Demographics of Burkina Faso

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Burkina Faso, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Demographics of Burkina Faso, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

Burkina Faso's 15.3 million people belong to two major West African cultural groups—the Gur (Voltaic) and the Mandé. The Voltaic are far more numerous and include the Mossi, who make up about one-half of the population. The Mossi claim descent from warriors who migrated to present-day Burkina Faso and established an empire that lasted more than 800 years. Predominantly farmers, the Mossi are still bound by the traditions of the Mogho Naba, who hold court in Ouagadougou.

About 12,000 Europeans reside in Burkina Faso, the majority of whom are French.

Most of Burkina Faso's population is concentrated in the south and center of the country, with a population density sometimes exceeding 48 inhabitants per square kilometer (120 inhabitants per square mile). This population density, high for Africa, causes annual migrations of hundreds of thousands of Burkinabé to Ivory Coast and Ghana for seasonal agricultural work. About a third of Burkinabé adhere to traditional African religions. The introduction of Islam to Burkina Faso was initially resisted by the Mossi rulers. Christians, predominantly Roman Catholics, are largely concentrated among the urban elite.

Few Burkinabé have had formal education. Schooling is free but not compulsory, and only about 29% of Burkina's primary school-age children receive a basic education. The University of Ouagadougou, founded in 1974, was the country's first institution of higher education. The Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso in Bobo-Dioulasso was opened in 1995.

Peanut seller in Ouagadougou

Population

According to the 2010 revison of the World Population Prospects the total population was 16 469 000 in 2010, compared to only 4 284 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 45.3%, 52.4% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.2% was 65 years or older .

	Total population (x 1000)	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	4 284	40.7	57.3	2.0
1955	4 535	40.9	56.9	2.2
1960	4 882	41.3	56.4	2.3
1965	5 284	41.9	55.7	2.4
1970	5 807	43.6	53.9	2.5
1975	6 435	44.9	52.5	2.6
1980	7 212	46.4	50.9	2.7
1985	8 170	47.4	49.9	2.7
1990	9 324	47.7	49.7	2.6
1995	10 692	47.2	50.3	2.5
2000	12 294	46.5	51.2	2.3
2005	14 198	45.9	51.9	2.2
2010	16 469	45.3	52.4	2.2

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (December 9 2006) (Census) :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	6 768 739	7 248 523	14 017 262	100
0-4	1 230 610	1 206 303	2 436 913	17.39
5-9	1 176 473	1 139 237	2 315 710	16.52
10-14	900 103	846 485	1 746 588	12.46
15-19	710 323	764 962	1 475 285	10.52
20-24	530 425	654 953	1 185 378	8.46
25-29	448 431	560 854	1 009 285	7.20
30-34	363 408	431 412	794 820	5.67
35-39	298 236	358 588	656 824	4.69
40-44	250 143	299 144	549 287	3.92
45-49	195 016	232 723	427 739	3.05
50-54	166 281	192 529	358 810	2.56
55-59	132 254	141 309	273 563	1.95
60-64	111 176	127 786	238 962	1.70
65-69	80 542	83 067	163 609	1.17
70-74	63 727	72 555	136 282	0.97
75-79	37 186	39 927	77 113	0.55
80-84	21 791	28 526	50 317	0.36
85-89	9 645	12 049	21 694	0.15
90-94	4 480	7 049	11 529	0.08
95+	4 727	8 340	13 067	0.09
unknown	33 762	40 725	74 487	0.53

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	3 307 186	3 192 025	6 499 211	46.37
15-64	3 239 455	3 582 887	6 822 342	48.67
65+	222 098	251 513	473 611	3.38

Structure of the population (July 1 2009) (Data refer to national projections) :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	7 346 835	7 877 945	15 224 780	100
0-4	1 499 793	1 414 559	2 914 352	19.14
5-9	1 236 776	1 179 631	2 416 407	15.87
10-14	988 126	985 689	1 973 815	12.96
15-19	774 081	803 243	1 577 324	10.36
20-24	579 080	730 558	1 309 638	8.60
25-29	455 063	590 553	1 045 616	6.87
30-34	389 101	488 994	878 095	5.77
35-39	308 106	371 797	679 903	4.47
40-44	263 840	325 937	589 777	3.87
45-49	206 387	246 707	453 094	2.98
50-54	172 330	210 565	382 895	2.51
55-59	133 841	146 677	280 518	1.84
60-64	118 221	136 751	254 972	1.67
65-69	81 902	85 418	167 320	1.10
70-74	64 975	73 639	138 614	0.91
75-79	37 101	38 563	75 664	0.50
80+	38 112	48 664	86 776	0.57

