Demographics of Guinea-Bissau

This is a demography of the population of Guinea-Bissau including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Demographics of Guinea-Bissau
Population pyramid of Guinea-Bissau in 2020
Population	2,026,778 (2022 est.)
Growth rate	2.53% (2022 est.)
Birth rate	36.45 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate	7.5 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy	63.68 years
• male	61.45 years
• female	65.99 years
Fertility rate	4.69 children born/woman (2022 est.)
Infant mortality rate	49.05 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	-3.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	43.17%
65 and over	3.08%
Sex ratio
Total	0.96 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.01 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.7 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Bissau-Guinean
Language
Official	Portuguese

Guinea-Bissau's population between 1960 and 2017.

Ethnic groups

The population of Guinea-Bissau is ethnically diverse with distinct languages, customs, and social structures. Most Guineans, 99%, are Black people — mostly Fula and Mandinka-speakers concentrated in the north and northeast, the Balanta and Papel, living in the southern coastal regions, and the Manjaco and Mancanha, occupying the central and northern coastal areas.

Most of the rest, 1% of its total population, are mestiços of mixed Portuguese and black descent, including Cape Verdean minority. Due to the exodus of most Portuguese settlers after independence, less than 1% of Guinea-Bissauans are pure Portuguese. The country also has a Chinese minority, including Macanese people of mixed Portuguese and Cantonese blood from Macau.

Most people are farmers. 38%-45% are Muslims - this makes Guinea-Bissau the only Portuguese-speaking nation with a sizable Muslim population. Most Muslims are Sunnis. The rest of the population are pagans, principally the Balanta, and Christians, mostly Roman Catholics.

Population

Guinea-Bissau's population between 1960 and 2017.

According to the 2022 revision of the world factbook the total population was 2,026,778 in 2022. The proportion of children below the age of 14 in 2020 was 43.17%, 53.75% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.08% was 65 years or older. The proportion of the population below the age of 15 in 2010 was 41.3%, 55.4% were aged between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.3% were aged 65 years or older.

	Total population	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	518 000	38.8	57.6	3.6
1955	566 000	41.9	54.9	3.2
1960	593 000	41.3	55.7	3.0
1965	598 000	41.3	55.6	3.1
1970	603 000	37.0	59.7	3.3
1975	694 000	41.0	55.7	3.3
1980	835 000	42.1	54.4	3.5
1985	922 000	45.4	51.1	3.5
1990	1 017 000	43.8	52.8	3.5
1995	1 125 000	44.1	52.6	3.4
2000	1 241 000	43.1	53.6	3.3
2005	1 368 000	42.4	54.4	3.2
2010	1 515 000	41.3	55.4	3.3
2020	1 927 104	43.2	53.8	3.1

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2019) (Data refer to national projections.):

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	790 873	813 688	1 604 561	100
0–4	137 507	131 104	268 611	16.74
5–9	125 195	118 976	244 171	15.22
10–14	91 543	90 827	182 370	11.37
15–19	85 443	84 441	169 884	10.59
20–24	72 130	70 537	142 667	8.89
25–29	67 422	69 259	136 681	8.52
30–34	54 779	60 638	115 417	7.19
35–39	46 871	55 153	102 024	6.36
40–44	30 186	34 773	64 959	4.05
45–49	25 238	30 395	55 633	3.47
50–54	17 056	20 282	37 338	2.33
55–59	15 067	18 335	33 402	2.08
60–64	9 076	11 570	20 646	1.29
65–69	6 482	6 899	13 381	0.83
70–74	3 823	5 014	8 837	0.55
75–79	1 806	2 881	4 687	0.29
80+	1 249	2 604	3 853	0.24
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	354 245	340 907	695 152	43.32
15–64	423 268	455 383	878 651	54.76
65+	13 360	17 398	30 758	1.92

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Guinea-Bissau not complete. 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	30 000	18 000	12 000	54.9	33.5	21.4	7.41	211
1955-1960	25 000	17 000	7 000	42.3	29.5	12.8	5.88	201
1960-1965	25 000	16 000	9 000	42.3	27.4	14.9	5.88	191
1965-1970	21 000	15 000	6 000	35.6	24.8	10.8	4.78	182
1970-1975	36 000	18 000	18 000	55.7	27.3	28.4	7.34	174
1975-1980	35 000	19 000	15 000	45.5	25.3	20.3	6.11	165
1980-1985	42 000	21 000	21 000	47.9	23.5	24.4	6.70	153
1985-1990	44 000	21 000	23 000	45.8	22.1	23.7	6.68	145
1990-1995	48 000	23 000	26 000	45.2	21.2	24.0	6.54	141
1995-2000	51 000	24 000	27 000	42.8	19.9	22.9	6.05	134
2000-2005	54 000	24 000	29 000	41.1	18.5	22.5	5.66	126
2005-2010	57 000	25 000	32 000	39.3	17.5	21.9	5.27	119
* 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)

