The demographic profile of Cameroon is complex for a country of its population.

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...

comprises an estimated 250 distinct ethnic groups, which may be formed into five large regional-cultural divisions: * western highlanders (

Semi-Bantu Semi-Bantu or Semibantu is an outdated term used for specific inhabitants of the Western grassfields of Cameroon (portions of the Adamawa, West, Northwest, and Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed comp ...

or grassfielders), including the

Bamileke The Bamileke are a Central African people who inhabit the Western High Plateau of Cameroon. Languages The Bamileke languages belong to the Grassfields branch of the Niger-Congo language family, which is sometimes labeled as a " Bantuoid lan ...

Bamum Bamum, also spelled Bamoum, Bamun, or Bamoun, may refer to: *The Bamum people *The Bamum kingdom *The Bamum language *The Bamum script The Bamum scripts are an evolutionary series of six scripts created for the Bamum language by Ibrahim Njoya, ...

(or ''Bamoun''), and many smaller

Tikar The Tikar (also Tikari, Tige, Tigar, Tigre, Tikali) are a central African people who inhabit the Western High Plateau in Cameroon. They are known as great artisans and storytellers. Once a nomadic people, some oral traditions trace the origin of ...

groups in the

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each s ...

(est. 38% of total population); * coastal tropical forest peoples, including the Bassa, Duala (or ''Douala''), and many smaller groups in the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

(12%); * southern tropical forest peoples, including the

Beti-Pahuin The Beti-Pahuin are a Bantu ethnic group located in rain forest regions of Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Though they separate themselves into several individual clans, they all share a c ...

, Bulu (a subgroup of Beti-Pahuin), Fang (subgroup of Beti-Pahuin),

Maka Maka or MAKA may refer to: * Maká, a Native American people in Paraguay ** Maká language, spoken by the Maká * Maka (satrapy), a province of the Achaemenid Empire * Maka, Biffeche, capital of the kingdom of Biffeche in pre-colonial Senegal * Mak ...

Njem The Njyem (or Njem or Ndjem) are an ethnic group inhabiting the rain forest zone of southern Cameroon and northern Republic of the Congo. In Cameroon, the Njyem live along the road running south from Lomié, passing the government center of N ...

, and

Baka Baka, baká or BAKA may refer to: Ethnicities and languages * Baka people (Cameroon and Gabon), an African ethnic group * Baka people (Congo and South Sudan), an African ethnic group * Baka language, a dialect cluster of Cameroon and Gabon * Baka ...

pygmies (18%); * predominantly

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

ic peoples of the northern semi-arid regions (the

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid cli ...

) and central highlands, including the

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

(french: Peul or ''Peuhl''; ff, Fulɓe) (14%); ''and'' * the "

Kirdi The Kirdi () are the many cultures and ethnic groups who inhabit northwestern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria. The term was applied to various peoples who had not converted to Islam at the time of colonization and was a pejorative, although ...

", non-Islamic or recently Islamic peoples of the northern desert and central highlands (18%). 113,000

Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', * * * ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A s ...

live in Cameroon. The Cameroon government held two national censuses during the country's first 44 years as an independent country, in 1976 and again in 1987. Results from the second head count were never published. A third census, expected to take years to produce results, began on November 11, 2005, with a three-week interviewing phase. It is one of a series of projects and reforms required by the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

as prerequisites for foreign

debt relief Debt relief or debt cancellation is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. From antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, in particu ...

. The first results were published in 2010.

Population

According to the total population was in , compared to only 4 466 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.6%, 55.9% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.5% was 65 years or older. Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.I.2010): Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2019):

Fertility and births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2011 (DHS Program):

Vital statistics

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

Ethnic groups

*Cameroon Highlanders 31% *Equatorial

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle * Black Association for Nationa ...

19% *

11% *

10% *

Baggara Arabs The Baggāra ( ar, البَقَّارَة "heifer herder") or Chadian Arabs are a nomadic confederation of people of mixed Arab and Arabized indigenous African ancestry, inhabiting a portion of the Sahel mainly between Lake Chad and the Nile ri ...

