Demographics of Ivory Coast

Demographics of Ivory Coast
Demographics of Ivory Coast
	Population pyramid of the Ivory Coast in 2020
Population	28,713,423 (2022 abidjan est.)
Growth rate	2.19% (2022 est.)
Birth rate	28.3 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate	7.6 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy	62.26 years
• male	60.07 years
• female	64.52 years
Fertility rate	3.53 children born/woman (2022 est.)
Infant mortality rate	55.67 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	1.18 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	38.53%
65 and over	2.85%
Sex ratio
Total	0.97 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.06 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.58 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Ivoirian
Language
Official	French

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1950	2,630,000	—
1960	3,504,000	+33.2%
1970	5,102,000	+45.6%
1980	8,034,000	+57.5%
1990	11,925,000	+48.4%
2000	16,455,000	+38.0%
2010	21,530,000	+30.8%
2020	26,812,000	+24.5%
source:^[1]^[2]

Demographic features of the population of Ivory Coast include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Population

Demographics of Ivory Coast from Our World in Data, 2022; number of inhabitants in thousands.
Population, fertility rate and net reproduction rate, United Nations estimates

According to the 2022 revision of the World Population Prospects^[1]^[2] the total population was 27,478,249 in 2021, compared to only 2 630 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.9%, 55.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.8% was 65 years or older.^[3]

	Total population	Population aged 0–14 (%)	Population aged 15–64 (%)	Population aged 65+ (%)
1950	2 630 000	43.1	54.6	2.3
1955	3 072 000	43.0	54.6	2.4
1960	3 638 000	43.8	53.8	2.4
1965	4 424 000	44.6	52.9	2.4
1970	5 416 000	45.0	52.6	2.4
1975	6 768 000	45.4	52.2	2.4
1980	8 501 000	45.9	51.7	2.5
1985	10 495 000	45.9	51.5	2.5
1990	12 518 000	45.1	52.2	2.6
1995	14 677 000	43.2	54.0	2.8
2000	16 582 000	41.8	55.1	3.1
2005	18 021 000	41.8	54.8	3.5
2010	19 738 000	40.9	55.3	3.8

See or edit source data.

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events in the Ivory Coast is not complete. The website Our World in Data prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the United Nations.^[4]