Life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	35.88
1955–1960	37.19
1960–1965	38.63
1965–1970	40.60
1970–1975	42.48
1975–1980	44.49
1980–1985	46.60
1985–1990	48.18
1990–1995	49.99
1995–2000	51.81
2000–2005	52.68
2005–2010	54.18
2010–2015	56.00

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022.

• One birth every 8 minutes
• One death every 28 minutes
• One net migrant every 360 minutes
• Net gain of one person every 11 minutes

The following demographic are from the independent Guinea-Bissau Statistical Service and from the CIA World Factbook unless otherwise indicated.

Population

2,026,778 (2022 est.)

1,833,247 (July 2018 est.)

1,596,677 (July 2011 est.)

Religions

Main article: Religion in Guinea-Bissau

Muslim 46.1%, folk religions 30.6%, Christian 18.9%, other or unaffiliated 4.4% (2020 est.)

Age structure

Population pyramid of Guinea-Bissau in 2020

0-14 years: 43.17% (male 417,810/female 414,105)

15-24 years: 20.38% (male 192,451/female 200,370)

25-54 years: 30.24% (male 275,416/female 307,387)

55-64 years: 3.12% (male 29,549/female 30,661)

65 years and over: 3.08% (male 25,291/female 34,064) (2020 est.)

0-14 years: 43.55% (male 400,666 /female 397,704)

15-24 years: 20.23% (male 181,286 /female 189,515)

25-54 years: 29.9% (male 259,762 /female 288,300)

55-64 years: 3.29% (male 27,621 /female 32,611)

65 years and over: 3.04% (male 24,331 /female 31,451) (2018 est.)

Birth rate

36.45 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 12nd

37.3 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 13th

Death rate

7.5 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 106th

8.5 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 79th

Total fertility rate

4.69 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 14th

4.81 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 18th

Population growth rate

2.53% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 21st

2.48% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 23rd

1.988% (2011 est.)

Median age

total: 18 years. Country comparison to the world: 214th

male: 17.4 years

female: 18.6 years (2020 est.)

total: 17.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 216th

male: 17.2 years

female: 18.5 years (2018 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

20.6% (2018)

16% (2014)

Net migration rate

-3.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 188th

-3.72 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 189th

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 63.68 years. Country comparison to the world: 207th

male: 61.45 years

female: 65.99 years (2022 est.)

total population: 61.4 years (2018 est.)

male: 59.2 years (2018 est.)

female: 63.6 years (2018 est.)

total population: 50.23 years

male: 48.21 years

female: 52.31 years (2015 est.)

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 80.4 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio: 75.2 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio: 5.2 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio: 19.3 (2015 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 45% of total population (2022)

rate of urbanization: 3.22% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

urban population: 43.4% of total population (2018)

rate of urbanization: 3.41% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Sex ratio

• at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
• 0–14 years: 1 male(s)/female
• 15–24 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
• 25–54 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
• 55–64 years: 0.6 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.6 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2015 est.)

Nationality

noun:Guinean (s)

adjective:Guinean

Ethnic groups

The Major Ethnic Groups of Guinea-Bissau as of 2009. All red spots excluding in the northeast are cities.

• Fulani 28.5%
• Balanta 22.5%
• Mandinga 14.7%
• Papel 9.1%
• Manjaco 8.3%
• Beafada 3.5%
• Mancanha 3.1%
• Bijago 2.1%
• Felupe 1.7%
• Mansoanca 1.4%
• Balanta Mane 1%
• Other 1.8%
• None 2.2%

Languages

• Crioulo 90.4%
• Portuguese 27.1% (official)
• French 5.1%
• English 2.9%
• Other 2.4%

Education expenditures

2.9% of GDP (2019) Country comparison to the world: 155th

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 59.9%

male: 71.8%

female: 48.3% (2015 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: very high (2020)

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

vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever

water contact diseases: schistosomiasis

animal contact diseases: rabies

note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Guinea-Bissau is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an "infected" person who received oral polio vaccine; 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.