Demographics of Ivory Coast

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

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1950	2,630,000	—
1960	3,504,000	+33.2%
1970	5,102,000	+45.6%
1980	8,034,000	+57.5%
1990	11,925,000	+48.4%
2000	16,455,000	+38.0%
2010	20,533,000	+24.8%
2019	25,717,000	+25.2%
source:[1][2]

Population

Demographics of Ivory Coast, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

According to the 2019 revision of the World Population Prospects[1][2] the total population was 25,069,230 in 2018, compared to only 2 630 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.9%, 55.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.8% was 65 years or older .[3]

	Total population	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	2 630 000	43.1	54.6	2.3
1955	3 072 000	43.0	54.6	2.4
1960	3 638 000	43.8	53.8	2.4
1965	4 424 000	44.6	52.9	2.4
1970	5 416 000	45.0	52.6	2.4
1975	6 768 000	45.4	52.2	2.4
1980	8 501 000	45.9	51.7	2.5
1985	10 495 000	45.9	51.5	2.5
1990	12 518 000	45.1	52.2	2.6
1995	14 677 000	43.2	54.0	2.8
2000	16 582 000	41.8	55.1	3.1
2005	18 021 000	41.8	54.8	3.5
2010	19 738 000	40.9	55.3	3.8

Structure of the population (DHS 2011-2012) (Males 23 630, Females 25 193 = 48 823) :

Age Group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-4	16,0	16,0	16,0
5-9	15,3	14,8	15,1
10-14	13,2	13,0	13,1
15-19	8,9	9,1	9,0
20-24	8,4	8,7	8,5
25-29	7,5	8,6	8,0
30-34	6,9	7,0	7,0
35-39	5,3	5,1	5,2
40-44	4,6	3,8	4,2
45-49	3,3	2,9	3,1
50-54	2,9	3,7	3,3
55-59	2,0	2,3	2,2
60-64	2,3	1,8	2,1
65-69	1,3	1,2	1,3
70-74	1,0	1,0	1,0
75-79	0,5	0,4	0,5
80+	0,6	0,6	0,6

Age group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-14	44,5	43,8	44,2
15-64	52,1	53,0	52,4
65+	3,4	3,2	3,4

Population Growth: 1.88% (2016 est.)[4]

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Ivory Coast not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. [3]

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*
1950-1955	145 000	70 000	74 000	50.8	24.6	26.1	6.77	167
1955-1960	174 000	81 000	93 000	51.9	24.1	27.8	7.15	160
1960-1965	211 000	94 000	117 000	52.3	23.3	29.0	7.53	155
1965-1970	258 000	109 000	149 000	52.4	22.2	30.2	7.83	147
1970-1975	317 000	116 000	200 000	52.0	19.1	32.9	7.93	127
1975-1980	386 000	123 000	263 000	50.5	16.1	34.4	7.81	109
1980-1985	446 000	133 000	313 000	46.9	14.0	32.9	7.31	96
1985-1990	494 000	154 000	340 000	42.9	13.4	29.5	6.61	93
1990-1995	542 000	186 000	357 000	39.9	13.6	26.2	5.92	95
1995-2000	587 000	224 000	363 000	37.6	14.3	23.2	5.31	92
2000-2005	639 000	249 000	390 000	36.9	14.4	22.5	5.05	85
2005-2010	660 000	245 000	415 000	35.0	13.0	22.0	4.65	77
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[5]

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
1994	41,3	5,7 (4,7)	38,8	4,7 (3,7)	42,5	6,4 (5,4)
1998-99	39,3	5,2 (4,5)	36,5	4,0 (3,4)	40,7	6,0 (5,2)
2005	38,4	4,6	35,1	3,6	40,8	5,5
2011-12	36,8	5,0 (4,1)	31,9	3,7 (3,2)	40,3	6,3 (5,0)

Fertility data as of 2011-2012 (DHS Program):[6]

