Demographics of Cape Verde

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

File:IMG0053a.jpg

Two Cape Verdean children playing marbles.

Cape Verde has a population of approximately half a million people. A large proportion (236,000) of Cape Verdeans live on the main island, Santiago.

The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited when the Portuguese discovered it in 1456. African slaves were brought to the islands to work on Portuguese plantations. As a result, Cape Verdeans are mulattoes (mestiços in Portuguese), who have mixed black and white origins. European ancestors also include Spanish, Italian and French seamen who were granted land by the Portuguese Empire, followed by Portuguese settlers, exiles, and Portuguese Jews who were victims of the Inquisition. Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled in Cape Verde as their permanent country. Most of them were Dutch, French, British (English), Arab and Jewish (from Lebanon and Morocco). All of these have been absorbed into the mestiço population.

The high degree of genetic mixture of individuals is a result of centuries of migration. It is not unusual to encounter persons with dark skin and blond hair and blue eyes, and persons with light skin and black hair.

Survival in a country with few natural resources has historically induced Cape Verdeans to emigrate. In fact, of the more than 1 million people of Cape Verdean ancestry in the world, only a little more than one-third actually live on the islands. Some 500,000 people of Cape Verdean ancestry live in the United States, mainly in New England. Many people of Cape Verdean ancestry also live in Portugal, Netherlands, France, Italy, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, and Senegal. Cape Verdean populations also settled Spain, Germany, Canada, and other CPLP countries (Angola, Brazil and Guinea-Bissau). Since after independence from Portugal in 1975, a number of Cape Verdean students continued to be admitted every year at Portuguese high schools, polytechnical institutes and universities, through bilateral agreements between the Portuguese Government and the Cape Verdean Government.

Although the official language is Portuguese, most Cape Verdeans speak Cape Verdean Creole (Crioulo in Portuguese, Kriolu or Kriol in Cape Verdean Creole) as their first language. There is a rich repertoire of literature and songs in Creole. In religion, the majority follow Roman Catholic Christianity. There are also some Protestants, Bahá'ís and Muslims.

Population

Demographics of Cape Verde, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

According to the 2010 revison of the World Population Prospects the total population was 496 000 in 2010, compared to only 178 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 31.8%, 62.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 5.9% was 65 years or older.

	Total population (x 1000)	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	178	32.6	59.8	7.6
1955	195	35.8	57.9	6.2
1960	211	42.1	53.2	4.8
1965	240	48.5	47.3	4.2
1970	274	48.2	47.8	4
1975	311	45.8	49.6	4.6
1980	300	46	48.7	5.3
1985	328	44.5	50.5	5
1990	348	45.4	49.8	4.8
1995	395	44.5	50.5	5
2000	437	41.7	52.9	5.3
2005	473	37	57.2	5.8
2010	496	31.8	62.3	5.9

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (DHS 2005) (Males 12 569, Females 13 724 = 26 294) :

Age Group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-4	11,3	9,6	10,5
5-9	13,9	12,3	13,1
10-14	15,8	14,3	15,0
15-19	14,1	13,1	13,5
20-24	9,4	8,2	8,8
25-29	6,5	6,4	6,5
30-34	5,2	5,1	5,1
35-39	5,4	5,9	5,6
40-44	4,7	5,2	4,9
45-49	3,0	4,0	3,5
50-54	2,0	3,7	2,9
55-59	1,0	1,6	1,3
60-64	1,2	2,1	1,7
65-69	1,9	2,5	2,2
70-74	1,9	2,2	2,1
75-79	1,4	1,8	1,6
80+	1,2	1,8	1,5
unknown	0,2	0,1	0,2

Age group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-14	41,0	36,2	38,6
15-64	52,4	55,4	53,8
65+	6,4	8,3	7,4

