Fula 5.4%, Limba 6.4%, Kono 10.4%, Loko 2.9%, Koranko 2.8%, Sherbro 2.6%, Mandingo 2.4%, Creole 5.2%, Other 5.2%
Language
Official
English
Spoken
Krio, Temne, Mende
The demographics of Sierra Leone are made up of an indigenous population from 18 ethnic groups. The Temne in the north and the Mende in the south are the largest. About 60,000 are Krio, the descendants of freed slaves who returned to Sierra Leone from Great Britain, North America and slave ships captured on the high seas. In addition, about 5,000 Lebanese, 1,000 Indians, and 5,000 Europeans reside in the country.
In the past, some Sierra Leoneans were noted for their educational achievements, trading activity, entrepreneurial skills, and arts and crafts work, particularly woodcarving. Many are part of larger ethnic networks extending into several countries, which link West African states in the area. Their level of education and infrastructure have declined sharply over the last 30 years.[1]
Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013.
According to the 2022 revision of the World Population Prospects[3][4] the total population was 8,420,641 in 2021, compared to only 1 895 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 43%, 55.1% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 1.9% was 65 years or older
.[5]
Total population
Population aged 0–14 (%)
Population aged 15–64 (%)
Population aged 65+ (%)
1950
1 895 000
39.4
57.6
3.0
1955
2 029 000
39.6
57.5
2.9
1960
2 187 000
39.6
57.5
2.9
1965
2 373 000
39.8
57.3
2.9
1970
2 593 000
40.5
56.9
2.9
1975
2 845 000
40.5
56.6
3.0
1980
3 162 000
41.1
56.0
2.9
1985
3 541 000
42.0
55.3
2.7
1990
3 982 000
42.4
55.1
2.6
1995
3 898 000
42.3
55.3
2.4
2000
4 143 000
42.4
55.5
2.1
2005
5 153 000
42.9
55.2
1.9
2010
5 868 000
43.0
55.1
1.9
Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2020) (Estimates or projections based on the 2015 population census.): [6]
Age Group
Male
Female
Total
%
Total
3 987 250
4 113 068
8 100 318
100
0–4
620 177
639 745
1 259 922
15.55
5–9
546 368
563 608
1 109 976
13.70
10–14
492 216
507 749
999 965
12.34
15–19
415 263
428 368
843 631
10.30
20–24
373 462
385 247
758 709
9.37
25–29
324 639
334 883
659 522
8.14
30–34
272 318
280 911
553 229
6.83
35–39
226 560
233 708
460 268
5.68
40–44
181 985
187 730
369 715
4.56
45–49
144 473
149 031
293 504
3.62
50–54
110 450
113 934
224 384
2.77
55–59
84 146
86 801
170 947
2.11
60–64
64 608
66 647
131 255
1.62
65-69
47 370
48 865
96 235
1.19
70-74
33 569
34 630
68 199
0.84
75-79
22 307
23 010
45 317
0.56
80+
27 339
28 201
55 540
0.69
Age group
Male
Female
Total
Percent
0–14
1 658 761
1 711 102
3 369 863
41.60
15–64
2 197 904
2 267 260
4 465 164
55.12
65+
130 585
134 706
265 291
3.28
Vital statistics
Registration of vital events is in Sierra Leone not complete.
The website Our World in Data prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the United Nations.[7]
Sierra Leone's MMR is the worst of any country in the world, according to the 2000 WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA report.
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 58.76 years. Country comparison to the world: 223rd
male: 57.16 years
female: 60.41 years (2022 est.)
total population: 59 years
male: 56.4 years
female: 61.7 years (2018 est.)
total population: 56.55 years
male: 54.08 years
female: 59.11 years (2012 est.)
total population: 45.25 years
male: 42.37 years
female: 48.21 years (2000 est.)
Urbanization
urban population: 43.8% of total population (2022)
rate of urbanization: 3.02% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
urban population: 42.1% of total population (2018)
rate of urbanization: 3.12% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Education expenditures
4.6% of GDP (2017)
Health expenditures
11.1% of GDP (2014)
Physicians density
0.02 physicians/1,000 population (2010)
Hospital bed density
0.4 beds/1,000 population (2008)
HIV/AIDS
adult prevalence rate: 1.4% (2017 est.)
people living with HIV/AIDS: 61,000 (2017 est.)
deaths: 2,600 (2017 est.)
Major infectious diseases
degree of risk: very high (2020)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
aerosolized dust or soil contact diseases: Lassa fever
note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Sierra Leone is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an "infected" person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine
Fula (principal language in Sierra Leone, it is also strongly and widely spoken across West Africa and beyond...)
Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed American and West Indian slaves and Liberated Africans who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)
Education expenditure
9.3% of GDP (2020) Country comparison to the world: 7th
Literacy
Definition:
Age 15 and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic
^[worldpopulationreview.com/countries/sierra-leone-population/ "Sierra Leone Population 2022"], World Population Review((citation)): Check |url= value (help)
