Demographics of Angola

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

According to 2014 census data, Angola had a population of 25,789,024 inhabitants in 2014.^[1] Ethnically, there are three main groups, each speaking a Bantu language: the Ovimbundu who represent 37% of the population, the Ambundu with 25%, and the Bakongo 13%. Other numerically important groups include the closely interrelated Chokwe and Lunda, the Ganguela and Nyaneka- (in both cases classification terms that stand for a variety of small groups), the Ovambo, the Herero, the Xindonga and scattered residual groups of San. In addition, mixed race (European and African) people amount to about 2%, with a small (1%) population of whites, mainly ethnically Portuguese.

As a former overseas territory of Portugal until 1975, Angola possesses a Portuguese population of over 200,000, a number that has been growing from 2000 onwards, because of Angola's growing demand for qualified human resources. Currently, over 300,000 Angolans are white, 1 million Angolans are mixed race (black and white) and 50,000 Angolans are from China, which accounts for 1.35 million people. In 1974, white Angolans made up a population of 330,000 to 350,000 people in an overall population of 6.3 million Angolans at that time. The only reliable source on these numbers is Gerald Bender & Stanley Yoder, Whites in Angola on the Eve of Independence: The Politics of Numbers, Africa Today, 21 (4) 1974, pp. 23 – 37. Today, many Angolans who are not ethnic Portuguese can claim Portuguese nationality under Portuguese law. Estimates on the overall population are given in O País^[2][3][4] Besides the Portuguese, significant numbers of people from other European and from diverse Latin American countries (especially Brazil) can be found. From the 2000s, many Chinese have settled and started up small businesses, while at least as many have come as workers for large enterprises (construction or other). Observers claim that the Chinese community in Angola might include as many as 300,000 persons at the end of 2010, but reliable statistics are not at this stage available.^[5] In 1974/75, over 25,000 Cuban soldiers arrived in Angola to help the MPLA forces at the beginning of the Angolan Civil War. Once this was over, a massive development cooperation in the field of health and education brought in numerous civil personnel from Cuba. However, only a very small percentage of all these people has remained in Angola, either for personal reasons (intermarriage) or as professionals (e.g., medical doctors).

The largest religious denomination is Catholicism, to which adheres about half the population. Roughly 26% are followers of traditional forms of Protestantism (Congregationals, Methodists, Baptista, Lutherans, Reformed), but over the last decades there has in addition been a growth of Pentecostal communities and African Initiated Churches. In 2006, one out of 221 people were Jehovah's Witnesses. Blacks from Mali, Nigeria and Senegal are mostly Sunnite Muslims, but do not make up more than 1 - 2% of the population. By now few Angolans retain African traditional religions following different ethnic faiths.

Population[]

According to the 2019 revision of the World Population Prospects^[6][7] the total population was 30,809,787 in 2018, compared to only 4 148 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 46.6%, 50.9% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.5% was 65 years or older .^[8]

	Total population[9]	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	4,148,000	41.2	55.7	3.1
1955	4,542,000	42.4	54.9	2.7
1960	4,963,000	43.7	53.6	2.7
1965	5,431,000	45.3	52.0	2.7
1970	5,926,000	46.0	51.3	2.7
1975	6,637,000	46.2	51.1	2.7
1980	7,638,000	46.5	50.8	2.7
1985	9,066,000	47.0	50.4	2.7
1990	10,335,000	47.5	49.9	2.6
1995	12,105,000	47.6	49.8	2.5
2000	13,926,000	47.7	49.9	2.5
2005	16,489,000	47.6	49.9	2.5
2010	19,082,000	46.6	50.9	2.5
2014	25,789,000	47.3	50.3	2.4

Structure of the population (DHS 2011) (Males 19 707, Females 20 356 = 40 063) :

Age Group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-4	21.3	21.3	21.3
5-9	15.5	13.7	14.6
10-14	12.2	12.1	12.1
15-19	9.7	10.9	10.3
20-24	8.1	10.1	9.1
25-29	7.8	7.7	7.7
30-34	5.5	5.0	5.3
35-39	4.4	4.5	4.4
40-44	3.4	2.8	3.1
45-49	3.1	2.0	2.5
50-54	2.9	4.7	3.8
55-59	2.0	1.9	1.9
60-64	1.6	1.5	1.6
65-69	1.0	0.7	0.8
70-74	0.8	0.5	0.6
75-79	0.4	0.3	0.3
80+	0.4	0.3	0.4
unknown	0.1	0.0	0.1

Age group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-14	49.0	47.1	48.0
15-64	48.3	51.1	49.8
65+	2.6	1.8	2.1

Vital statistics[]

Registration of vital events is in Angola not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations and the CIA World Factbook^[10] prepared the following estimates. ^[8]

