Cote d'Ivoire: People & Society#
| Population | 23,740,424 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2016 est.) |
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| Nationality | noun: Ivoirian(s) adjective: Ivoirian |
| Ethnic groups | Akan 32.1%, Voltaique or Gur 15%, Northern Mande 12.4%, Krou 9.8%, Southern Mande 9%, other 21.2% (includes European and Lebanese descent), unspecified 0.5% (2011-12 est.) |
| Languages | French (official), 60 native dialects of which Dioula is the most widely spoken |
| Religions | Muslim 40.2%, Catholic 19.4%, Evangelical 19.3%, Methodist 2.5%, other Christian 4.5%, animist or no religion 12.8%, other religion/unspecified 1.4% (2011-12 est.) note: the majority of foreign migrant workers are Muslim (72%) and Christian (18%) (2014 est.) |
| Demographic profile | Cote d’Ivoire’s population is likely to continue growing for the foreseeable future because almost 60% of the populace is younger than 25, the total fertility rate is holding steady at about 3.5 children per woman, and contraceptive use is under 20%. The country will need to improve education, health care, and gender equality in order to turn its large and growing youth cohort into human capital. Even prior to 2010 unrest that shuttered schools for months, access to education was poor, especially for women. As of 2015, only 53% of men and 33% of women were literate. The lack of educational attainment contributes to Cote d’Ivoire’s high rates of unskilled labor, adolescent pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS prevalence. Following its independence in 1960, Cote d’Ivoire’s stability and the blossoming of its labor-intensive cocoa and coffee industries in the southwest made it an attractive destination for migrants from other parts of the country and its neighbors, particularly Burkina Faso. The HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY administration continued the French colonial policy of encouraging labor immigration by offering liberal land ownership laws. Foreigners from West Africa, Europe (mainly France), and Lebanon composed about 25% of the population by 1998. Ongoing economic decline since the 1980s and the power struggle after HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY’s death in 1993 ushered in the politics of "Ivoirite," institutionalizing an Ivoirian identity that further marginalized northern Ivoirians and scapegoated immigrants. The hostile Muslim north-Christian south divide snowballed into a 2002 civil war, pushing tens of thousands of foreign migrants, Liberian refugees, and Ivoirians to flee to war-torn Liberia or other regional countries and more than a million people to be internally displaced. Subsequently, violence following the contested 2010 presidential election prompted some 250,000 people to seek refuge in Liberia and other neighboring countries and again internally displaced as many as a million people. By July 2012, the majority had returned home, but ongoing inter-communal tension and armed conflict continue to force people from their homes. |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 37.45% (male 4,483,215/female 4,407,595) 15-24 years: 20.93% (male 2,504,188/female 2,463,970) 25-54 years: 34.05% (male 4,133,975/female 3,950,734) 55-64 years: 4.15% (male 493,722/female 491,230) 65 years and over: 3.42% (male 389,551/female 422,244) (2016 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 83.5% youth dependency ratio: 77.9% elderly dependency ratio: 5.6% potential support ratio: 18% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 20.7 years male: 20.8 years female: 20.6 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 1.88% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 28.2 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 9.5 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Urbanization | urban population: 54.2% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 3.69% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | YAMOUSSOUKRO (capital) 259,000 (2014); ABIDJAN (seat of government) 4.86 million; Bouake 762,000 (2015) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.93 male(s)/female total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2016 est.) |
| Mother's mean age at first birth | 19.8 note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2011/12 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 645 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 57.2 deaths/1,000 live births male: 63.1 deaths/1,000 live births female: 51.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 58.7 years male: 57.5 years female: 59.9 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 3.46 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 18.2% (2011/12) |
| Health expenditures | 5.7% of GDP (2014) |
| Physicians density | 0.14 physicians/1,000 population (2008) |
| Hospital bed density | 0.4 beds/1,000 population (2006) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 93.1% of population rural: 68.8% of population total: 81.9% of population unimproved: urban: 6.9% of population rural: 31.2% of population total: 18.1% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 32.8% of population rural: 10.3% of population total: 22.5% of population unimproved: urban: 67.2% of population rural: 89.7% of population total: 77.5% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 3.17% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 464,700 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 25,100 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever water contact disease: schistosomiasis animal contact disease: rabies respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis (2016) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 8% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 15.7% (2012) |
| Education expenditures | 4.7% of GDP (2014) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 43.1% male: 53.1% female: 32.5% (2015 est.) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) | total: 9 years male: 10 years female: 8 years (2014) |
| Child labor - children ages 5-14 | total number: 1,796,802 percentage: 35% (2006 est.) |