Population:
1,927,104
(July 2020 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
151
[see also: Population country ranks ]
Nationality:
noun:
Bissau-Guinean(s)
adjective:
Bissau-Guinean
Ethnic groups:
Fulani 28.5%, Balanta 22.5%, Mandinga 14.7%, Papel 9.1%, Manjaco 8.3%, Beafada 3.5%, Mancanha 3.1%, Bijago 2.1%, Felupe 1.7%, Mansoanca 1.4%, Balanta Mane 1%, other 1.8%, none 2.2%
(2008 est.)
Languages:
Crioulo (lingua franca), Portuguese (official; largely used as a second or third language), Pular (a Fula language), Mandingo
Religions:
Muslim 45.1%, Christian 22.1%, animist 14.9%, none 2%, unspecified 15.9%
(2008 est.)
Demographic profile:
Guinea-Bissau’s young and growing population is sustained by high fertility; approximately 60% of the population is under the age of 25. Its large reproductive-age population and total fertility rate of more than 4 children per woman offsets the country’s high infant and maternal mortality rates. The latter is among the world’s highest because of the prevalence of early childbearing, a lack of birth spacing, the high percentage of births outside of health care facilities, and a shortage of medicines and supplies.
Guinea-Bissau’s history of political instability, a civil war, and several coups (the latest in 2012) have resulted in a fragile state with a weak economy, high unemployment, rampant corruption, widespread poverty, and thriving drug and child trafficking. With the country lacking educational infrastructure, school funding and materials, and qualified teachers, and with the cultural emphasis placed on religious education, parents frequently send boys to study in residential Koranic schools (daaras) in Senegal and The Gambia. They often are extremely deprived and are forced into street begging or agricultural work by marabouts (Muslim religious teachers), who enrich themselves at the expense of the children. Boys who leave their marabouts often end up on the streets of Dakar or other large Senegalese towns and are vulnerable to even worse abuse.
Some young men lacking in education and job prospects become involved in the flourishing international drug trade. Local drug use and associated violent crime are growing.
Age structure:
0-14 years: 43.17%
(male 417,810/female 414,105)
[see also: Age structure - 0-14 years country ranks ]
15-24 years: 20.38%
(male 192,451/female 200,370)
[see also: Age structure - 15-24 years country ranks ]
25-54 years: 30.24%
(male 275,416/female 307,387)
[see also: Age structure - 25-54 years country ranks ]
55-64 years: 3.12%
(male 29,549/female 30,661)
[see also: Age structure - 55-64 years country ranks ]
65 years and over: 3.08%
(male 25,291/female 34,064)
(2020 est.)
[see also: Age structure - 65 years and over country ranks ]
population pyramid:
This is the population pyramid for Guinea Bissau. A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.
For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page under the References tab.
Dependency ratios:
total dependency ratio: 80.4
(2015 est.)
[see also: Dependency ratios - total dependency ratio country ranks ]
youth dependency ratio: 75.2
(2015 est.)
[see also: Dependency ratios - youth dependency ratio country ranks ]
elderly dependency ratio: 5.2
(2015 est.)
[see also: Dependency ratios - elderly dependency ratio country ranks ]
potential support ratio: 19.3
(2015 est.)
[see also: Dependency ratios - potential support ratio country ranks ]
Median age:
total: 18 years
[see also: Median age - total country ranks ]
male: 17.4 years
[see also: Median age - male country ranks ]
female: 18.6 years
(2020 est.)
[see also: Median age - female country ranks ]
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
215
Population growth rate:
2.51%
(2020 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
24
[see also: Population growth rate country ranks ]
Birth rate:
36.9 births/1,000 population
(2020 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
14
[see also: Birth rate country ranks ]
Death rate:
7.9 deaths/1,000 population
(2020 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
94
[see also: Death rate country ranks ]
Net migration rate:
-3.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population
(2020 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
186
[see also: Net migration rate country ranks ]
Population distribution:
approximately one-fifth of the population lives in the capital city of Bissau along the Atlantic coast; the remainder is distributed among the eight other, mainly rural, regions
Urbanization:
urban population: 43.8% of total population
(2019)
[see also: Urbanization - urban population country ranks ]
rate of urbanization: 3.41% annual rate of change
(2015-20 est.)