(also called Arab Shuwa) *

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

* Mafa * Kanuri *Northwestern Bantu 8% *Eastern Nigritic 7% *Other African 13% *Non-African less than 1%

Languages

There are 24 major African language groups in Cameroon; additionally,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

are official languages.

Cameroonian Pidgin English Cameroonian Pidgin English, or Cameroonian Creole ( wes, Wes Cos, from West Coast), is a language variety of Cameroon. It is also known as Kamtok (from 'Cameroon-talk'). It is primarily spoken in the North West and South West English speaking r ...

is also widely spoken. Peoples concentrated in the Southwest and Northwest Provinces—around

Buea Buea is the capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon. The city is located in Fako Division, on the eastern slopes of Mount Cameroon, and has a population of 300,000 (at the 2013 Census). It has two Government Hotels, the Mountain Hotel and ...

and

Bamenda Bamenda, also known as Abakwa and Mankon Town, is a city in northwestern Cameroon and capital of the Northwest Region. The city has a population of about 2 million people and is located north-west of the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé. Bamenda is ...

—use standard

and

, as well as their local languages. In the three northern provinces— Adamawa,

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

, and Far North—either

Fulfulde Fula ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh also known as Fulani or Fulah (, , ; Adlam: , , ), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 30 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that st ...

(the language of the

) is widely spoken. Elsewhere, French is the principal second language, although pidgin and some local languages such as Ewondo, the dialect of a Beti clan from the

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the capital of Cameroon and, with a population of more than 2.8 million, the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region of the nation at an elevation of about 750 metres (2,50 ...

area, have a wide currency. In Far North Region the northernmost constituent province of Cameroon, Mafa Language Arab Shuwa (an Arab dialect) and is spoken by the

(also called Arab Shuwa). Indigenous languages of Cameroon include: * Arab Shuwa *

Basaa Basaa (also spelled ''Bassa, Basa, Bissa''), or Mbene, is a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon by the Basaa people. It is spoken by about 300,000 people in the Centre and Littoral regions. Maho (2009) lists North and South Kogo as dialects. ...

* Bikya *

Bung A stopper or cork is a cylindrical or conical closure used to seal a container, such as a bottle, tube or barrel. Unlike a lid or bottle cap, which encloses a container from the outside without displacing the inner volume, a bung is partially ...

* Kanuri * Ngumba * Yeni *

Lamnso Nso (''Lamnso'', ''Lamnsɔ’'') is the Grassfields language of the Nso people of western Cameroon. A few may remain in Nigeria. It has ten major noun classes. The ISO 639-3 code is lns. Nso is spoken by over 100,000 people. Writing System Ns ...

* Meta' * Mafa

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022. *One birth every 34 seconds *One death every 2 minutes *One net migrant every 111 minutes *Net gain of one person every 46 seconds The following demographic statistics are from the

CIA World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...

Population

:29,321,637 (2022 est.) :25,640,965 (July 2018 est.) :24,994,885 (2017 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 (July 2018 est.)

Religion

Roman Catholic 38.3%, Protestant 25.5%, other Christian 6.9%, Muslim 24.4%, animist 2.2%, other 0.5%, none 2.2% (2018 est.)

Age structure

Cameroon single age population pyramid 2020

:''0-14 years:'' 42.34% (male 5,927,640/female 5,820,226) :''15-24 years:'' 20.04% (male 2,782,376/female 2,776,873) :''25-54 years:'' 30.64% (male 4,191,151/female 4,309,483) :''55-64 years:'' 3.87% (male 520,771/female 552,801) :''65 years and over:'' 3.11% (male 403,420/female 460,248) (2020 est.) :''0-14 years:'' 42.15% (male 5,445,142 /female 5,362,166) :''15-24 years:'' 19.6% (male 2,524,031 /female 2,502,072) :''25-54 years:'' 31.03% (male 4,001,963 /female 3,954,258) :''55-64 years:'' 3.99% (male 499,101 /female 524,288) :''65 years and over:'' 3.23% (male 384,845 /female 443,099) (2018 est.)

