transport, accounts for roughly 35 to 40 percent of GDP. Industry — including manufacturing and construction — remains underdeveloped, contributing perhaps 15 to 20 percent of GDP. Tourism is negligible as a revenue source given the security environment, despite the country’s ecological assets including Dzanga-Sangha, one of Central Africa’s most biodiverse protected areas.
Telecommunications and Digital
CAR’s telecommunications sector is among the least developed on the continent. Mobile penetration is estimated at roughly 25 to 35 percent of the population, according to ITU and GSMA data for 2024, with coverage concentrated in Bangui and a handful of secondary towns. Internet penetration is extremely low — industry estimates suggest fewer than 15 percent of the population have meaningful internet access, with mobile broadband representing virtually all connectivity. Fixed-line infrastructure is negligible. The dominant mobile operators include Telecel (formerly Moov) and Orange CAR, though network quality and geographic reach remain severely constrained by insecurity and the cost of infrastructure deployment in a landlocked, sparsely populated territory. Mobile money adoption is growing from a low base, with services linked to the major operators offering basic transfer and payment functionality. Digital financial inclusion remains a strategic priority for development partners, given the near-total absence of formal banking infrastructure outside Bangui. Regulatory oversight is provided by the Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications et des Postes (ARTP).
Sources and Methodology
The data and estimates presented in this dashboard draw on a range of authoritative international sources. Macroeconomic and fiscal indicators are sourced primarily from the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook database and Article IV consultation reports, as well as the World Bank’s World Development Indicators. Population and demographic data reference UN Population Division projections and UNFPA country profiles. Trade statistics draw on UN Comtrade, the World Bank’s WITS platform, and where available, CEMAC regional reporting. Telecommunications and digital indicators reference the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), GSMA Intelligence, and Datareportal’s annual digital reports. Sector-level analysis incorporates African Development Bank country strategy documents and African Union Commission reporting. Where national statistics office (Institut Centrafricain des Statistiques et des Études Économiques et Sociales — ICASEES) data are available, these are cross-referenced, though data quality and timeliness constraints in conflict-affected environments mean that all figures should be treated as approximations subject to revision. This dashboard is updated on a periodic basis as new reference data become available.
For deeper qualitative and geopolitical context, visit our Central African Republic expert briefing. To compare CAR’s indicators with those of other African nations, explore our all African country statistics hub. For broader analysis of growth, investment, and structural transformation across the continent, see the African economy pillar.
