Population 6,841,695 (July 1998 est.)
note: this estimate was derived from an official census taken in 1987 by the Somali Government with the cooperation of the UN and the US Bureau of the Census; population estimates are updated year by year between census years by factoring growth rates into them and by taking account of refugee movements and of losses due to famine; lower estimates of Somalia's population in mid-1996 (on the order of 6.0 million to 6.5 million) have been made by aid and relief agencies, based on the number of persons being fed; population counting in Somalia is complicated by the large numbers of nomads and by refugee movements in response to famine and clan warfare

Age structure
0-14 years: 44% (male 1,512,014; female 1,511,858)
15-64 years: 53% (male 1,833,922; female 1,786,261)
65 years and over: 3% (male 90,475; female 107,165) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate 4.43% (1998 est.)

Birth rate 46.75 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate 18.5 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate 16.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate 125.77 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
total population: 46.23 years
male: 44.66 years
female: 47.85 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate 7.01 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality
noun: Somali(s)
adjective: Somali

Ethnic groups Somali 85%, Bantu, Arabs 30,000

Religions Sunni Muslim

Languages Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English

Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 24%
male: 36%
female: 14% (1990 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Somalia on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Somalia People 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Somalia People 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.