Burkina Faso People - 2023


SOURCE: 2023 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES  Spanish Simplified Chinese French German Russian Hindi Arabic Portuguese

Population

22,489,126 (2023 est.)

Nationality

noun: Burkinabe (singular and plural)

adjective: Burkinabe

Ethnic groups

Mossi 52%, Fulani (Peuhl) 8.4%, Gurma 7%, Bobo 4.9%, Gurunsi 4.6%, Senufo 4.5%, Bissa 3.7%, Lobi 2.4%, Dagara 2.4%, Tuareg/Bella 1.9%, Dioula 0.8%, unspecified/no answer 0.3%, other 7.2% (2010 est.)

Languages

Mossi 52.9%, Fula 7.8%, Gourmantche 6.8%, Dyula 5.7%, Bissa 3.3%, Gurunsi 3.2%, French (official) 2.2%, Bwamu 2%, Dagara 2%, San 1.7%, Marka 1.6%, Bobo 1.5%, Senufo 1.5%, Lobi 1.2%, other 6.6% (2019 est.)

Religions

Muslim 63.2%, Roman Catholic 24.6%, Protestant 6.9%, traditional/animist 4.2%, none 0.7%, unspecified 0.4% (2017-18 est.)

Demographic profile

Burkina Faso has a young age structure – the result of declining mortality combined with steady high fertility – and continues to experience rapid population growth, which is putting increasing pressure on the country’s limited arable land. Almost 65% of the population is under the age of 25 as of 2020, and the population is growing at 2.5% annually. Mortality rates, especially those of infants and children, have decreased because of improved health care, hygiene, and sanitation, but women continue to have an average of more than 4 children. Even if fertility were substantially reduced, today’s large cohort entering their reproductive years would sustain high population growth for the foreseeable future. Only about a third of the population is literate and unemployment is widespread, dampening the economic prospects of Burkina Faso’s large working-age population.

Migration has traditionally been a way of life for Burkinabe, with seasonal migration being replaced by stints of up to two years abroad. Cote d’Ivoire remains the top destination, although it has experienced periods of internal conflict. Under French colonization, Burkina Faso became a main labor source for agricultural and factory work in Cote d’Ivoire. Burkinabe also migrated to Ghana, Mali, and Senegal for work between the world wars. Burkina Faso attracts migrants from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Mali, who often share common ethnic backgrounds with the Burkinabe. Despite its food shortages and high poverty rate, Burkina Faso has become a destination for refugees in recent years and hosts about 33,600 Malian refugees as of October 2022.

(2018)

Age structure

0-14 years: 42.19% (male 4,813,760/female 4,674,649)

15-64 years: 54.62% (male 5,899,774/female 6,383,134)

65 years and over: 3.19% (2023 est.) (male 305,233/female 412,576)

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 87.4

youth dependency ratio: 82.6

elderly dependency ratio: 4.8

potential support ratio: 20.9 (2021 est.)

Median age

total: 17.9 years

male: 17 years

female: 18.7 years (2020 est.)

Population growth rate

2.46% (2023 est.)

Birth rate

32.71 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Death rate

7.5 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Net migration rate

-0.59 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Population distribution

Most of the population is located in the center and south. Nearly one-third of the population lives in cities. The capital and largest city is Ouagadougou (Ouaga), with a population of 1.8 million as shown in this population distribution map

(2019)

Urbanization

urban population: 32.5% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 4.75% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Major urban areas - population

3.204 million OUAGADOUGOU (capital), 1.129 million Bobo-Dioulasso (2023)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.03 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female

total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2023 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth

19.4 years (2010 est.)

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

Maternal mortality ratio

264 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 48.17 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 52.39 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 43.83 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 63.82 years

male: 61.99 years

female: 65.72 years (2023 est.)

Total fertility rate

4.14 children born/woman (2023 est.)

Gross reproduction rate

2.04 (2023 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

35.3% (2020/21)

Drinking water source

improved: urban: 94.7% of population

rural: 71.3% of population

total: 78.5% of population

unimproved: urban: 5.3% of population

rural: 28.7% of population

total: 21.5% of population (2020 est.)

Current health expenditure

6.7% of GDP (2020)

Physicians density

0.09 physicians/1,000 population (2019)

Hospital bed density

0.4 beds/1,000 population

Sanitation facility access

improved: urban: 90.8% of population

rural: 37.7% of population

total: 54% of population

unimproved: urban: 9.2% of population

rural: 62.3% of population

total: 46% of population (2020 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: very high (2023)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria

water contact diseases: schistosomiasis

animal contact diseases: rabies

respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis

note: on 22 March 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Burkina Faso 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

5.6% (2016)

Alcohol consumption per capita

total: 7.28 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

beer: 1 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

wine: 0.08 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

spirits: 0.31 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

other alcohols: 5.88 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

Tobacco use

total: 14.3% (2020 est.)

male: 22.1% (2020 est.)

female: 6.4% (2020 est.)

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

16.4% (2019)

Currently married women (ages 15-49)

73.5% (2023)

Education expenditures

5.5% of GDP (2020 est.)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 46%

male: 54.5%

female: 37.8% (2021)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 9 years

male: 9 years

female: 9 years (2020)

Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 7.7%

male: 7.5%

female: 8% (2021 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Burkina Faso on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Burkina Faso 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Burkina Faso 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.

This page was last modified 06 Dec 23, Copyright © 2023 ITA all rights reserved.