Cameroon Demographics Profile 2008

Population

18,467,692
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, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2008 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 41.1% (male 3,826,232/female 3,757,859)
15-64 years: 55.7% (male 5,164,338/female 5,122,817)
65 years and over: 3.2% (male 274,821/female 321,625) (2008 est.)

Median age

total: 19 years
male: 18.9 years
female: 19.2 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate

2.218% (2008 est.)

Birth rate

34.59 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate

12.41 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate

NA

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 64.57 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 69.39 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 59.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 53.3 years
male: 52.54 years
female: 54.08 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate

4.41 children born/woman (2008 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

6.9% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

560,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths

49,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria and yellow fever
water contact disease: schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
animal contact disease: rabies (2008)

Nationality

noun: Cameroonian(s)
adjective: Cameroonian

Ethnic groups

Cameroon Highlanders 31%, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, Northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, other African 13%, non-African less than 1%

Religions

indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian 40%, Muslim 20%

Languages

24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 67.9%
male: 77%
female: 59.8% (2001 est.)