Demographics of Sierra Leone

Age structure:
0-14 years: 44.73% (male 1,148,264; female 1,192,533)
15-64 years: 52.16% (male 1,305,039; female 1,424,076)
65 years and over: 3.11% (male 81,291; female 81,421) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.67% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 45.63 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 19.58 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 10.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
note: by the end of 1999 refugees from Sierra Leone are assumed to be returning

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1 male(s)/female
total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 148.66 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 45.25 years
male: 42.37 years
female: 48.21 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.08 children born/woman (2000 est.)

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

Ethnic groups: 20 native African tribes 90% (Temne[?] 30%, Mende[?] 30%, other 30%), Creole 10% (descendants of freed slaves from the Americas, Jamaica, and recaptured slaves from West Africa who were re-settled in the Freetown area in the late-eighteenth century), refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians

Religions: Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%

Languages: English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic
total population: 31.4%
male: 45.4%
female: 18.2% (1995 est.)

See also : Sierra Leone