Togo People - 2023
SOURCE: 2023 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK
Population
8,703,961 (2023 est.)
Nationality
noun: Togolese (singular and plural)
adjective: Togolese
Ethnic groups
Adja-Ewe/Mina 42.4%, Kabye/Tem 25.9%, Para-Gourma/Akan 17.1%, Akposso/Akebu 4.1%, Ana-Ife 3.2%, other Togolese 1.7%, foreigners 5.2%, no response 0.4% (2013-14 est.)
note: Togo has an estimated 37 ethnic groups
Languages
French (official, the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north)
Religions
Christian 42.3%, folk religion 36.9%, Muslim 14%, Hindu
Demographic profile
Togo’s population is estimated to have grown to four times its size between 1960 and 2010. With nearly 60% of its populace under the age of 25 and a high annual growth rate attributed largely to high fertility, Togo’s population is likely to continue to expand for the foreseeable future. Reducing fertility, boosting job creation, and improving education will be essential to reducing the country’s high poverty rate. In 2008, Togo eliminated primary school enrollment fees, leading to higher enrollment but increased pressure on limited classroom space, teachers, and materials. Togo has a good chance of achieving universal primary education, but educational quality, the underrepresentation of girls, and the low rate of enrollment in secondary and tertiary schools remain concerns.
Togo is both a country of emigration and asylum. In the early 1990s, southern Togo suffered from the economic decline of the phosphate sector and ethnic and political repression at the hands of dictator Gnassingbe EYADEMA and his northern, Kabye-dominated administration. The turmoil led 300,000 to 350,000 predominantly southern Togolese to flee to Benin and Ghana, with most not returning home until relative stability was restored in 1997. In 2005, another outflow of 40,000 Togolese to Benin and Ghana occurred when violence broke out between the opposition and security forces over the disputed election of EYADEMA’s son Faure GNASSINGBE to the presidency. About half of the refugees reluctantly returned home in 2006, many still fearing for their safety. Despite ethnic tensions and periods of political unrest, Togo in December 2022 was home to almost 8,400 refugees from Ghana.
Age structure
0-14 years: 38.98% (male 1,720,743/female 1,672,286)
15-64 years: 56.76% (male 2,413,709/female 2,526,816)
65 years and over: 4.26% (2023 est.) (male 153,461/female 216,946)
Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio: 76.5
youth dependency ratio: 71
elderly dependency ratio: 5.5
potential support ratio: 18.3 (2021 est.)
Median age
total: 20 years
male: 19.7 years
female: 20.3 years (2020 est.)
Population growth rate
2.45% (2023 est.)
Birth rate
31.39 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Death rate
5.16 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Net migration rate
-1.77 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Population distribution
one of the more densely populated African nations with most of the population residing in rural communities, density is highest in the south on or near the Atlantic coast as shown in this population distribution map
Urbanization
urban population: 44.5% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 3.6% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Major urban areas - population
1.982 million LOME (capital) (2023)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth
25 years (2017 est.)
note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-29
Maternal mortality ratio
399 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
Infant mortality rate
total: 39.79 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 44.41 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 35.03 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 71.71 years
male: 69.13 years
female: 74.37 years (2023 est.)
Total fertility rate
4.18 children born/woman (2023 est.)
Gross reproduction rate
2.06 (2023 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate
23.9% (2017)
Drinking water source
improved: urban: 93.8% of population
rural: 60.3% of population
total: 74.6% of population
unimproved: urban: 6.2% of population
rural: 39.7% of population
total: 25.4% of population (2020 est.)
Current health expenditure
6% of GDP (2020)
Physicians density
0.08 physicians/1,000 population (2020)
Hospital bed density
0.7 beds/1,000 population (2011)
Sanitation facility access
improved: urban: 81.9% of population
rural: 18.3% of population
total: 45.5% of population
unimproved: urban: 18.1% of population
rural: 81.7% of population
total: 54.5% 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: malaria and dengue 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; Togo 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
8.4% (2016)
Alcohol consumption per capita
total: 1.4 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0.78 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.09 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.2 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0.33 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Tobacco use
total: 6.8% (2020 est.)
male: 12.3% (2020 est.)
female: 1.2% (2020 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight
15.2% (2017)
Currently married women (ages 15-49)
62% (2023 est.)
Child marriage
women married by age 15: 6.4%
women married by age 18: 24.8%
men married by age 18: 2.6% (2017 est.)
Education expenditures
4% of GDP (2020 est.)
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 66.5%
male: 80%
female: 55.1% (2019)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 13 years
male: 14 years
female: 12 years (2017)
Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)
total: 9.7%
male: 12.3%
female: 7.7% (2021 est.)
NOTE: The information regarding Togo 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 Togo 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Togo 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.