Demographics of Gabon

The Demographics of Gabon is the makeup of the population of Gabon. As of 2010, Gabon has a population of 1,505,000. Gabon's population is relatively young with 35.5% of its population under 15 years of age and only 4.3% of its population over 65 years old. Gabon has a nearly even split between males and females with 0.99 males for every female in the population. In the age range of 15-65, the ration is exactly 1 male to 1 female. The life expectancy of Gabon is lower than the world average. Gabon's population's life expectancy at birth is 53.11 years while the world average is 67.2 years as of 2010. Ethnically, the biggest group in Gabon are the Fang people with over 500,000 people, or about a third of Gabon's population, belonging to this ethnic group. The biggest religion in Gabon is Christianity, with between 55-75% of the population of Gabon being Christian.

Population statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. Population:1,514,993
note: Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2010 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2010 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 53.11 years
male: 52.19 years
female: 54.05 years (2010 est.)

Population

Gabon population statistics (1950-2014)

According to the 2010 revision of the World Population Prospects the total population was 1,505,000 in 2010, compared to only 469,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 35.5%, 60.2% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 4.3% was 65 years or older .^[1]

	Total population (x 1000)	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	469	28.4	64.3	7.3
1955	476	29.4	63.5	7.1
1960	486	30.3	62.6	7.1
1965	502	31.9	61.1	7.1
1970	530	33.0	59.9	7.1
1975	595	35.2	58.0	6.8
1980	683	37.7	55.9	6.4
1985	794	40.0	54.0	6.0
1990	929	41.4	53.0	5.6
1995	1 087	42.0	52.8	5.1
2000	1 235	41.0	54.3	4.8
2005	1 371	38.6	57.0	4.4
2010	1 505	35.5	60.2	4.3

Structure of the population (DHS 2012) (Males 19 318, Females 20 636 = 39 955) :

Age Group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-4	16,0	14,3	15,1
5-9	12,4	12,4	12,4
10-14	12,0	12,5	12,3
15-19	9,6	9,9	9,7
20-24	7,6	9,6	8,7
25-29	7,5	8,4	8,0
30-34	7,8	7,0	7,4
35-39	6,6	5,4	5,9
40-44	5,4	4,4	4,9
45-49	4,1	3,3	3,7
50-54	3,4	4,2	3,8
55-59	2,0	2,3	2,1
60-64	2,6	1,7	2,1
65-69	1,1	1,4	1,2
70-74	0,9	1,3	1,1
75-79	0,6	0,7	0,6
80+	0,5	1,3	0,9

Age group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0-14	40,4	39,2	39,8
15-64	56,5	56,1	56,4
65+	3,1	4,7	3,8

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Gabon not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. ^[1]

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*
1950-1955	14 000	13 000	1 000	30.5	27.7	2.8	4.00	179
1955-1960	14 000	12 000	2 000	30.1	25.9	4.2	4.00	167
1960-1965	15 000	12 000	3 000	31.4	24.8	6.5	4.25	158
1965-1970	17 000	11 000	6 000	32.5	21.7	10.7	4.50	134
1970-1975	20 000	11 000	9 000	35.4	19.1	16.3	4.90	114
1975-1980	24 000	10 000	13 000	37.5	16.4	21.0	5.10	95
1980-1985	28 000	10 000	18 000	38.4	13.7	24.7	5.20	78
1985-1990	33 000	10 000	23 000	38.1	11.3	26.8	5.15	63
1990-1995	38 000	11 000	28 000	38.0	10.5	27.4	5.10	59
1995-2000	39 000	12 000	27 000	33.2	10.2	23.0	4.37	58
2000-2005	39 000	14 000	25 000	29.7	10.4	19.3	3.78	58
2005-2010	39 000	13 000	26 000	27.4	9.4	18.0	3.35	51
* 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)

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):^[2]

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
2000	33,1	4,3 (3,5)	33,3	3,9 (3,2)	32,4	5,7 (4,7)
2012	33,3	4,1 (3,2)	33,2	3,9 (3,0)	33,4	6,1 (4,6)

Ethnic groups

Broad ethnic groups are:

1. Bantu tribes including four major tribal groupings (Fang, Eshira, Punu, Teke)
2. other Africans, notably 'forest people' (pygmee, now sedentarizing) such as the Babongo tribe
3. Europeans, including 10,700 French and 11,000 persons of dual nationality)

Specific groups, and estimated population:^[3]

• Baka (3,825)
• Bakwele people (5,858)
• Barama people (7,170)
• Benga people (2,390)
• Bhubhi people (5,858)
• Duma people (8,368)
• Eshira people (20,317)
• Fang people (500,299)
• Fon people (16,403)
• Fulani people (5,746)
• Gun people (16,403)
• Hausa people (8,619)
• Kande people (1,427)
• Kaningi people (8,567)
• Kele people (10,774)
• Kota people (53,780)
• Lumbu people (13,515 )
• Mahongwe people (4,875)
• Mbaama people (9,373)
• Mbahouin people (2,297)
• Mbede people (103,381)
• Mbwisi people (1,609)
• Minduumo people (5,029)
• Miyangho people (7,140)
• Myene people (41,828)
• Ndasa people (2,872)
• Ngom people (9,625)
• Northern Teke people (14,283)
• Nzebi people (127,714)
• Pinji people (7,140)
• Punu people (146,820)
• Sake people (3,346)
• Sangu people (28,573)
• Seki people (1,399)
• Sighu people (1,427)
• Simba people (4,285)
• Tsangi people (5,975)
• Tsogo people (37,047)
• Vili people (4,311)
• Vumbu people (15,537)
• Wandji people (12,240)
• Western Teke people (38,244)
• Wolof people (7,184)
• Wumbvu people (21,404)

Language and religion

Religions:^[4] Roman Catholic 41.9%, Protestant 13.7%, other Christian 32.4%, Islam 6.4%, Animist 0.3%, other 0.3%, None/No Answer 5% (2012 est.)

Languages: French (official since colonial rule), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 63.2%
male: 73.7%
female: 53.3% (1995 est.)

References

1. Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision
2. http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/dhs#_r=&collection=&country=&dtype=&from=1890&page=6&ps=&sk=&sort_by=nation&sort_order=&to=2014&topic=&view=s&vk=
3. "Missionary Atlas Project - West Africa - Gabon" (PDF). Worldmap. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
4. "Africa :: GABON". CIA The World Factbook.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".