Liberia People - 2022
SOURCE: 2022 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK
Population
5,358,483 (2022 est.)
Nationality
noun: Liberian(s)
adjective: Liberian
Ethnic groups
Kpelle 20.3%, Bassa 13.4%, Grebo 10%, Gio 8%, Mano 7.9%, Kru 6%, Lorma 5.1%, Kissi 4.8%, Gola 4.4%, Krahn 4%, Vai 4%, Mandingo 3.2%, Gbandi 3%, Mende 1.3%, Sapo 1.3%, other Liberian 1.7%, other African 1.4%, non-African .1% (2008 est.)
Languages
English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages few of which can be written or used in correspondence
Religions
Christian 85.6%, Muslim 12.2%, Traditional 0.6%, other 0.2%, none 1.5% (2008 est.)
Demographic profile
Liberia’s high fertility rate of nearly 5 children per woman and large youth cohort – more than 60% of the population is under the age of 25 – will sustain a high dependency ratio for many years to come. Significant progress has been made in preventing child deaths, despite a lack of health care workers and infrastructure. Infant and child mortality have dropped nearly 70% since 1990; the annual reduction rate of about 5.4% is the highest in Africa.
Nevertheless, Liberia’s high maternal mortality rate remains among the world’s worst; it reflects a high unmet need for family planning services, frequency of early childbearing, lack of quality obstetric care, high adolescent fertility, and a low proportion of births attended by a medical professional. Female mortality is also increased by the prevalence of female genital cutting (FGC), which is practiced by 10 of Liberia’s 16 tribes and affects more than two-thirds of women and girls. FGC is an initiation ritual performed in rural bush schools, which teach traditional beliefs on marriage and motherhood and are an obstacle to formal classroom education for Liberian girls.
Liberia has been both a source and a destination for refugees. During Liberia’s 14-year civil war (1989-2003), more than 250,000 people became refugees and another half million were internally displaced. Between 2004 and the cessation of refugee status for Liberians in June 2012, the UNHCR helped more than 155,000 Liberians to voluntarily repatriate, while others returned home on their own. Some Liberian refugees spent more than two decades living in other West African countries. Liberia hosted more than 125,000 Ivoirian refugees escaping post-election violence in 2010-11; as of mid-2017, about 12,000 Ivoirian refugees were still living in Liberia as of October 2017 because of instability.
Age structure
0-14 years: 43.35% (male 1,111,479/female 1,087,871)
15-24 years: 20.35% (male 516,136/female 516,137)
25-54 years: 30.01% (male 747,983/female 774,615)
55-64 years: 3.46% (male 89,150/female 86,231)
65 years and over: 2.83% (male 70,252/female 73,442) (2020 est.)
Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio: 79.7
youth dependency ratio: 73.7
elderly dependency ratio: 6
potential support ratio: 16.7 (2021 est.)
Median age
total: 18 years
male: 17.7 years
female: 18.2 years (2020 est.)
Population growth rate
2.73% (2022 est.)
Birth rate
36.64 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate
6.62 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Net migration rate
-2.74 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Population distribution
more than half of the population lives in urban areas, with approximately one-third living within an 80-km radius of Monrovia as shown in this population distribution map
Urbanization
urban population: 53.6% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 3.41% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Major urban areas - population
1.623 million MONROVIA (capital) (2022)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth
19.1 years (2019/20 est.)
note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-49
Maternal mortality ratio
661 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)
Infant mortality rate
total: 44.57 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 48.68 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 40.34 deaths/1,000 live births (2022 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 65.45 years
male: 63.19 years
female: 67.78 years (2022 est.)
Total fertility rate
4.79 children born/woman (2022 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate
24.9% (2019/20)
Drinking water source
improved: urban: 96.2% of population
rural: 70.6% of population
total: 84% of population
unimproved: urban: 3.8% of population
rural: 29.4% of population
total: 16% of population (2020 est.)
Current health expenditure
8.5% of GDP (2019)
Physicians density
0.05 physicians/1,000 population (2018)
Sanitation facility access
improved: urban: 68% of population
rural: 25.2% of population
total: 47.5% of population
unimproved: urban: 32% of population
rural: 74.8% of population
total: 52.5% of population (2020 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate
1.1% (2021 est.)
Major infectious diseases
degree of risk: very high (2020)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
aerosolized dust or soil contact diseases: Lassa fever
note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Liberia is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine
Obesity - adult prevalence rate
9.9% (2016)
Alcohol consumption per capita
total: 3.12 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0.38 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.44 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 2.28 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0.02 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Tobacco use
total: 8.2% (2020 est.)
male: 14.3% (2020 est.)
female: 2% (2020 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight
10.9% (2019/20)
Child marriage
women married by age 15: NA
women married by age 18: NA
men married by age 18: 8.4% (2020 est.)
Education expenditures
2.7% of GDP (2021 est.)
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 48.3%
male: 62.7%
female: 34.1% (2017)
Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)
total: 8.9%
male: 8.8%
female: 9% (2017 est.)
NOTE: The information regarding Liberia on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Liberia 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Liberia 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 01 Dec 23, Copyright © 23 ITA all rights reserved.