Demographics of Madagascar
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Madagascar, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Madagascar's population is predominantly of mixed Austronesian and East African origin.
Ethnicity
Recent research suggests that the island was uninhabited until Austronesian seafarers arrived around the first century A.D., probably by way of southern India and East Africa. Other historians believe that the Malays crossed the Indian Ocean and only reached the African mainland after establishing durable communities on Madagascar. Subsequent migrations from both the Malay Archipelago and Africa further consolidated this original mixture, and 18 separate tribal groups emerged. Austronesian features are most predominant in the central highlands people, the Merina (3 million) and the Betsileo (2 million); the remaining 16 tribal groupings are coastal peoples who are predominantly of East African origin, with various Malay, Arab, European and Indian admixtures. The largest coastal groups are the Betsimisaraka (1.5 million) and the Tsimihety and Sakalava (700,000 each). Malagasy society has long been polarized between the politically and economically advantaged highlanders of the central plateaux and the people along the coast. For example in the 1970s there was widespread opposition among coastal ethnics against the policy of Malgachisation which intended to phase out the use of the French language in public life in favour of a more prominent position for the Malagasy language, whose orthography is based on the Merina dialect. Identity politics were also at the core of the brief civil unrest during 2002.
The Malagasy language is of Malayo-Polynesian origin and is spoken throughout the island. French also is spoken among the educated population of this former French colony, primarily as a prestigious second language.
Indians in Madagascar descend mostly from traders who arrived in the newly-independent nation looking for better opportunities. The majority of them came from the west coast of India known as Karana (Muslim) and Banian (Hindu). The majority speak Hindi or Gujarati, and though some other Indian dialects also exist. Nowadays[update] the younger generations speak at least three languages, including French, Gujarati and Malagasy. A large number of the Indians in Madagascar have a high level of education, particularly the younger generation.[citation needed]
A sizeable number of Europeans also reside in Madagascar, mostly of French descent.
Religion
Most people practise traditional religions, which tend to emphasize links between the living and the dead. They believe that the dead join their ancestors in the ranks of divinity and that ancestors are intensely concerned with the fate of their living descendants. This spiritual communion is celebrated by the Merina and Betsileo reburial practice of famadihana, or "turning over the dead." In this ritual, relatives' remains are removed from the family tomb, rewrapped in new silk shrouds, and returned to the tomb following festive ceremonies in their honor. In the festivities, they eat, drink, and literally dance with the dead. After one or two days of celebrating, they shower the body with gifts and re-bury it.
About 41% of the Malagasy are Christian, divided almost evenly between Roman Catholic and Protestant, but there are also Orthodox Christians. Many incorporate the cult of the dead with their other religious beliefs and bless their dead at church before proceeding with the traditional burial rites. They also may invite a pastor to attend a famadihana. A historical rivalry exists between the predominantly Catholic masses, considered to be underprivileged, and the predominantly Protestant Merina aristocrats, who tend to prevail in the civil service, business, and professions.
Islam has been well-established in what is now known as Madagascar for centuries and today Muslims represent approximately 7 percent of the population.[1]
See also: Christianity in Madagascar, Islam in Madagascar, Hinduism in Madagascar, and Bahá'í Faith in Madagascar.
CIA World Factbook demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[2]
Population:
18,652,000 (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
45% (male 3,504,562; female 3,481,056)
15-64 years:
52% (male 3,964,564; female 4,052,056)
65 years and over:
3% (male 237,691; female 266,543) (2006 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.69% (2006 est.)
Birth rate: 37.82 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate: 9.79 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth:
1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.89 male(s)/female
total population:
0.99 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 65.59 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
59.45 years
male:
57.72 years
female:
61.33 years (2006 est.)
Total fertility rate: 5.02 children born/woman (2011 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Malagasy (singular and plural)
adjective:
Malagasy
Ethnic groups: Malayo-Indonesian (Merina and related Betsileo), coastal ethnics (mixed African, Malayo-Indonesian, and Arab ancestry - Betsimisaraka, Tsimihety, Antaisaka, Sakalava), French, Desi, Creole, Comorian, Chinese
Religions: indigenous beliefs 52%, Christian 41%, Muslim 7%
Languages: Malagasy (official, and national language), French (official), English (official) [3]
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
80%
male:
88%
female:
73% (1990 est.)
UN population projections
Numbers are in thousands. UN medium variant projections (2011 estimates).[4]
- 2010 20,713.82
- 2015 23,852.86
- 2020 27,365.84
- 2025 31,217.57
- 2030 35,333.08
- 2035 39,643.71
- 2040 44,132.03
- 2045 48,782.69
- 2050 53,561.17
Notes
- ^ Madagascar
- ^ The World Factbook - Madagascar
- ^ Madagascar adopts English as official language, ClickAfrique.com, 10 April 2007.
- ^ http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Excel-Data/population.htm
References
- Matthew E. Hules, et al. (2005). The Dual Origin of the Malagasy in Island Southeast Asia and East Africa: Evidence from Maternal and Paternal Lineages. American Journal of Human Genetics, 76:894-901, 2005.