Region	Total fertility rate	Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant	Mean number of children ever born to women age 40-49
Centre	6.1	10.6	6.9
Centre-Est	4.6	7.7	5.4
Centre-Nord	5.4	9.6	6.1
Centre-Ouest	5.4	11.0	5.7
Nord	6.1	9.7	6.9
Nord-Est	6.0	11.5	6.6
Nord-Ouest	6.8	12.4	7.1
Ouest	6.1	12.4	6.2
Sud	4.8	10.6	6.0
Sud-Ouest	5.0	15.5	5.9
Ville d'Abidjan	3.1	6.9	4.2

Life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy in Years[7]
1950–1955	32.14
1955–1960	35.09
1960–1965	38.64
1965–1970	41.64
1970–1975	45.79
1975–1980	49.24
1980–1985	51.59
1985–1990	52.77
1990–1995	51.44
1995–2000	47.62
2000–2005	46.68
2005–2010	49.19
2010–2015	51.70

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in Ivory Coast[8]
Ethnic groups
Akan			28.9%
Other (includes European and Lebanese)			24.2%
Voltaic or Gur			16.1%
Northern Mande			14.5%
Krou			8.5%
Southern Mande			6.9%
Unspecified			0.9%

Ivory Coast has more than 60 ethnic groups, usually classified into five principal divisions: Akan (east and center, including Lagoon peoples of the southeast), Krou (southwest), Southern Mandé (west), Northern Mandé (northwest), Sénoufo/Lobi (north center and northeast). The Baoulés, in the Akan division, probably comprise the largest single subgroup with 15%-20% of the population. They are based in the central region around Bouaké and Yamoussoukro. The Bétés in the Krou division, the Sénoufos in the north, and the Malinkés in the northwest and the cities are the next largest groups, with 10%-15% of the national population. Most of the principal divisions have a significant presence in neighboring countries.

Of the more than 5 million non-Ivorian Africans living in Ivory Coast, one-third to one-half are from Burkina Faso; the rest are from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Liberia, and Mauritania. The non-African expatriate community includes roughly 50,000 French (this number may be inaccurate due to the evacuation of roughly 8,000 Frenchmen in November 2004) and possibly 40,000 Lebanese. The number of elementary school-aged children attending classes increased from 22% in 1960 to 67% in 1995.

Languages

French is official, and there are 81 living indigenous languages, and two that are now extinct (Tonjon and Beti).[9] The Dioula dialect of Bambara is the most widely spoken one. Other language groups include the Gur languages, the Senufo languages, the Kru languages (including the Bété languages, Dida, Nyabwa, Wè, and Western Krahn), and the Kwa languages (Baoulé and Anyin are the most used).

Religion

The economic development and relative prosperity of Ivory Coast fostered huge demographic shifts during the 20th century. "In 1922, an estimated 100,000 out of 1.6 million (or 6 percent) of people in Côte d'Ivoire were Muslims. By contrast, at independence (in 1960), their share of the population had increased rapidly, and Muslims were moving southward to the cocoa-producing areas and the southern cities. By 1998, [...], Muslims constituted a majority in the north of the country, and approximately 38.6 percent of the total population. This was a significantly larger population than the next largest religious group, Christians, who constituted approximately 29.1 percent of the total."[10] In earlier decades, this shift was mainly due to large-scale immigration from neighboring countries of the interior, that has been going on since colonial times and continued to be promoted during the Houphouet-Boigny era. Since the 1990s, the widening fertility gap between different religious groups has continued to tilt the demographic balance in favor of Muslims although immigration has become less important.[11]

Religions of IVORY COAST (2014 est.)[8]
Religions			percent
Islam			42.9%
No Religion			19.1%
Roman Catholic			17.2%
Evangelical			11.8%
Animist			3.6%
Other Christian			3.2%
Methodist			1.7%
Other			0.5%

Ivorian diaspora

The table below shows the number of people born in Ivory Coast who have migrated to OECD countries only (the table only includes communities consisting of at least 1,000 members).[12]

Country	Ivorian-born population	See also
France	63,441	Ivorians in France
United States	7,595	Ivorian Americans
Italy	7,242
United Kingdom	2,794	Ivorians in the United Kingdom
Canada	1,865
Belgium	1,363
Switzerland	1,100

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.[13]

• One birth every 35 seconds
• One death every 2 minutes
• One net migrant every 90 minutes
• Net gain of one person every 50 seconds

The following demographic are from the CIA World Factbook[14] unless otherwise indicated.

