Population: Nationality: Ethnic groups: Languages: Religions: Demographic profile: Age structure: Dependency ratios: Median age: Population growth rate: Birth rate: Death rate: Net migration rate: Population distribution: Urbanization: Major urban areas - population: Sex ratio: Mother's mean age at first birth: Maternal mortality ratio: Infant mortality rate: Life expectancy at birth: Total fertility rate: Contraceptive prevalence rate: Health expenditures: Physicians density: Hospital bed density: Drinking water source: Sanitation facility access: HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: HIV/AIDS - deaths: Major infectious diseases: Obesity - adult prevalence rate: Children under the age of 5 years underweight: Education expenditures: Literacy: School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education): Unemployment, youth ages 15-24
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Cameroon on this page is re-published from the 2018 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cameroon People 2018 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cameroon People 2018 should be addressed to the CIA.
24,994,885
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 2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 53
[see also: Population country ranks ]
noun: Cameroonian(s)
adjective: Cameroonian
Cameroon Highlanders 31%, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, Northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, other African 13%, non-African less than 1%
24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official)
Roman Catholic 38.4%, Protestant 26.3%, other Christian 4.5%, Muslim 20.9%, animist 5.6%, other 1%, non-believer 3.2% (2005 est.)
Cameroon has a large youth population, with more than 60% of the populace under the age of 25. Fertility is falling but remains at a high level, especially among poor, rural, and uneducated women, in part because of inadequate access to contraception. Life expectancy remains low at about 55 years due to the prevalence of HIV and AIDs and an elevated maternal mortality rate, which has remained high since 1990. Cameroon, particularly the northern region, is vulnerable to food insecurity largely because of government mismanagement, corruption, high production costs, inadequate infrastructure, and natural disasters. Despite economic growth in some regions, poverty is on the rise, and is most prevalent in rural areas, which are especially affected by a shortage of jobs, declining incomes, poor school and health care infrastructure, and a lack of clean water and sanitation. Underinvestment in social safety nets and ineffective public financial management also contribute to Cameroon’s high rate of poverty.
International migration has been driven by unemployment (including fewer government jobs), poverty, the search for educational opportunities, and corruption. The US and Europe are preferred destinations, but, with tighter immigration restrictions in these countries, young Cameroonians are increasingly turning to neighboring states, such as Gabon and Nigeria, South Africa, other parts of Africa, and the Near and Far East. Cameroon’s limited resources make it dependent on UN support to host more than 320,000 refugees and asylum seekers as of September 2017. These refugees and asylum seekers are primarily from the Central African Republic and more recently Nigeria.
0-14 years: 42.39% (male 5,337,879/female 5,257,026)
[see also: Age structure - 0-14 years country ranks ]
15-24 years: 19.56% (male 2,456,061/female 2,432,500)
[see also: Age structure - 15-24 years country ranks ]
25-54 years: 30.87% (male 3,880,906/female 3,835,107)
[see also: Age structure - 25-54 years country ranks ]
55-64 years: 3.98% (male 485,059/female 509,649)
[see also: Age structure - 55-64 years country ranks ]
65 years and over: 3.2% (male 372,415/female 428,283) (2017 est.)
A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.
For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page under the References tab.
total dependency ratio: 85.9
[see also: Dependency ratios - total dependency ratio country ranks ]
youth dependency ratio: 80
[see also: Dependency ratios - youth dependency ratio country ranks ]
elderly dependency ratio: 5.9
[see also: Dependency ratios - elderly dependency ratio country ranks ]
potential support ratio: 17 (2015 est.)
[see also: Dependency ratios - potential support ratio country ranks ]
total: 18.5 years
[see also: Median age - total country ranks ]
male: 18.4 years
[see also: Median age - male country ranks ]
female: 18.7 years (2017 est.)
[see also: Median age - female country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 210
2.56% (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 16
[see also: Population growth rate country ranks ]
35.4 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 19
[see also: Birth rate country ranks ]
9.6 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 48
[see also: Death rate country ranks ]
-0.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 103
[see also: Net migration rate country ranks ]
population concentrated in the west and north, with the interior of the country sparsely populated
urban population: 55.5% of total population (2017)
[see also: Urbanization - urban population country ranks ]
rate of urbanization: 3.4% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
[see also: Urbanization - rate of urbanization country ranks ]
YAOUNDE (capital) 3.066 million; Douala 2.943 million (2015)
at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female
[see also: Sex ratio - at birth country ranks ]
0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
[see also: Sex ratio - 0-14 years country ranks ]
15-24 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
[see also: Sex ratio - 15-24 years country ranks ]
25-54 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
[see also: Sex ratio - 25-54 years country ranks ]
55-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
[see also: Sex ratio - 55-64 years country ranks ]
65 years and over: 0.87 male(s)/female
[see also: Sex ratio - 65 years and over country ranks ]
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
[see also: Sex ratio - total population country ranks ]
19.7 years
note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2011 est.)
596 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
[see also: Maternal mortality ratio country ranks ]
total: 51 deaths/1,000 live births
[see also: Infant mortality rate - total country ranks ]
male: 54.6 deaths/1,000 live births
[see also: Infant mortality rate - male country ranks ]
female: 47.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)
[see also: Infant mortality rate - female country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 28
total population: 59 years
[see also: Life expectancy at birth - total population country ranks ]
male: 57.6 years
[see also: Life expectancy at birth - male country ranks ]
female: 60.4 years (2017 est.)
[see also: Life expectancy at birth - female country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 208
[See also: Healthy Life Expectancy ]
[See also: Health Performance ]
4.64 children born/woman (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 21
[see also: Total fertility rate country ranks ]
34.4% (2014)
[see also: Contraceptive prevalence rate country ranks ]
4.1% of GDP (2014)
country comparison to the world: 164
[see also: Health expenditures country ranks ]
0.08 physicians/1,000 population (2010)
[see also: Physicians density country ranks ]
1.3 beds/1,000 population (2010)
[see also: Hospital bed density country ranks ]
improved:
urban: 94.8% of population
rural: 52.7% of population
total: 75.6% of population
unimproved:
urban: 5.2% of population
rural: 47.3% of population
total: 24.4% of population (2015 est.)
improved:
urban: 61.8% of population
rural: 26.8% of population
total: 45.8% of population
unimproved:
urban: 38.2% of population
rural: 73.2% of population
total: 54.2% of population (2015 est.)
3.8% (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
[see also: HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate country ranks ]
560,000 (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 14
[see also: HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS country ranks ]
29,000 (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
[see also: HIV/AIDS - deaths country ranks ]
degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever
water contact disease: schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
animal contact disease: rabies (2016)
11.4% (2016)
country comparison to the world: 135
[see also: Obesity - adult prevalence rate country ranks ]
14.8% (2014)
country comparison to the world: 47
[see also: Children under the age of 5 years underweight country ranks ]
3% of GDP (2013)
country comparison to the world: 133
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 75%
[see also: Literacy - total population country ranks ]
male: 81.2%
[see also: Literacy - male country ranks ]
female: 68.9% (2015 est.)
[see also: Literacy - female country ranks ]
total: 12 years
[see also: School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) - total country ranks ]
male: 13 years
[see also: School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) - male country ranks ]
female: 11 years (2015)
[see also: School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) - female country ranks ]
total: 6.4%
[see also: Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 - total country ranks ]
male: 5.3%
[see also: Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 - male country ranks ]
female: 7.5% (2010 est.)
[see also: Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 - female country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 144
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) The assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 28-Feb-18