Sudan People - 2023
SOURCE: 2023 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK
Population
49,197,555 (2023 est.)
Nationality
noun: Sudanese (singular and plural)
adjective: Sudanese
Ethnic groups
Sudanese Arab (approximately 70%), Fur, Beja, Nuba, Ingessana, Uduk, Fallata, Masalit, Dajo, Gimir, Tunjur, Berti; there are over 500 ethnic groups
Languages
Arabic (official), English (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, Fur
major-language sample(s):
كتاب حقائق العالم، المصدر الذي لا يمكن الاستغناء عنه للمعلومات الأساسية (Arabic)
The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. (English)
Religions
Sunni Muslim, small Christian minority
Demographic profile
Sudan’s population grew almost fourfold between 1956 and 2008, the date of its last census. Even after the southern part of the country became independent South Sudan in 2011, the population of Sudan has continued to grow. The gender balance overall is fairly even. Females, however, are more prevalent in rural areas because of males migrating to urban areas in search of work. The total fertility rate (TFR) remains high despite falling from 7 children per woman in Sudan’s first census in 1955 to about 4.5 in 2022, which can be attributed to early marriage and a low contraceptive prevalence rate. Among the factors that led to the reduction in fertility are family planning, improvement in women’s education and participation in the labor force outside the home, and migration and urbanization.
The continued slow decline in fertility accompanied by a drop in mortality and increased life expectancy has produced an age structure where approximately 55% of the population was of working age (15-64) as of 2020. This share will grow as the sizable youth population becomes working age. As Sudan’s working age population increasingly outnumbers the youth and elderly populations (the dependent populations), the country will approach the possibility of a demographic dividend. The window of opportunity for potential economic growth depends not only on a favorable age structure but also on having a trained and educated workforce, job creation (particularly in the formal market), and investment in health, as well as generating savings to invest in schooling and care for the elderly. As of 2018, Sudan’s literacy rate was just over 60%, and even lower among women. Improvements in school enrollment, student-teacher ratio, infrastructure, funding, and educational quality could help the country to realize a demographic dividend.
Age structure
0-14 years: 40.47% (male 10,115,311/female 9,793,060)
15-64 years: 56.35% (male 13,774,002/female 13,946,621)
65 years and over: 3.19% (2023 est.) (male 814,480/female 754,081)
Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio: 76.9
youth dependency ratio: 74
elderly dependency ratio: 6.2
potential support ratio: 16.2 (2021 est.)
Median age
total: 18.3 years
male: 18.1 years
female: 18.5 years (2020 est.)
Population growth rate
2.55% (2023 est.)
Birth rate
33.32 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Death rate
6.19 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Net migration rate
-1.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Population distribution
with the exception of a ribbon of settlement that corresponds to the banks of the Nile, northern Sudan, which extends into the dry Sahara, is sparsely populated; more abundant vegetation and broader access to water increases population distribution in the south extending habitable range along nearly the entire border with South Sudan; sizeable areas of population are found around Khartoum, southeast between the Blue and White Nile Rivers, and throughout South Darfur as shown on this population distribution map
Urbanization
urban population: 36.3% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 3.43% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Major urban areas - population
6.344 million KHARTOUM (capital), 1.057 million Nyala (2023)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.08 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
Maternal mortality ratio
270 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
Infant mortality rate
total: 41.4 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 46.87 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 35.66 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 67.45 years
male: 65.19 years
female: 69.81 years (2023 est.)
Total fertility rate
4.54 children born/woman (2023 est.)
Gross reproduction rate
2.21 (2023 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate
12.2% (2014)
Drinking water source
improved: urban: 99% of population
rural: 80.7% of population
total: 87.1% of population
unimproved: urban: 1% of population
rural: 19.3% of population
total: 12.9% of population (2020 est.)
Current health expenditure
3% of GDP (2020)
Physicians density
0.26 physicians/1,000 population (2017)
Hospital bed density
0.7 beds/1,000 population (2017)
Sanitation facility access
improved: urban: 72.1% of population
rural: 30.6% of population
total: 45.3% of population
unimproved: urban: 27.9% of population
rural: 69.4% of population
total: 54.7% of population (2020 est.)
Major infectious diseases
degree of risk: very high (2023)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and Rift Valley fever
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; Sudan 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
6.6% (2014)
Alcohol consumption per capita
total: 1.93 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.29 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 1.63 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight
33% (2014)
Currently married women (ages 15-49)
61.4% (2023 est.)
Education expenditures
N/A
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 60.7%
male: 65.4%
female: 56.1% (2018)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 8 years
male: 8 years
female: 7 years (2015)
Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)
total: 35.6%
male: 30.5%
female: 45.8% (2021 est.)
NOTE: The information regarding Sudan 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 Sudan 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sudan 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.