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*
1950-1955	235,000	156,000	79,000	54.0	35.9	18.1	7.00	230
1955-1960	259,000	159,000	99,000	54.4	33.5	20.9	7.20	215
1960-1965	282,000	162,000	121,000	54.3	31.1	23.2	7.40	200
1965-1970	302,000	163,000	139,000	53.2	28.7	24.5	7.40	186
1970-1975	325,000	166,000	160,000	51.8	26.4	25.5	7.20	173
1975-1980	374,000	176,000	197,000	52.4	24.7	27.7	7.20	161
1980-1985	441,000	202,000	239,000	52.8	24.2	28.6	7.20	157
1985-1990	512,000	228,000	284,000	52.8	23.5	29.3	7.20	153
1990-1995	584,000	259,000	325,000	52.1	23.1	29.0	7.10	150
1995-2000	664,000	274,000	390,000	51.0	21.1	29.9	6.92	138
2000-2005	746,000	268,000	478,000	49.0	17.6	31.4	6.63	116
2005-2010	774,000	272,000	502,000	43.5	15.3	28.2	5.79	104
2018				43.7	9	34.7	6.09
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1,000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1,000); NC = natural change (per 1,000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1,000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Fertility and Births[]

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted TFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):^[11][10]

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
2006-2007	42.4	5.8	35.0	4.4	50.2	7.7
2011	45.5	6.3	36.5	4.6	51.8	7.7
2014 (census)		5.7		5.2		6.5
2015-16	43.4	6.2 (5.2)	40.6	5.3 (4.4)	48.4	8.2 (7.1)

Life expectancy[]

Period	Life expectancy in Years[12]
1950–1955	31.39
1955–1960	32.54
1960–1965	34.09
1965–1970	36.04
1970–1975	38.05
1975–1980	40.00
1980–1985	40.89
1985–1990	41.48
1990–1995	42.22
1995–2000	44.73
2000–2005	49.98
2005–2010	55.59
2010–2015	60.19

Other demographics statistics[]

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.^[13]

• One birth every 25 seconds
• One death every 2 minutes
• One net migrant every Infinity minutes
• Net gain of one person every 31 seconds

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.^[10]

Population[]

30,355,880 (July 2018 est.)

29,310,273 (July 2017 est.)

Age structure[]

0-14 years: 48.07% (male 7,257,155 /female 7,336,084)

15-24 years: 18.33% (male 2,701,123 /female 2,863,950)

25-54 years: 27.95% (male 4,044,944 /female 4,441,028)

55-64 years: 3.32% (male 466,085 /female 540,452)

65 years and over: 2.32% (male 296,411 /female 408,648) (2018 est.)

Median age[]

total: 15.9 years. Country comparison to the world: 224th

male: 15.4 years

female: 16.3 years (2018 est.)

Population growth[]

3.49% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 2nd

The population is growing by 3.52% annually. There are 44.2 births and 9.2 deaths per 1,000 citizens. The net migration rate is 0.2 migrants per 1,000 citizens. The fertility rate of Angola is 6.16 children born per woman as of 2017. The infant mortality rate is 67.6 deaths for every 1,000 live births with 73.3 deaths for males and 61.8 deaths for females for every 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth is 60.2 years; 58.2 years for males and 62.3 years for females.

Total fertility rate[]

6.09 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 2nd

Birth rate[]

43.7 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 1st

Death rate[]

9 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 60th

Net migration rate[]

0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 67th

Mother's mean age at first birth[]

19.4 years (2015/16 est.)

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

Life expectancy at birth[]

total population: 60.6 years (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 207th

male: 58.5 years (2018 est.)

female: 62.7 years (2018 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate[]

57.1% (2012/13)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)[]

total: 10 years (2011)

male: 13 years (2011)

female: 8 years (2011)

Sex ratio[]

• At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
• Under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
• 15–64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
• 65 years and older: .79 male(s)/female
• Total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

Health[]

According to the CIA World Factbook, 2% of adults (aged 15–49) are living with HIV/AIDS (as of 2009).^[14] The risk of contracting disease is very high. There are food and waterborne diseases, bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever; vectorborne diseases, malaria, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness); respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis, and schistosomiasis, a water contact disease, as of 2005.

Ethnic groups[]

Roughly 37% of Angolans are Ovimbundu, 25% are Ambundu, 13% are Bakongo, 2% are mestiço, 1-2% are white Africans, and people from other African ethnicities make up 22% of Angola's population.

Religions[]

Angola is a majority Christian country. Official statistics do not exist, however it is estimated that over 80% belong to a Christian church or community. More than half are Catholic, the remaining ones comprising members of traditional Protestant churches as well as of Pentecostal communities. Only 0.1% are Muslims - generally immigrants from other African countries. Traditional indigenous religions are practiced by a very small minority, generally in peripheral rural societies.

Education[]

Literacy is quite low, with 71.1% of the population over the age of 15 able to read and write in Portuguese. 82% of males and 60.7% of women are literate as of 2015.

Languages[]

Portuguese is the official language of Angola, but Bantu and other African languages are also widely spoken. In fact, Kikongo, Kimbundu, Umbundu, Tuchokwe, Nganguela, and Ukanyama have the official status of "national languages". The mastery of Portuguese is widespread; in the cities the overwhelming majority are either fluent in Portuguese or have at least a reasonable working knowledge of this language; an increasing minority are native Portuguese speakers and have a poor, if any, knowledge of an African language.

References[]

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document: "2007 edition".
•  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Department of State website https://www.state.gov/countries-areas/. (U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets) 2003

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Demographics of Angola.

• Population cartogram of Angola