Demographics of Eritrea

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Eritrea, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Eritrean women

Eritrea's population comprises nine ethnic groups, most of which speak Semitic or Cushitic languages. The Tigrinya and Tigre make up four-fifths of the population and speak different, but related and somewhat mutually intelligible, Semitic languages. Tigrinya and Arabic are the most frequently used languages for commercial and official transactions, but English is widely spoken and is the language used for secondary and university education. In general, most of the Christians live in the highlands, while Muslims and adherents of other beliefs live in the lowland regions.

[edit] CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.

Population: 5,028,475 (July 2008 est.)

Men in Agordat

Age structure:
0-14 years: 42.9% (male 1,085,116/female 1,072,262)
15-64 years: 53.5% (male 1,332,349/female 1,355,494)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 88,068/female 95,186) (2008 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.447% (2008 est.)

Birth rate: 33.62 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate: 9.15 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate: NA (2008 est.) * 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.93 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 44.22 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 60.05 years
male: 58.29 years
female: 61.87 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.84 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Eritrean(s)
adjective: Eritrean

Ethnic groups: There are 9 ethnic groups: Afar, Bilen, Hedareb (Beja), Kunama, Nara, Rashaida, Saho, Tigre and Tigrinya.

Planning Office, Ministry of Education, Asmara, Eritrea (1996)^[1]: Tigrinya 50%, Tigre 31.0%, Saho 5.0%, Afar 5.0%, Hedareb (Beja) 2.5%, Rashaida 2.4%, Bilen 2.0%, Kunama 2.0%, and Nara 1.5%.

Religions: Coptic Christian, Sunni Muslim, Roman Catholic, Protestant (see Religion in Eritrea)

Languages: Afar, Arabic (spoken by the Rashaida), Beja (spoken by the Hedareb), Blin, Kunama, Nara, Saho, Tigre, Tigrinya, English as a second language. Tigrinya and Arabic are the foremost second languages.

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 58.6%
male: 69.9%
female: 47.6% (2003 est.)

[edit] References

This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2008 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.

[edit] See also

• Eritrea
• Languages of Eritrea
• Culture of Eritrea

[edit] External links

• Languages in Eritrea
• Ethnic groups in Eritrea