This article is about the demographic

Demographics

Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...

 features of the population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....

, including population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

, ethnicity

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The population of Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....

 is ethnically diverse with distinct languages, customs, and social structures. Most Guineans, 99%, are blacks — mostly Fula

Fula language

The Fula or Fulani language is a language of West Africa. It is spoken as a first language by the and related groups from Senegambia and Guinea to Cameroon and Sudan...

 and Mandinka

Mandinka language

The Mandinka language is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding branch of Mandé, and is thus fairly...

-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 are mestiços

Mestizo

Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...

of mixed Portuguese

Portuguese people

The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 and black descent, including Cape Verde

Cape Verde

The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...

an 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

Overseas Chinese

Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....

 minority, including Macanese people

Macanese people

The Macanese-born Portuguese people or simply the Macanese people refer to an ethnic group which originated in Macau since the 16th century, consisting mostly of people with some Portuguese ancestry.-Culture:...

 of mixed Portuguese and Chinese blood from Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

. Most people are farmers. 50% are Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s — this makes Guinea-Bissau the only Portuguese-speaking nation with a Muslim majority and most Muslims are Sunnis

Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....

; 40% are pagans

Animism

Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....

, principally Fula and Mandinka. Less than 10% are Christians

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, mostly Roman Catholics.

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

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

Population:
1,596,677 (July 2011 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years:
40.4% (male 321,889; female 323,202)

15-64 years:
56.4% (male 435,986; female 465,117)

65 years and over:
3.2% (male 19,975; female 30,508) (2011 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.988% (2011 est.)

Birth rate:
35.15 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)

Death rate:
15.27 deaths/1,000 population (2011 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth:
1.03 male(s)/female

under 15 years:
1 male(s)/female

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

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

total population:
0.94 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
96.23 deaths/1,000 live births (2011 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population:
49.04 years

male:
46.77 years

female:
51.37 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate:
4.51 children born/woman (2011 est.)

Nationality:

noun:
Guinean (s)

adjective:
Guinean

Ethnic groups:
African 99% (Balanta 30%, Fula

Fula people

Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...

 20%, Manjaca

Manjaca

Manjača is a name of a mountain located 25 km south of the city Banja Luka, in northern part of Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mountain held a significant military base of the Yugoslav Peoples Army in second part of 20th century and was one of the military strongholds of the...

 14%, Mandinga

Mandinka people

The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....

 13%, Papel 7%), European (entirely Portuguese) and Mulatto less than 1%

Religions:
Muslim 50%, indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian 10% (see Religion in Guinea-Bissau

Religion in Guinea-Bissau

An estimated 38 to 45 percent of the population of Guinea-Bissau is Muslim, and 5 to 13 percent is Christian. The remainder of the population follows traditional indigenous or animist religious practices. There are few atheists. Islam is practiced most widely by the Fula and Mandinka ethnic groups,...

)

Languages:
Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 (official), Crioulo, African languages

Literacy:

definition:
age 15 and over can read and write

total population:
42.4%

male:
58.1%

female:
27.4% (2003 est.)