Mozambique: People & Society#
| Population | 25,930,150 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: Mozambican(s) adjective: Mozambican |
| Ethnic groups | African 99.66% (Makhuwa, Tsonga, Lomwe, Sena, and others), Europeans 0.06%, Euro-Africans 0.2%, Indians 0.08% |
| Languages | Emakhuwa 25.3%, Portuguese (official) 10.7%, Xichangana 10.3%, Cisena 7.5%, Elomwe 7%, Echuwabo 5.1%, other Mozambican languages 30.1%, other 4% (1997 census) |
| Religions | Roman Catholic 28.4%, Muslim 17.9%, Zionist Christian 15.5%, Protestant 12.2% (includes Pentecostal 10.9% and Anglican 1.3%), other 6.7%, none 18.7%, unspecified 0.7% (2007 est.) |
| Demographic profile | Mozambique is a poor, sparsely populated country with high fertility and mortality rates and a rapidly growing youthful population – 45% of the population is younger than 15. Mozambique’s high poverty rate is sustained by natural disasters, disease, high population growth, low agricultural productivity, and the unequal distribution of wealth. The country’s birth rate is among the world’s highest, averaging around more than 5 children per woman (and higher in rural areas) for at least the last three decades. The sustained high level of fertility reflects gender inequality, low contraceptive use, early marriages and childbearing, and a lack of education, particularly among women. The high population growth rate is somewhat restrained by the country’s high HIV/AIDS and overall mortality rates. Mozambique ranks among the worst in the world for HIV/AIDS prevalence, HIV/AIDS deaths, and life expectancy at birth. Mozambique is predominantly a country of emigration, but internal, rural-urban migration has begun to grow. Mozambicans, primarily from the country’s southern region, have been migrating to South Africa for work for more than a century. Additionally, approximately 1.7 million Mozambicans fled to Malawi, South Africa, and other neighboring countries between 1979 and 1992 to escape from civil war. Labor migrants have usually been men from rural areas whose crops have failed or who are unemployed and have headed to South Africa to work as miners; multiple generations of the same family often become miners. Since the abolition of apartheid in South Africa in 1991, other job opportunities have opened to Mozambicans, including in the informal and manufacturing sectors, but mining remains their main source of employment. |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 44.92% (male 5,856,623/female 5,791,519) 15-24 years: 21.51% (male 2,741,474/female 2,835,474) 25-54 years: 27.24% (male 3,301,883/female 3,762,626) 55-64 years: 3.42% (male 425,312/female 462,125) 65 years and over: 2.9% (male 345,408/female 407,706) (2016 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 94.8% youth dependency ratio: 88.2% elderly dependency ratio: 6.5% potential support ratio: 15.3% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 17.1 years male: 16.5 years female: 17.7 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 2.45% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 38.3 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 11.9 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | -1.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Urbanization | urban population: 32.2% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 3.27% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | MAPUTO (capital) 1.187 million; Matola 937,000 (2015) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 0.88 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2016 est.) |
| Mother's mean age at first birth | 18.9 median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2011 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 489 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 67.9 deaths/1,000 live births male: 70 deaths/1,000 live births female: 65.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 53.3 years male: 52.6 years female: 54.1 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 5.15 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 11.6% (2011) |
| Health expenditures | 7% of GDP (2014) |
| Physicians density | 0.04 physicians/1,000 population (2012) |
| Hospital bed density | 0.7 beds/1,000 population (2011) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 80.6% of population rural: 37% of population total: 51.1% of population unimproved: urban: 19.4% of population rural: 63% of population total: 48.9% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 42.4% of population rural: 10.1% of population total: 20.5% of population unimproved: urban: 57.6% of population rural: 89.9% of population total: 79.5% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 10.55% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 1,505,900 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 39,000 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever water contact disease: schistosomiasis animal contact disease: rabies (2016) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 4.5% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 15.6% (2011) |
| Education expenditures | 6.5% of GDP (2013) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 58.8% male: 73.3% female: 45.4% (2015 est.) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) | total: 9 years male: 10 years female: 9 years (2014) |
| Child labor - children ages 5-14 | total number: 1,369,080 percentage: 22% (2008 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 39.4% male: 40.2% female: 38.7% (2012 est.) |