Demographics of Burkina Faso

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Demographics of Burkina Faso
Population pyramid of Burkina Faso in 2020
Population	21,935,389 (2022 est.)
Growth rate	2.53% (2022 est.)
Birth rate	33.57 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate	7.71 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy	63.44 years
• male	61.63 years
• female	65.31 years
Fertility rate	4.27 children born/woman (2022 est.)
Infant mortality rate	49.42 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	-0.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	43.58%
65 and over	3.16%
Sex ratio
Total	0.96 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.03 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.66 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Burkinabe
Major ethnic	Mossi (52%)
Language
Official	French

Burkina Faso's 22.1 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.

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.

According to the United Nations' Population Division, the population was 20,903,000 in 2020, compared to only 4,284,000 in 1950.^[1] The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2020 was 44.4%, 53.2% of the population was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.4% was 65 years or older.^[1]

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (1.VII.2021) (Data refer to national projections.):^[2]

Registration of vital events is not complete in Burkina Faso. The website Our World in Data prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the United Nations.^[3]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):^{[4][5] [6] [7][8]}

Fertility data as of 2013 (DHS Program):^[10]

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022.^[11]

• One birth every 40 seconds
• One death every 3 minutes
• One net migrant every 21 minutes
• Net gain of one person every 52 seconds

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.^[12]

Burkina Faso has a young age structure – the result of declining mortality combined with steady high fertility – and continues to experience rapid population growth, which is putting increasing pressure on the country's limited arable land. More than 65% of the population is under the age of 25, and the population is growing at 3% annually. Mortality rates, especially those of infants and children, have decreased because of improved health care, hygiene, and sanitation, but women continue to have an average of almost 6 children. Even if fertility were substantially reduced, today's large cohort entering their reproductive years would sustain high population growth for the foreseeable future. Only about a third of the population is literate and unemployment is widespread, dampening the economic prospects of Burkina Faso's large working-age population.^[12]

21,935,389 (2022 est.)

21,382,659 (July 2021 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

Muslim 63.8%, Roman Catholic 20.1%, Animiste 9%, Protestant 6.2%, other 0.2%, none 0.7% (2019 est.)

Muslim 63.2%, Roman Catholic 24.6%, Protestant 6.9%, traditional/animist 4.2%, none 0.7%, unspecified 0.4% (2017-18 est.)

0-14 years: 43.58% (male 4,606,350/female 4,473,951)

15-24 years: 20.33% (male 2,121,012/female 2,114,213)

25-54 years: 29.36% (male 2,850,621/female 3,265,926)

55-64 years: 3.57% (male 321,417/female 423,016)

65 years and over: 3.16% (male 284,838/female 374,057) (2020 est.)

0-14 years: 44.88% (male 4,519,960/female 4,503,937)

15-24 years: 20.07% (male 2,024,501/female 2,012,053)

25-54 years: 29.42% (male 2,999,941/female 2,915,264)

55-64 years: 3.2% (male 284,374/female 359,159)

65 years and over: 2.43% (male 181,996/female 306,324) (2017 est.)

Total: 17.9 years Country comparison to the world: 216th

Male: 17.0 years

Female: 18.7 years (2020 est.)

Total: 17.3 years

Male: 17.1 years

Female: 17.4 years (2017 est.)

2.53% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 20th

2.58% (2020 est.) Country comparison to the world: 14th

3% (2017 est.)

33.57 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 19

34.34 births/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 20th

7.71 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 103rd

7.92 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 89th

-0.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 127th

-0.62 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 131st

19.4 years (2010 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

4.14 children born/woman (2023 est.) Country comparison to the world: 23rd

4.27 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 22nd

4.39 children born/woman (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 18th

30.1% (2020)

32.5% (2018/19)

urban population: 31.9% of total population (2022)

rate of urbanization: 4.75% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Urban population: 30.6% of total population (2020)

Rate of urbanization: 4.99% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.03 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 1.00 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 0.87 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 0.76 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female

Total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

total population: 63.44 years

male: 61.63 years

female: 65.31 years (2022 est.)

Total population: 63.06 years

Male: 61.28 years

Female: 64.89 years (2021 est.)

Adult prevalence rate: 0.8% (2019 est.) County comparison to the world: 51st

People living with HIV/AIDS: 100,000 (2019 est.) Country comparison to the world: 44th

Deaths: 3,100 (2019 est.) Country comparison to the world: 33rd

degree of risk: very high (2020)

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

vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria

water contact diseases: schistosomiasis

animal contact diseases: rabies

respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis

note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Burkina Faso is currently considered a high risk to travelers for polio; 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

Noun: Burkinabé (singular and plural)

Adjective: Burkinabé

Mossi 53.7%, Fulani (Peuhl) 6.8%, Gurunsi 5.9%, Bissa 5.4%, Gurma 5.2%, Bobo 3.4%, Senufo 2.2%, Bissa 1.5%, Lobi 1.5%, Tuareg/Bella 0.1%, other 12.8%, foreign 0.7% (2021 est.)^[13]

Islam 61.5%, Roman Catholic 23.3%, Traditional/Animist 7.8%, Protestant 6.5%, Other/No Answer 0.2%, None 0.7% (2010 est.)

French(official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 41.2%

Male: 50.1%

Female: 32.7% (2018 est.)

5.4% of GDP (2018)

In 2018, an estimated 82,000 people in the country were living under "modern slavery" according to the Global Slavery Index.^[15] News reports also indicate that "most child slaves on cocoa farms (Ivory Coast and Ghana) come from Mali and Burkina Faso, two of the poorest nations on Earth. The children, some as young as ten, are sent by their families or trafficked by agents with the promise of money. They are made to work long hours for little or no money."^[16]

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Attribution:

•  This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook. CIA.

• (in French) Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie Archived 2016-01-05 at the Wayback Machine