Birth rate

:35.53 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 14th :35 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 21st :35.4 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Death rate

:7.73 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 101st :9.4 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 49th :9.6 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 ...

:4.55 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 19th :4.58 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 24th :According to Cameroon government website, average children per woman was 5.0 in 2004, 4.7 in 2016.

Net migration rate

:-0.31 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 119th :-0.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 104th :-0.1 migrants/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth

:20.1 years (2018 est.) :note: median age at first birth among women 25-49 :19.7 years (2011 est.) :note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

Median age

:total: 18.5 years. Country comparison to the world: 209th :male: 18.2 years :female: 18.8 years (2020 est.) :total: 18.6 years. Country comparison to the world: 208th :male: 18.5 years :female: 18.7 years (2018 est.) :total: 18.5 years :male: 18.4 years :female: 18.7 years (2017 est.)

Population growth rate

:2.75% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 15th :2.54% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 20th :2.56% (2013 est.)

Urbanization

:urban population: 58.7% of total population (2022) :rate of urbanization: 3.43% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) :urban population: 56.4% of total population (2018) :rate of urbanization: 3.63% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.) :Urban population: 58% of total population (2010) :Rate of

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly th ...

: 3.3% annual rate of change (2010–15 est.)

Sex ratio

:At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female :Under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female :15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female :65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female :Total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

:total population: 63.27 years Country comparison to the world: 210th :male: 61.49 years :female: 65.09 years (2022 est.) :total population: 59 years :male: 57.6 years :female: 60.4 years (2017 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

:19.3% (2018) :34.4% (2014)

Dependency ratios

:total dependency ratio: 85.9 (2015 est.) :youth dependency ratio: 80 (2015 est.) :elderly dependency ratio: 5.9 (2015 est.) :potential support ratio: 17 (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

:total: 12 years :male: 13 years :female: 11 years (2016)

HIV/AIDS

:Adult prevalence rate: 3.7% (2017 est.) :People living with HIV/AIDS: 510,000 (2017 est.) :Deaths: 24,000 (2017 est.)

Major infectious diseases

:Degree of risk: very high :

Food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is in ...

waterborne diseases Waterborne diseases are conditions (meaning adverse effects on human health, such as death, disability, illness or disorders) caused by pathogenic micro-organisms that are transmitted in water. These diseases can be spread while bathing, washin ...

bacterial Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were amon ...

and protozoal diarrhea,

hepatitis A Hepatitis A is an infectious disease of the liver caused by ''Hepatovirus A'' (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop the ...

and

hepatitis E Hepatitis E is inflammation of the liver caused by infection with the hepatitis E virus (HEV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Hepatitis E has mainly a fecal-oral transmission route that is similar to hepatitis A, although the viruses are unrel ...

, and

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over severa ...

: Vectorborne diseases:

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

and

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

:Water contact disease:

schistosomiasis Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever, is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. The urinary tract or the intestines may be infected. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, blo ...

Respiratory disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bro ...

meningococcal meningitis Meningococcal disease describes infections caused by the bacterium ''Neisseria meningitidis'' (also termed meningococcus). It has a high mortality rate if untreated but is vaccine-preventable. While best known as a cause of meningitis, it can al ...

Animal contact disease Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

rabies Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, ...

(2009)

Nationality

:Noun: Cameroonian(s) :Adjective: Cameroonian

Literacy

:Definition: age 15 and over can read and write :Total population: 77.1% ''(2018 est.)'' ::Male: 82.6% ::Female: 71.6%

Education expenditure

: 2.8% of GDP (2013)

References

Attribution: *

External links

*
Institut National de la Statistique du CamerounCameroon Undertakes Nationwide Census
a November 2005 article from

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the State media, state-owned news network and International broadcasting, international radio broadcaster of the United States, United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international br ...

*UNDP. 2006. ''Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Human Development Report 2006.'' New York: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). {{DEFAULTSORT:Demographics Of Cameroon Society of Cameroon