The population of Mauritania (estimated at July 2003 ) is about 3.1 million people.
According to the average forecast, the population of the country by 2100 will amount to 10.5 million people. Annual growth - 2.4%. Life expectancy is 60 years.
Immunodeficiency virus infection - 0.8% (2007 estimate).
Literacy - 51% (according to the 2000 census).
Over 80% of the population are Moors - people of mixed Arab - Berber origin, living in the northern and central regions of the country, many of them nomads, during the era of expansion of Islam, captured almost the entire Iberian Peninsula (Portugal completely and part of Spain); the rest are sedentary black peoples: tukuler , fulbe , pel , wolof , etc.
The official language is Arabic (although the population mainly speaks a local Bedouin dialect called Hassania ), French is widely spoken.
The state religion is Sunni Islam.
The population density is 2.8 people / km². Over 80% of the population is located in the Sahel and in the Senegal river valley in the south of the country.
The urban population is 54%. Cities: Aioun el-Atrus , Tishit , Atar , Nouadhibou , Nouakchott , Kaedi , Roso .
See also
- Slavery in Mauritania