18,523,165 (2023 est.)
noun: Chadian(s)
adjective: Chadian
Sara (Ngambaye/Sara/Madjingaye/Mbaye) 30.5%, Kanembu/Bornu/Buduma 9.8%, Arab 9.7%, Wadai/Maba/Masalit/Mimi 7%, Gorane 5.8%, Masa/Musseye/Musgum 4.9%, Bulala/Medogo/Kuka 3.7%, Marba/Lele/Mesme 3.5%, Mundang 2.7%, Bidiyo/Migaama/Kenga/Dangleat 2.5%, Dadjo/Kibet/Muro 2.4%, Tupuri/Kera 2%, Gabri/Kabalaye/Nanchere/Somrai 2%, Fulani/Fulbe/Bodore 1.8%, Karo/Zime/Peve 1.3%, Baguirmi/Barma 1.2%, Zaghawa/Bideyat/Kobe 1.1%, Tama/Assongori/Mararit 1.1%, Mesmedje/Massalat/Kadjakse 0.8%, other Chadian ethnicities 3.4%, Chadians of foreign ethnicities 0.9%, foreign nationals 0.3%, unspecified 1.7% (2014-15 est.)
French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 different languages and dialects
major-language sample(s):
The World Factbook, une source indispensable d'informations de base. (French)
كتاب حقائق العالم، المصدر الذي لا يمكن الاستغناء عنه للمعلومات الأساسية (Arabic)
The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
French audio sample:
Arabic audio sample:
Muslim 52.1%, Protestant 23.9%, Roman Catholic 20%, animist 0.3%, other Christian 0.2%, none 2.8%, unspecified 0.7% (2014-15 est.)
Despite the start of oil production in 2003, around 40% of Chad’s population lived below the poverty line as of 2018. The population will continue to grow rapidly because of the country’s very high fertility rate and large youth cohort – more than 65% of the populace is under the age of 25 as of 2022 – although the mortality rate is high and life expectancy is low. Chad has the world’s second highest maternal mortality rate as of 2017. Among the primary risk factors are poverty, anemia, rural habitation, high fertility, poor education, and a lack of access to family planning and obstetric care. Impoverished, uneducated adolescents living in rural areas are most affected. To improve women’s reproductive health and reduce fertility, Chad will need to increase women’s educational attainment, job participation, and knowledge of and access to family planning. Less than a quarter of women are literate, less than 10% use contraceptives, and more than 40% undergo genital cutting.
As of December 2022, more than 403,000 refugees from Sudan and more than 120,000 from the Central African Republic strain Chad’s limited resources and create tensions in host communities. Thousands of new refugees fled to Chad in 2013 to escape worsening violence in the Darfur region of Sudan. The large refugee populations are hesitant to return to their home countries because of continued instability. Chad was relatively stable in 2012 in comparison to other states in the region, but past fighting between government forces and opposition groups and inter-communal violence have left more than 380,000 of its citizens displaced in the eastern part of the country as of 2022.
0-14 years: 46.24% (male 4,334,264/female 4,231,658)
15-64 years: 51.27% (male 4,646,510/female 4,849,878)
65 years and over: 2.49% (2023 est.) (male 197,450/female 263,405)
2023 population pyramid: 
total dependency ratio: 98.7
youth dependency ratio: 94.7
elderly dependency ratio: 4
potential support ratio: 24.9 (2021 est.)
total: 16.5 years (2023 est.)
male: 16.1 years
female: 17 years
3.05% (2023 est.)
39.9 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
9.2 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
-0.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
the population is unevenly distributed due to contrasts in climate and physical geography; the highest density is found in the southwest, particularly around Lake Chad and points south; the dry Saharan zone to the north is the least densely populated as shown in this 
urban population: 24.4% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 4.1% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
1.592 million N'DJAMENA (capital) (2023)
at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
18.1 years (2014/15 est.)
note: data represents median age at first birth among women 20-49
1,063 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
total: 64 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
male: 69.6 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 58.1 deaths/1,000 live births
total population: 59.6 years (2023 est.)
male: 57.7 years
female: 61.5 years
5.35 children born/woman (2023 est.)
2.62 (2023 est.)
8.1% (2019)
improved: urban: 90.2% of population
rural: 51.9% of population
total: 60.9% of population
unimproved: urban: 9.8% of population
rural: 48.1% of population
total: 39.1% of population (2020 est.)
5.4% of GDP (2020)
0.06 physicians/1,000 population (2020)
improved: urban: 57.5% of population
rural: 4.9% of population
total: 17.3% of population
unimproved: urban: 42.5% of population
rural: 95.1% of population
total: 82.7% of population (2020 est.)
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 sexually transmitted diseases: hepatitis B (2024)
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis
note: on 31 August 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Chad 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
6.1% (2016)
total: 0.55 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0.37 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.01 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.01 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0.16 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
total: 8.3% (2020 est.)
male: 13.8% (2020 est.)
female: 2.7% (2020 est.)
18.9% (2022)
70.6% (2023 est.)
women married by age 15: 24.2%
women married by age 18: 60.6%
men married by age 18: 8.1% (2019 est.)
2.9% of GDP (2021 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write French or Arabic
total population: 26.8%
male: 35.4%
female: 18.2% (2021)
total: 7 years
male: 9 years
female: 6 years (2015)
NOTE: The information regarding Chad on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Chad 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Chad 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 04 May 24, Copyright © 2024 ITA all rights reserved.
