Demographics of Sierra Leone
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Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
are made up of an indigenous population from 18 ethnic groups. The Temne people, Temne in the north and the Mende in the south are the largest. About 60,000 are Krio, the descendants of freed slaves who returned to Sierra Leone from
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
, North America and slave ships captured on the high seas. In addition, about 5,000 Lebanese, 1,000
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ns, and 5,000
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ans reside in the country. In the past, some Sierra Leoneans were noted for their
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
al achievements, trading activity, entrepreneurial skills, and arts and crafts work, particularly
woodcarving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...
. Many are part of larger ethnic networks extending into several countries, which link West African states in the area. Their level of education and infrastructure have declined sharply over the last 30 years.


Population

According to the total population was in , compared to only 1 895 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 43%, 55.1% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 1.9% was 65 years or older .Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision
Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2020):


Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Sierra Leone not complete. The website
Our World in Data Our World in Data (OWID) is a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems such as poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war, existential risks, and inequality. It is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a re ...
prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the
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.


Fertility and Births

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


Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022. *One birth every 2 minutes *One death every 6 minutes *One net migrant every 131 minutes *Net gain of one person every 3 minutes The following demographic are from the CIA World Factbook unless otherwise indicated.


Population

:8,692,606 (2022 est.) :6,312,212 (July 2018 est.)


Religions

Muslim 77.1%, Christian 22.9% (2019 est.)


Age structure

:''0-14 years:'' 41.38% (male 1,369,942/female 1,371,537) :''15-24 years:'' 18.83% (male 610,396/female 636,880) :''25-54 years:'' 32.21% (male 1,020,741/female 1,112,946) :''55-64 years:'' 3.89% (male 121,733/female 135,664) :''65 years and over:'' 3.7% (2020 est.) (male 100,712/female 144,382) :''0-14 years:'' 41.71% (male 1,314,905 /female 1,317,921) :''15-24 years:'' 18.6% (male 572,274 /female 602,105) :''25-54 years:'' 32.23% (male 973,698 /female 1,060,688) :''55-64 years:'' 3.7% (male 110,176 /female 123,268) :''65 years and over:'' 3.76% (male 97,922 /female 139,255) (2018 est.)


Birth rate

:32.2 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 24th :36 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 18th :38.12 births/1,000 population (2012 est.)


Death rate

:9.32 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 50th :10.2 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 33rd :11.41 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)


Total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

:3.8 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 31st :4.69 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 21st :4.9 children born/woman (2012 est.)


Population growth rate

:2.49% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 23rd :2.4% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 27th :2.33% growth rate (2014 est.)


Median age

:total: 19.1 years. Country comparison to the world: 206th :male: 18.5 years :female: 19.7 years (2020 est.) :total: 19.1 years. Country comparison to the world: 201st :male: 18.4 years :female: 19.7 years (2018 est.)


Mother's mean age at first birth

:19.6 years (2019 est.) :note: median age at first birth among women 20-49


Contraceptive prevalence rate

:21.2% (2019) :16.6% (2013)


Net migration rate

:2.03 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 50th :-1.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 160th :-3.86 migrants/1,000 population (2012 est.)


Dependency ratio The dependency ratio is an age-population ratio of those typically not in the labor force (the ''dependent'' part ages 0 to 14 and 65+) and those typically in the labor force (the ''productive'' part ages 15 to 64). It is used to measure the press ...
s

:total dependency ratio: 82.6 (2015 est.) :youth dependency ratio: 78 (2015 est.) :elderly dependency ratio: 4.6 (2015 est.) :
potential support ratio The potential support ratio (PSR) is the number of people age 15–64 per one older person aged 65 or older. This ratio describes the burden placed on the working population (unemployment and children are not considered in this measure) by the no ...
: 21.9 (2015 est.)


Sex ratio

:at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female :under 15 years: 0.99 male(s)/female :15–64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female :65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female :total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2011 est.)


Maternal Mortality Ratio

:890 deaths/100 000 births (2010) Sierra Leone's MMR is the worst of any country in the world, according to the 2000
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,
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and
UNFPA The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), formerly the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, is a UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide. Its work includes developing national healthcare strategies ...
report.


Life expectancy at birth

:total population: 58.76 years. Country comparison to the world: 223rd :male: 57.16 years :female: 60.41 years (2022 est.) :total population: 59 years :male: 56.4 years :female: 61.7 years (2018 est.) :total population: 56.55 years :male: 54.08 years :female: 59.11 years (2012 est.) :total population: 45.25 years :male: 42.37 years :female: 48.21 years (2000 est.)


Urbanization

:urban population: 43.8% of total population (2022) :rate of urbanization: 3.02% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) :urban population: 42.1% of total population (2018) :rate of urbanization: 3.12% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)


Education expenditures

:4.6% of GDP (2017)


Health expenditures

:11.1% of GDP (2014)


Physicians density

:0.02 physicians/1,000 population (2010)


Hospital bed density

:0.4 beds/1,000 population (2008)


HIV/AIDS

:adult prevalence rate: 1.4% (2017 est.) :people living with HIV/AIDS: 61,000 (2017 est.) :deaths: 2,600 (2017 est.)


Major infectious diseases

:degree of risk: very high (2020) :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 :aerosolized dust or soil contact diseases: Lassa fever note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Sierra Leone 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, CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine


Nationality

:''noun:'' Sierra Leonean(s) :''adjective:'' Sierra Leonean


Ethnic groups

:18 native African tribes 90% ( Temne people, Temne 36%, Mende 33%, Limba 6.4%, Kono 4.4% other 20%) : Creole 1.2% (descendants of freed
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
n slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-18th century) :Refugees from Liberia's recent civil war :Small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians


Languages

:English (official, regular use limited to literate minority) : Mende (principal vernacular in the south) : Temne (principal vernacular in the north) :
Fula Fula may refer to: *Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe) *Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani) **The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language **The Fula variety known as the Pular language **The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde *Al-Fula ...
(principal language in Sierra Leone, it is also strongly and widely spoken across West Africa and beyond...) : Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed American and
West India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Unio ...
n slaves and Liberated Africans who were settled in the
Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...
area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)


Education expenditure

:9.3% of GDP (2020) Country comparison to the world: 7th


Literacy

''Definition:'' Age 15 and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic :total population: 43.2% :male: 51.6% :female: 39.8% (2018) :total population: 48.1% :male: 58.7% :female: 37.7% (2015 est.) :Total population: 35.1% :Male: 46.9% :Female: 24.4% (2004 est.) :Total population: 31.4% :Male: 45.4% :Female: 18.2% (1995 est.)


Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

:total: 9.4% :male: 14.8% :female: 6.1% (2014 est.)


References

{{Africa in topic, Demographics of