	Mid-year population (thousands)	Live births (thousands)	Deaths (thousands)	Natural change (thousands)	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate (TFR)	Infant mortality (per 1000 live births)	Life expectancy (in years)
1950	2 737	150	89	60	54.8	32.7	22.1	7.61	238.7	32.11
1951	2 814	154	91	63	55.0	32.5	22.5	7.61	236.9	32.41
1952	2 894	159	92	67	55.1	31.9	23.1	7.61	233.1	32.93
1953	2 976	164	93	71	55.1	31.4	23.7	7.60	229.1	33.51
1954	3 063	168	94	74	55.1	30.8	24.3	7.60	224.9	34.09
1955	3 154	173	95	78	55.0	30.2	24.8	7.60	220.5	34.69
1956	3 251	178	96	82	54.9	29.5	25.4	7.60	215.8	35.42
1957	3 354	183	97	87	54.8	28.9	25.9	7.60	211.2	36.06
1958	3 463	189	97	91	54.6	28.2	26.5	7.61	206.7	36.77
1959	3 581	194	98	96	54.4	27.5	26.9	7.61	202.2	37.44
1960	3 709	202	99	103	54.8	26.9	27.9	7.69	197.8	38.11
1961	3 848	210	101	109	54.7	26.3	28.4	7.72	193.5	38.74
1962	3 998	218	102	115	54.7	25.7	28.9	7.75	189.1	39.40
1963	4 156	226	104	121	54.6	25.2	29.3	7.78	185.0	39.96
1964	4 321	234	106	128	54.4	24.6	29.8	7.81	181.0	40.61
1965	4 493	242	108	135	54.2	24.1	30.1	7.84	177.0	41.18
1966	4 671	251	109	142	53.9	23.5	30.5	7.87	173.1	41.82
1967	4 857	260	111	149	53.7	22.9	30.8	7.89	169.2	42.42
1968	5 050	269	113	157	53.5	22.4	31.1	7.91	165.3	43.02
1969	5 255	278	114	164	53.2	21.8	31.4	7.93	161.5	43.64
1970	5 477	288	115	173	52.8	21.2	31.7	7.94	157.6	44.33
1971	5 719	299	117	182	52.6	20.6	32.1	7.94	153.4	44.99
1972	5 980	311	118	193	52.4	19.9	32.5	7.94	148.9	45.72
1973	6 257	325	120	206	52.3	19.3	33.1	7.94	144.3	46.56
1974	6 549	340	121	219	52.2	18.5	33.6	7.93	139.4	47.51
1975	6 854	354	122	232	51.9	17.9	34.0	7.91	134.6	48.35
1976	7 143	368	122	246	51.6	17.1	34.4	7.88	129.8	49.29
1977	7 416	389	123	266	52.5	16.6	35.9	7.83	125.4	50.18
1978	7 701	404	124	280	52.5	16.2	36.3	7.67	121.3	50.93
1979	7 996	423	126	297	52.8	15.7	37.1	7.63	117.8	51.68
1980	8 304	438	127	311	52.8	15.3	37.5	7.59	114.8	52.27
1981	8 622	452	129	323	52.4	14.9	37.4	7.54	112.3	52.73
1982	8 948	463	131	332	51.7	14.7	37.1	7.49	110.2	52.92
1983	9 282	473	133	340	51.0	14.4	36.6	7.42	108.5	53.17
1984	9 621	481	137	344	50.0	14.2	35.8	7.35	107.1	53.04
1985	9 964	487	139	348	48.9	14.0	34.9	7.27	106.1	53.17
1986	10 309	493	142	351	47.8	13.8	34.1	7.18	105.3	53.20
1987	10 663	498	145	353	46.7	13.6	33.1	7.08	104.9	53.19
1988	11 043	507	149	358	46.0	13.5	32.5	6.96	104.7	53.02
1989	11 463	539	157	382	47.1	13.7	33.4	6.84	104.8	52.88
1990	11 911	556	165	391	46.8	13.9	32.9	6.73	105.0	52.60
1991	12 369	573	173	400	46.4	14.0	32.4	6.61	105.3	52.32
1992	12 838	589	181	409	46.0	14.1	31.9	6.46	105.5	52.14
1993	13 316	604	188	415	45.4	14.2	31.3	6.31	105.6	51.93
1994	13 802	618	196	423	44.9	14.2	30.7	6.16	105.6	51.74
1995	14 300	642	203	439	45.0	14.2	30.8	6.09	105.4	51.61
1996	14 811	663	211	452	44.8	14.3	30.6	6.01	104.7	51.52
1997	15 335	689	218	470	45.0	14.3	30.7	5.95	103.7	51.45
1998	15 859	716	228	488	45.2	14.4	30.8	5.90	102.5	51.11
1999	16 346	737	235	501	45.0	14.4	30.6	5.85	101.0	50.96
2000	16 800	753	241	513	44.8	14.3	30.5	5.81	99.3	50.84
2001	17 245	764	245	519	44.2	14.1	30.0	5.76	97.4	50.81
2002	17 684	772	247	525	43.5	13.9	29.6	5.71	95.4	50.89
2003	18 116	782	251	531	43.0	13.8	29.2	5.64	93.3	50.95
2004	18 545	785	250	535	42.2	13.5	28.8	5.55	91.0	51.36
2005	18 970	792	250	542	41.6	13.1	28.5	5.46	88.6	51.82
2006	19 394	796	248	548	40.9	12.8	28.2	5.38	86.4	52.36
2007	19 818	800	246	554	40.2	12.4	27.9	5.30	84.1	52.97
2008	20 244	806	243	563	39.7	12.0	27.7	5.22	81.6	53.65
2009	20 678	813	239	574	39.2	11.5	27.7	5.15	78.9	54.39
2010	21 120	823	237	585	38.8	11.2	27.6	5.09	76.6	55.02
2011	21 563	832	236	595	38.4	10.9	27.5	5.03	74.6	55.52
2012	22 011	833	232	601	37.7	10.5	27.2	4.97	72.6	56.16
2013	22 469	837	229	609	37.1	10.1	27.0	4.92	70.6	56.75
2014	22 996	842	227	616	36.6	9.8	26.8	4.87	68.5	57.21
2015	23 597	857	225	631	36.3	9.5	26.7	4.81	66.6	57.76
2016	24 214	871	227	644	36.0	9.4	26.6	4.76	65.1	58.06
2017	24 848	892	228	664	35.9	9.2	26.7	4.74	63.5	58.48
2018	25 494	893	229	664	35.0	9.0	26.0	4.61	61.7	58.85
2019	27 828	967	239	728	34.3	8.5	25.8	4.52	57.8	60.3
2020	28 558	973	246	727	33.7	8.5	25.2	4.46	56.2	60.1
2021	29 273	981	248	732	33.1	8.4	24.7	4.41	54.6	60.3
2022	30 006	988	238	750	32.5	7.8	24.7	4.35	53.1	61.6
2023	30 784	997	239	758	32.9	7.7	24.3	4.28	51.7	61.9