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	3 724 695	3 579 879	7 304 574	47.98
15-64	3 400 050	4 051 782	7 451 832	48.95
65+	222 090	246 284	468 374	3.08

Structure of the population (DHS 2010) (Males 39 183, Females 41 651 = 80 835) :

Age Group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-4	18.9	17.3	18.0
5-9	18.0	16.0	16.9
10-14	14.7	13.6	14.1
15-19	9.0	8.1	8.5
20-24	6.1	8.1	7.1
25-29	5.4	7.4	6.4
30-34	5.1	6.3	5.7
35-39	4.3	4.9	4.6
40-44	3.8	4.0	3.9
45-49	3.3	3.1	3.2
50-54	2.5	4.1	3.3
55-59	2.1	2.4	2.3
60-64	2.4	1.8	2.1
65-69	1.6	1.1	1.3
70-74	1.4	1.0	1.2
75-79	0.8	0.3	0.6
80+	0.7	0.5	0.6

Age group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-14	51.6	46.9	49
15-64	43.9	50.2	47.3
65+	4.5	2.9	3.7

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Burkina Faso not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*
1950-1955	208 000	138 000	70 000	47.3	31.3	16.0	6.10	308
1955-1960	225 000	135 000	90 000	47.7	28.6	19.1	6.24	258
1960-1965	243 000	134 000	109 000	47.9	26.4	21.5	6.35	217
1965-1970	269 000	135 000	134 000	48.4	24.3	24.1	6.56	184
1970-1975	294 000	135 000	160 000	48.1	22.0	26.1	6.70	157
1975-1980	335 000	136 000	199 000	49.1	20.0	29.1	7.02	136
1980-1985	373 000	138 000	235 000	48.5	18.0	30.6	7.06	121
1985-1990	417 000	149 000	268 000	47.7	17.1	30.6	6.94	111
1990-1995	469 000	165 000	304 000	46.8	16.5	30.3	6.71	101
1995-2000	527 000	179 000	348 000	45.8	15.6	30.3	6.40	93
2000-2005	594 000	189 000	406 000	44.9	14.2	30.6	6.14	86
2005-2010	672 000	193 000	479 000	43.9	12.6	31.2	5.95	79
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
1993	43.0	6.9 (6.0)	39.0	5.0 (3.9)	43.0	7.3 (6.5)
1998-99	45.1	6.8 (6.0)	32.6	4.1 (3.4)	47.0	7.3 (6.5)
2003	42.6	6.2 (5.4)	32.4	3.7 (3.2)	44.5	6.9 (6.0)
2010	41.2	6.0 (5.2)	33.3	3.9 (3.3)	43.3	6.7 (5.9)

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

15,746,232 (July 2009 est.)

Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected

Age structure

0-14 years: 46.8% (male 3,267,202/female 3,235,190)

15-64 years: 50.7% (male 3,513,559/female 3,538,623)

65 years and over: 2.5% (male 140,083/female 208,315) (2006 est.)

Median age

Total: 16.8 years

Male: 16.6 years

Female: 17 years (2009 est.)

Population growth rate

3.103% (2009 est.)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.65 male(s)/female

Total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

A girl from Burkina Faso

Life expectancy at birth

all 54 years

Male: 51.04 years

Female: 54.91 years (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: 1.6% (2007 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 130,000 (2007 est.)

Deaths: 9,200 (2007 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Degree of risk: very high

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

Vectorborne disease: malaria and yellow fever

Water contact disease: schistosomiasis

Respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis

Animal contact diseases: rabies (2009)

Nationality

Noun: Burkinabé (singular and plural)

Adjective: Burkinabé

Ethnic groups

Bobo men in Bobo-Dioulasso

Mossi - over 40%, Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Fulani, Mandé, European

Religions

Main article: Religion in Burkina Faso

Muslim 50%, Christian (mainly Roman Catholic) 30%, Indigenous beliefs 20%

Languages

Further information: Languages of Burkina Faso

French (official), native African languages (spoken by 90% of the population) including: More, Dioula, Gurma, Senufo

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 21.8%

Male: 29.4%

Female: 15.2% (2003 est.)

Education expenditure

4.2% of GDP (2006)

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2009 edition".