Demographics of Africa

Map of Africa indicating Human Development Index (2004).

above 0.950      0.900–0.949      0.850–0.899      0.800–0.849      0.750–0.799      0.700–0.749      0.650–0.699      0.600–0.649      0.550–0.599      0.500–0.549      0.450–0.499      0.400–0.449      0.350–0.399      0.300–0.349      under 0.300      n/a

Life expectancy is below 50 years in most African countries, and below 60 years in all countries except for the Mediterranean North.

Most African countries have annual population growth rates above 2%.

The population of Africa has grown exponentially over the past century, and consequently shows a large youth bulge, further reinforced by a low life expectancy of below 50 years in most African countries.^[1] The population doubled in the period 1982–2009^[2] and quadrupled from 1955–2009, according to United Nations estimates.^[3]

The total population of Africa is estimated at 1 billion (as of November 2009.)^[2] The most populous African country is Nigeria with 148 million (as of 2006), followed by Egypt (79 million) and Ethiopia (78 million). Among other populations there is also a significant white population in Africa and an Asian population in Africa.

Liberia, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Burkina Faso have annual population growth rates above 3%.

34 out of 53 African countries are counted among the world's Least Developed Countries.

Sub-Saharan Africa

The infant mortality rate in Africa is at 9% and child mortality under five years at 15%.[1]

2005 population pyramid of Angola

More than 40% of the population of are below 15 years in most sub-Saharan countries, as well as the Sudan but with the exception of South Africa,^[4] in Uganda as many as 50% (as compared to 20% in the USA). Infant mortality is high, with as many as 190 deaths per 1,000 live births in Angola, and between 25% and 50% malnourished in Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola and other countries.

HIV/AIDS is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, with some 11% of adult population infected and an estimated 2 million deaths caused by AIDS in 2005.

HIV infection is widespread in most of sub-Saharan Africa (ca. 7%, as opposed to 1% worldwide), with incidences above 30% in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

Life expectancy has fallen drastically in Southern Africa since the 1990s as a result of HIV.

Ethnicity

Speakers of Bantu languages (part of the Niger-Congo family) are the majority in southern, central and east Africa proper. But there are also several Nilotic groups in East Africa, and a few remaining indigenous Khoisan ('San' or 'Bushmen') and Pygmy peoples in southern and central Africa, respectively. Bantu-speaking Africans also predominate in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and are found in parts of southern Cameroon and southern Somalia. In the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as the Bushmen (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from "Hottentots") have long been present. The San are physically distinct from other Africans and are the indigenous people of southern Africa. Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of central Africa.

South Africa has the largest populations of whites, Indians and Coloured in Africa. The term "Coloured" is used to describe persons of mixed race in South Africa and Namibia. People of European descent in South Africa include the Afrikaner and a sizeable populations of Anglo-Africans and Portuguese Africans. Madagascar's population is predominantly of mixed Austronesian (Pacific Islander) and African origin. The area of southern Sudan is inhabited by Nilotic people, the tallest and blackest people in the world.

Major languages

List of major languages of Sub-Saharan Africa by region, family and total number of native speakers in millions)

North Africa

The peoples of North Africa comprise two main groups; Berber and Arabic-speaking peoples in the west, and Egyptians in the east. The Arabs who arrived in the seventh century introduced the Arabic language and Islam to North Africa. The Semitic Phoenicians, the European Greeks, Romans, Vandals and Pied-noir settled in North Africa as well. Berbers still make up the majority in Morocco, while they are a significant minority within Algeria. They are also present in Tunisia and Libya. The Tuareg ( a group of Berbers ) and other often-nomadic peoples are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa. Nubians are a Nilo-Saharan-speaking group (though many also speak Arabic), who developed an ancient civilisation in northeast Africa.

During the past century or so, small but economically important colonies of Lebanese, Indians and Chinese have also developed in the larger coastal cities of West and East Africa, respectively.

Some Ethiopian and Eritrean groups (like the Amhara and Tigrayans, collectively known as "Habesha") speak Semitic languages. The Oromo and Somali peoples speak Cushitic languages, but some Somali clans trace their founding to legendary Arab founders. Sudan and Mauritania are divided between a mostly Arabized north and a native African south (although the "Arabs" of Sudan clearly have a predominantly native African ancestry themselves). Some areas of East Africa, particularly the island of Zanzibar and the Kenyan island of Lamu, received Arab Muslim and Southwest Asian settlers and merchants throughout the Middle Ages and in antiquity.

See also

Africa portal

• African people
• African Jews
• Black people
• Linguistic demographics of Africa
• List of countries by fertility rate
• Poverty in Africa
• Religion in Africa
  • Christianity in Africa
  • Islam in Africa
  • African traditional religions
• World population

Notes