Age distribution

Population by sex and age group (Census 15.V.2014): ^[5]

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	11 708 244	10 963 087	22 671 331	100
0–4	1 902 052	1 784 695	3 686 747	16.26
5–9	1 635 039	1 530 608	3 165 647	13.96
10–14	1 391 732	1 237 225	2 628 957	11.60
15–19	1 075 555	1 039 026	2 114 581	9.33
20–24	1 022 190	1 083 404	2 105 594	9.29
25–29	997 460	1 052 924	2 050 384	9.04
30–34	908 792	861 990	1 770 782	7.81
35–39	744 301	615 168	1 359 469	6.00
40–44	555 990	446 595	1 002 585	4.42
45–49	419 350	361 691	781 041	3.45
50–54	337 817	304 158	641 975	2.83
55–59	240 117	205 324	445 441	1.96
60–64	183 494	154 187	337 681	1.49
65–69	118 203	109 006	227 209	1.00
70–74	78 643	76 904	155 547	0.69
75–79	44 041	44 520	88 561	0.39
80–84	25 866	28 818	54 684	0.24
85–89	9 206	9 561	18 767	0.08
90–94	4 183	5 187	9 370	0.04
95–99	8 982	8 573	17 555	0.08
100+	1 842	2 452	4 294	0.02
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	4 928 823	4 552 528	9 481 351	41.82
15–64	6 485 066	6 124 467	12 609 533	55.62
65+	290 966	285 021	575 987	2.54
Unknown	3 389	1 071	4 460	0.02

Population estimates by sex and age group (01.VII.2020) (Based on the results of the 2014 Population Census.):^[6]

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	13 645 276	12 808 266	26 453 542	100
0–4	2 215 581	2 078 290	4 293 871	16.23
5–9	1 904 038	1 738 782	3 687 820	13.94
10–14	1 619 573	1 444 494	3 064 067	11.58
15–19	1 250 259	1 215 196	2 465 455	9.32
20–24	1 193 895	1 268 338	2 462 233	9.31
25–29	1 166 522	1 233 446	2 399 968	9.07
30–34	1 062 194	1 008 346	2 070 540	7.83
35–39	869 320	719 869	1 589 189	6.01
40–44	649 418	522 577	1 171 995	4.43
45–49	489 000	423 104	912 104	3.45
50–54	393 651	356 058	749 709	2.83
55–59	280 097	241 108	521 205	1.97
60–64	214 207	181 241	395 448	1.49
65–69	137 997	128 232	266 229	1.01
70–74	92 168	90 147	182 315	0.69
75–79	51 684	52 248	103 932	0.39
80–84	30 133	33 822	63 955	0.24
85–89	10 708	11 076	21 784	0.08
90–94	4 816	5 966	10 782	0.04
95+	10 015	10 926	20 941	0.08
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	5 739 192	5 261 566	11 000 758	41.59
15–64	7 568 563	7 214 283	14 782 846	55.88
65+	337 521	332 417	669 938	2.53

Population by sex and age group (Census 08.XI.2021): ^[5]

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	15 344 990	14 044 160	29 389 150	100
0–4	1 906 918	1 789 383	3 696 301	12.58
5–9	2 046 712	1 909 238	3 955 950	13.46
10–14	1 874 880	1 698 142	3 573 022	12.16
15–19	1 698 488	1 529 343	3 227 831	10.98
20–24	1 527 341	1 470 418	2 997 759	10.20
25–29	1 209 371	1 239 670	2 449 041	8.33
30–34	1 163 625	1 148 477	2 312 102	7.87
35–39	1 033 936	913 966	1 947 902	6.63
40–44	865 312	665 742	1 531 054	5.21
45–49	609 354	440 056	1 049 410	3.57
50–54	458 662	360 814	819 476	2.79
55–59	308 261	267 244	575 505	1.96
60–64	252 433	222 897	475 330	1.62
65–69	162 331	141 412	303 743	1.03
70–74	103 482	100 911	204 393	0.70
75–79	54 911	59 487	114 398	0.39
80–84	30 402	39 502	69 904	0.24
85–89	12 545	17 461	30 006	0.10
90–94	5 885	9 391	15 276	0.05
95–99	2 842	3 831	6 673	0.02
100+	4 164	5 903	10 067	0.03
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	5 828 510	5 396 763	11 225 273	38.20
15–64	9 126 783	8 258 627	17 385 410	59.16
65+	376 562	377 898	754 460	2.57
Unknown	13 135	10 872	24 007	0.08

Demographic and health surveys

Total fertility rate (TFR) (wanted fertility rate) and crude birth rate (CBR):^[7]^[8]