[see also: Urbanization - rate of urbanization country ranks ]
Major urban areas - population:
579,000 BISSAU (capital)
(2019)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
(2020 est.)
[see also: Sex ratio - at birth country ranks ]
0-14 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
(2020 est.)
[see also: Sex ratio - 0-14 years country ranks ]
15-24 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
(2020 est.)
[see also: Sex ratio - 15-24 years country ranks ]
25-54 years: 0.9 male(s)/female
(2020 est.)
[see also: Sex ratio - 25-54 years country ranks ]
55-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
(2020 est.)
[see also: Sex ratio - 55-64 years country ranks ]
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
(2020 est.)
[see also: Sex ratio - 65 years and over country ranks ]
total population: 95.3 male(s)/female
(2020 est.)
[see also: Sex ratio country ranks ]
Maternal mortality rate:
667 deaths/100,000 live births
(2017 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
8
[see also: Maternal mortality rate country ranks ]
Infant mortality rate:
total: 51.9 deaths/1,000 live births
[see also: Infant mortality rate - total country ranks ]
male: 57.9 deaths/1,000 live births
[see also: Infant mortality rate - male country ranks ]
female: 45.7 deaths/1,000 live births
(2020 est.)
[see also: Infant mortality rate - female country ranks ]
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
22
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 62.8 years
[see also: Life expectancy at birth - total population country ranks ]
male: 60.6 years
[see also: Life expectancy at birth - male country ranks ]
female: 65.1 years
(2020 est.)
[see also: Life expectancy at birth - female country ranks ]
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
207
[See also: Healthy Life Expectancy ]
[See also: Health Performance ]
Total fertility rate:
4.75 children born/woman
(2020 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
17
[see also: Total fertility rate country ranks ]
Contraceptive prevalence rate:
16%
(2014)
[see also: Contraceptive prevalence rate country ranks ]
Drinking water source:
improved:
urban: 98.8% of population
[see also: Drinking water source - improved - urban country ranks ]
rural: 60.3% of population
[see also: Drinking water source - improved - rural country ranks ]
total: 79.3% of population
unimproved:
urban: 1.2% of population
rural: 39.7% of population
total: 20.7% of population
(2015 est.)
Current Health Expenditure:
6.1%
(2016)
[see also: Current Health Expenditure country ranks ]
Physicians density:
0.2 physicians/1,000 population
(2015)
[see also: Physicians density country ranks ]
Hospital bed density:
1 beds/1,000 population
(2009)
[see also: Hospital bed density country ranks ]
Sanitation facility access:
improved:
urban: 33.5% of population
(2015 est.)
[see also: Sanitation facility access - improved - urban country ranks ]
rural: 8.5% of population
(2015 est.)
[see also: Sanitation facility access - improved - rural country ranks ]
total: 20.8% of population
(2015 est.)
unimproved:
urban: 66.5% of population
(2015 est.)
rural: 91.5% of population
(2015 est.)
total: 79.2% of population
(2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
3.5%
(2018 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
17
[see also: HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate country ranks ]
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
44,000
(2018 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
64
[see also: HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS country ranks ]
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
1,800
(2018 est.)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
48
[see also: HIV/AIDS - deaths country ranks ]
Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk:
very high
(2016)
food or waterborne diseases:
bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
(2016)
vectorborne diseases:
malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever
(2016)
water contact diseases:
schistosomiasis
(2016)
animal contact diseases:
rabies
(2016)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate:
9.5%
(2016)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
144
[see also: Obesity - adult prevalence rate country ranks ]
Children under the age of 5 years underweight:
17%
(2014)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
34
[see also: Children under the age of 5 years underweight country ranks ]
Education expenditures:
2.1% of GDP
(2013)
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
168
[see also: Education expenditures country ranks ]
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 59.9%
[see also: Literacy - total population country ranks ]
male: 71.8%
[see also: Literacy - male country ranks ]
female: 48.3%
(2015)
[see also: Literacy - female country ranks ]
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Guinea-Bissau on this page is re-published from the 2020 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea-Bissau People 2020 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Guinea-Bissau People 2020 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may have the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assigns counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order.
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This page was last modified 27-Jan-20