Population

26,260,582 (July 2018 est.)

21,058,798 (2010 est.)

Age structure

Population pyramid of Ivory Coast in 2016

0-14 years: 39.59% (male 5,213,630 /female 5,182,872)

15-24 years: 19.91% (male 2,613,772 /female 2,615,680)

25-54 years: 34.25% (male 4,577,394 /female 4,416,408)

55-64 years: 3.47% (male 460,048 /female 451,604)

65 years and over: 2.78% (male 325,510 /female 403,664) (2018 est.)

Median age

total: 19.9 years. Country comparison to the world: 192nd

male: 20 years

female: 19.8 years (2018 est.)

Birth rate

30.1 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 36th

Death rate

8.4 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 80th

Total fertility rate

3.83 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 38th

Population growth rate

2.3% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 33rd

Mother's mean age at first birth

19.8 years (2011/12 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

Contraceptive prevalence rate

15.5% (2016)

Sex ratio

At birth	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years	1.02 male(s)/female
15–64 years	1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over	0.99 male(s)/female
Total population	1.03 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 79th

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 60.1 years (2018 est.)

male: 58 years (2018 est.)

female: 62.4 years (2018 est.)

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 83.8 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio: 78.5 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio: 5.3 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio: 18.9 (2015 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 50.8% of total population (2018)

rate of urbanization: 3.38% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Religions

Muslim 42.9%, Catholic 17.2%, Evangelical 11.8%, Methodist 1.7%, other Christian 3.2%, animist 3.6%, other religion 0.5%, none 19.1% (2014 est.)

note: the majority of foreign migrant workers are Muslim (72.7%) and Christian (17.7%)

HIV/AIDS

adult prevalence rate: 2.8% (2017 est.)

people living with HIV/AIDS: 500,000 (2017 est.)

deaths: 24,000 (2017 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Degree of risk	very high
Food or Waterborne diseases	bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Water contact	schistosomiasis
Animal contact disease	rabies

Note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)

Nationality

Noun and adjective: Ivorian (Ivoirian)

Ethnic Groups

other

2.8% (includes 130,000 Lebanese and 14,000 French) (1998)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)

total population: 43.1% (2015 est.)

male: 53.1% (2015 est.)

female: 32.5% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 10 years (2016)

male: 11 years (2016)

female: 9 years (2016)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

total: 3.9% (2016 est.)

male: 2.8% (2016 est.)

female: 5.1% (2016 est.)

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document: "2006 edition".

1. ""World Population prospects – Population division"". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
2. ""Overall total population" – World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision" (xslx). population.un.org (custom data acquired via website). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
3. "Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision". Esa.un.org. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
4. CIA World Factbook
5. "MEASURE DHS: Demographic and Health Surveys". microdata.worldbank.org.
6. "Enquête Démographique et de Santé et à Indicateurs Multiples 2011-2012" (PDF). Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
7. "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". esa.un.org. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
8. "Africa :: IVORY COAST". CIA The World Factbook.
9. "Africa :: Cote d'Ivoire — the World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency".
10. Nordås, Ragnhild (2012). "The Devil in the Demography?". In Goldstone, Jack A.; Kaufmann, Eric P.; Toft, Monica Duffy (eds.). Political Demography. How Population Changes Are Reshaping International Security and National Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 256.
11. Nordås, Ragnhild (2012). "The Devil in the Demography?". In Goldstone, Jack A.; Kaufmann, Eric P.; Toft, Monica Duffy (eds.). Political Demography. How Population Changes Are Reshaping International Security and National Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 257 f.
12. "Country-of-birth database". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
13. "Ivory Coast Population 2019", World Population Review
14. "The World FactBook - Cote d'Ivoire", The World Factbook, 12 July 2018 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.