Year	Total		Urban		Rural
Year	CBR	TFR	CBR	TFR	CBR	TFR
1994	41.3	5.7 (4.7)	38.8	4.7 (3.7)	42.5	6.4 (5.4)
1998–99	39.3	5.2 (4.5)	36.5	4.0 (3.4)	40.7	6.0 (5.2)
2005	38.4	4.6	35.1	3.6	40.8	5.5
2011–12	36.8	5.0 (4.1)	31.9	3.7 (3.2)	40.3	6.3 (5.0)
2021	32.4	4.3 (3.9)	29.9	3.6 (3.3)	35.4	5.3 (4.9)

Fertility data as of 2011-2012 (DHS Program):^[9]

Region	Total fertility rate	Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant	Mean number of children ever born to women age 40–49
Centre	6.1	10.6	6.9
Centre-Est	4.6	7.7	5.4
Centre-Nord	5.4	9.6	6.1
Centre-Ouest	5.4	11.0	5.7
Nord	6.1	9.7	6.9
Nord-Est	6.0	11.5	6.6
Nord-Ouest	6.8	12.4	7.1
Ouest	6.1	12.4	6.2
Sud	4.8	10.6	6.0
Sud-Ouest	5.0	15.5	5.9
Ville d'Abidjan	3.1	6.9	4.2

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in Ivory Coast^[10]
Ethnic groups
Akan			28.9%
Other (includes Pakistanis and Lebanese)			24.2%
Voltaic or Gur			16.1%
Northern Mandé			14.5%
Krou			8.5%
Southern Mandé			6.9%
Unspecified			0.9%

Ivory Coast has more than 60 ethnic groups, usually classified into five principal divisions: Akan (east and center, including Lagoon peoples of the southeast), Krou (southwest), Southern Mandé (west), Northern Mandé (northwest), Sénoufo/Lobi (north center and northeast). The Baoulés, in the Akan division, probably comprise the largest single subgroup with 15%-20% of the population. They are based in the central region around Bouaké and Yamoussoukro. The Bétés in the Krou division, the Sénoufos in the north, and the Malinkés in the northwest and the cities are the next largest groups, with 10%-15% of the national population. Most of the principal divisions have a significant presence in neighboring countries.

Migration

Immigration

Of the more than 5 million non-Ivorian Africans living in Ivory Coast, one-third to one-half are from Burkina Faso; the rest are from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Liberia, and Mauritania.

Non-Africans in the country include French people, Lebanese people, Vietnamese people, Spaniards, Americans and Canadians.^[11]

Emigration

The table below shows the number of people born in Ivory Coast who have migrated to OECD countries only (the table only includes communities consisting of at least 1,000 members).^[12]

Country	Ivorian-born population	See also
France	63,441	Ivorians in France
Canada	22,625^[13]
United States	7,595	Ivorian Americans
Italy	28,385^[14]
United Kingdom	2,794	Ivorians in the United Kingdom
Belgium	1,363
Switzerland	1,100

Languages

French is the official language, while there are 60 living indigenous languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The Dioula dialect of Bambara is the most widely spoken one.^[15] Other language groups include the Gur languages, the Kru languages (including the Bété languages, Dida, Nyabwa, Wè, and Western Krahn), the Kwa languages (including Akan, Anyin, and Baoulé), and the Senufo languages.^[16]

Religion

Religions of the Ivory Coast (2014 est.)^[10]
Religions			percent
Islam			42.5%
Roman Catholic			16.6%
Pentecostal			13.4%
No religion			12.6%
Evangelical			7.8%
Other Christian			4.2%
Animist			2.2%
Other			0.7%

The economic development and relative prosperity of Ivory Coast fostered huge demographic shifts during the 20th century. "In 1922, an estimated 100,000 out of 1.6 million (or 6 percent) of people in Côte d'Ivoire were Muslims. By contrast, at independence (in 1960), their share of the population had increased rapidly, and Muslims were moving southward to the cocoa-producing areas and the southern cities. By 1998, [...], Muslims constituted a majority in the north of the country, and approximately 38.6 percent of the total population. This was a significantly larger population than the next largest religious group, Christians, who constituted approximately 29.1 percent of the total."^[17] In earlier decades, this shift was mainly due to large-scale immigration from neighboring countries of the interior, that has been going on since colonial times and continued to be promoted during the Houphouet-Boigny era. Since the 1990s, the widening conversion gap between different religious groups has started to tilt the demographic balance in favor of Christians. According to the last census of 2021 Muslims make up 42.5% of population (42.9% in 2014) and Christians 39.8% (33.9% in 2014).^[18]