Found south of the Sahara, virtually everywhere there is cover, except in rainforest and desert. Typically a savanna woodland species, but often found in relatively open country and even extends into the alpine zone in some mountainous areas such as on Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro (Wilson 2013). It shows a high level of adaptability to habitat modifications caused by the spread of agricultural settlement, and it frequently survives in good numbers wherever there is low secondary growth. They have a very varied diet of foliage, herbs, fruits, seeds, and cultivated crops (Wilson 2013).

The Common Duiker is one of the most widely distributed antelopes on the African continent, occurring throughout the savanna woodland zones of sub-Saharan Africa, and in spite of dense human populations in many areas its historical distribution has remained largely unchanged.

The Common Duiker is well represented in a large number of protected areas from Senegal to South Africa, and is also well represented on private land.