:''This article discusses the contemporary demographics of Africa; see
African people for historical information''.
}
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 a population growth rate above 2% per year.
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 total population of Africa is estimated at 888 million (as of 2005). It has doubled over the past 28 years, and has quadrupled over the past 55 years (
UN estimates
[1]). Population is projected to reach one billion by
2015. The most populous African country is
Nigeria with 133 million (as of 2006), followed by
Egypt (79 million) and
Ethiopia (77 million).
Liberia,
Burundi,
Uganda, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Madagascar and
Burkina Faso have population growth rates above 3%.
34 out of 53 African countries are counted among the world's "
Least Developed Countries".
Sub-Saharan Africa
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,
[2], 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.
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.
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 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.
References
1. see List of countries by life expectancy; according to the 2006 CIA Factbook, 28 of 53 countries show a life expectancy at birth below 50 years, 43 of 53 below 60 years; in Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland below 35 years.
2. according to the CIA Factbook: Angola, Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, both Congos, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia
See also
★
African people
★
Black people
★
African Muslims
★
African Jews
★
World population
★
List of countries by fertility rate
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