Structure of the population (01.07.2011) (estimates) :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	255 327	271 942	527 269	100
0-4	32 216	31 922	64 138	12,16
5-9	28 923	28 866	57 789	10,96
10-14	28 773	28 404	57 177	10,84
15-19	30 486	30 426	60 912	11,55
20-24	30 479	30 986	61 465	11,66
25-29	23 782	24 634	48 416	9,18
30-34	17 379	18 073	35 452	6,72
35-39	13 085	14 045	27 130	5,15
40-44	12 350	13 731	26 081	4,95
45-49	11 490	13 011	24 501	4,65
50-54	8 591	10 572	19 163	3,63
55-59	5 240	7 805	13 045	2,47
60-64	2 691	3 912	6 603	1,25
65-69	2 140	3 153	5 293	1,00
70-74	2 838	4 654	7 492	1,42
75-79	2 425	3 836	6 261	1,19
80+	2 439	3 912	6 351	1,20

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	89 912	89 192	179 104	33,97
15-64	155 573	167 195	322 768	61,22
65+	9 842	15 555	25 397	4,82

Vital statistics

Vital events of Cape Verde are not (yet) available for recent years. 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	9 000	4 000	5 000	49.0	22.6	26.3	6.57	139
1955-1960	10 000	4 000	5 000	48.0	21.1	26.9	6.76	132
1960-1965	10 000	4 000	6 000	45.0	18.7	26.3	6.97	125
1965-1970	11 000	4 000	6 000	41.4	16.4	25.0	6.97	117
1970-1975	12 000	4 000	8 000	41.1	13.4	27.7	6.86	96
1975-1980	13 000	4 000	9 000	41.6	11.6	30.0	6.62	78
1980-1985	13 000	3 000	10 000	41.3	10.3	31.0	6.10	65
1985-1990	14 000	3 000	11 000	40.9	9.2	31.7	5.63	54
1990-1995	14 000	3 000	11 000	36.5	7.9	28.6	4.93	44
1995-2000	13 000	3 000	10 000	31.6	6.7	24.9	4.15	37
2000-2005	12 000	3 000	9 000	26.2	5.8	20.5	3.28	28
2005-2010	11 000	3 000	8 000	21.9	5.2	16.7	2.60	21
* 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)

Births and deaths

Year	Population (x1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Rate of natural increase	TFR
2009		13 044	2 897	10 147	25,6	5,7	19,9
2010		13 415	2 917	10 498	25,9	5,6	20,3

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)
2005	22	2,9 (2,8)	23	2,7 (2,7)	22	3,1 (3,0)

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

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

Median age

Total: 23.1 years

Male: 22.3 years

Female: 23.9 years (2012 est.)

Urbanization

Urban population: 60% of total population (2008)

Rate of urbanization: 3.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.58 male(s)/female

Total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 71 years

Male: 68.78 years

Female: 73.27 years (2012 est.)

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: 0.035% (2001 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 775 (2001)

Deaths: 225 (as of 2001)

Genetics

E1b1a, R1b

The predominance of west African mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in their maternal gene pool, the major west African Y-chromosome lineage E3a was observed only at a frequency of 15.9%. Overall, these results indicate that gene flow from multiple sources and various sex-specific patterns have been important in the formation of the genomic diversity in the Cabo Verde islands. | Cape Verdeans || 15.9% (32/201)||

Religions

Main article: Religion in Cape Verde

Roman Catholic (infused with indigenous beliefs); The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Protestant (mostly Church of the Nazarene), Buddhist 0.2%

Languages

Portuguese, Creole

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 76.6%

Male: 85.8%

Female: 69.2% (2003 est.)

See also

See also: List of Cape Verdeans, Cape Verdean American, and Cape Verdeans in the Netherlands

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2008 edition".

Further reading

• Varela, Odair Barros (Institute of Law and Social Sciences and University of Cape Verde) and Carlos Elias Barbosa (Center of Social Studies of Coimbra University). "MIGRATION IN CAPE VERDE ISLANDS LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK" (Archive). European Scientific Journal. May 2014/SPECIAL/edition ISSN 1857–7881.

External links

• National Institute of Statistics
• Demographic Highlights — Statistics from the Population Reference Bureau