Demographics of Mauritania

Demographic features of the population of Mauritania include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects.

Population

According to, the total population was in, compared to only 657 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 39.9%, 57.4% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.7% was 65 years or older.

	Total population	Population aged 0–14	Population aged 15–64	Population aged 65+
1950	657	43.8	54.8	1.4
1955	744	43.6	54.7	1.6
1960	854	44.3	53.8	1.8
1965	984	45.2	52.8	2.0
1970	1 134	45.8	52.1	2.2
1975	1 312	45.8	51.9	2.3
1980	1 518	45.6	51.9	2.4
1985	1 748	45.3	52.2	2.5
1990	1 996	44.9	52.5	2.6
1995	2 292	44.0	53.4	2.7
2000	2 643	42.7	54.6	2.7
2005	3 047	41.2	56.1	2.7
2010	3 460	39.9	57.4	2.7

Structure of the population

Structure of the population :

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	1 743 074	1 794 294	3 537 368	100
0–4	316 217	298 475	614 692	17.38
5–9	263 263	256 839	520 102	14.70
10–14	212 838	216 667	429 505	12.14
15–19	176 116	185 288	361 404	10.22
20–24	144 478	157 962	302 440	8.55
25–29	121 586	135 767	257 353	7.28
30–34	99 834	113 691	213 525	6.04
35–39	83 578	95 379	178 957	5.06
40–44	72 108	79 228	151 336	4.28
45–49	60 297	64 516	124 813	3.53
50–54	50 739	51 751	102 490	2.90
55–59	41 075	40 645	81 720	2.31
60–64	31 660	30 459	62 119	1.76
65–69	24 120	23 055	47 175	1.33
70–74	18 167	17 129	35 296	1.00
75–79	12 670	12 231	24 901	0.70
80–84	8 080	8 584	16 664	0.47
85+	6 248	6 628	12 876	0.36
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	792 318	771 981	1 564 299	44.22
15–64	881 471	954 686	1 836 157	51.91
65+	69 285	67 627	136 912	3.87

Population by Age Group :

Age group	Total	%
Total	3 782 701	100
0–4	579 832	15.33
5–9	567 643	15.01
10–14	478 293	12.64
15–19	396 650	10.49
20–24	333 473	8.82
25–29	280 531	7.42
30–34	236 864	6.26
35–39	196 168	5.19
40–44	164 707	4.35
45–49	137 439	3.63
50–54	111 936	2.96
55–59	90 008	2.38
60–64	68 836	1.82
65–69	50 266	1.33
70–74	36 188	0.96
75–79	24 540	0.65
80+	29 328	0.78
Age group	Total	Percent
0–14	1 625 768	42.98
15–64	2 016 611	53.31
65+	140 322	3.71

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events in Mauritania is incomplete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.

	Mid-year population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Natural change	Total fertility rate	Infant mortality	Life expectancy
1950	659	30	15	15	45.2	23.0	22.2	6.12	157.1	38.74
1951	673	31	15	15	45.3	22.5	22.8	6.13	155.0	39.29
1952	689	31	15	16	45.2	22.1	23.1	6.13	152.8	39.77
1953	705	32	15	16	45.2	21.8	23.4	6.13	150.7	40.21
1954	721	33	15	17	45.3	21.4	23.9	6.16	148.4	40.78
1955	739	34	16	18	45.4	21.0	24.4	6.18	146.1	41.41
1956	757	35	16	19	45.6	20.7	24.9	6.21	143.6	41.94
1957	776	36	16	20	45.8	20.4	25.4	6.24	141.1	42.50
1958	796	37	16	21	46.0	20.0	26.0	6.28	138.4	43.16
1959	816	38	16	22	46.1	19.6	26.6	6.32	135.7	43.88
1960	838	39	16	23	46.3	19.0	27.3	6.35	133.0	44.77
1961	862	40	16	24	46.6	18.6	28.0	6.40	130.1	45.44
1962	886	41	16	25	46.6	18.3	28.3	6.43	127.3	46.05
1963	911	43	16	26	46.7	17.9	28.8	6.48	124.5	46.69
1964	938	44	16	28	46.8	17.4	29.4	6.53	121.7	47.45
1965	966	45	16	29	46.9	17.0	29.9	6.59	118.9	48.06
1966	995	47	17	30	47.0	16.6	30.3	6.64	116.1	48.73
1967	1 025	48	17	31	46.8	16.2	30.6	6.67	113.3	49.37
1968	1 056	49	17	32	46.5	15.8	30.7	6.68	110.6	50.04
1969	1 089	50	17	34	46.3	15.4	30.9	6.69	108.4	50.63
1970	1 122	52	17	35	46.0	15.1	30.8	6.69	107.0	51.04
1971	1 156	53	17	36	45.6	14.9	30.8	6.69	106.2	51.39
1972	1 191	54	18	37	45.5	14.7	30.7	6.70	105.8	51.66
1973	1 227	56	18	38	45.3	14.6	30.7	6.70	105.4	51.90
1974	1 264	57	18	39	45.1	14.4	30.7	6.70	104.9	52.18
1975	1 302	59	18	40	44.9	14.1	30.8	6.68	104.0	52.65
1976	1 342	60	19	41	44.7	13.9	30.8	6.67	102.6	52.92
1977	1 381	62	19	43	44.6	13.6	30.9	6.68	100.7	53.37
1978	1 422	63	19	44	44.3	13.3	31.0	6.67	98.5	53.86
1979	1 464	64	19	45	43.8	12.9	30.9	6.65	96.2	54.47
1980	1 507	66	19	47	43.8	12.6	31.2	6.62	94.0	55.06
1981	1 552	68	19	49	43.7	12.2	31.5	6.58	91.8	55.66
1982	1 598	69	19	50	43.3	11.8	31.5	6.53	89.6	56.28
1983	1 646	71	19	52	42.9	11.6	31.4	6.48	87.2	56.68
1984	1 696	72	19	53	42.5	11.2	31.2	6.41	84.6	57.16
1985	1 746	73	19	54	41.9	10.9	31.0	6.34	81.8	57.58
1986	1 798	74	19	55	41.4	10.6	30.7	6.25	79.1	57.99
1987	1 851	76	19	57	41.0	10.3	30.7	6.16	76.5	58.58
1988	1 906	78	19	59	40.7	10.0	30.7	6.11	74.2	59.14
1989	1 955	80	19	61	40.7	9.8	30.9	6.08	72.6	59.32
1990	2 006	82	19	62	40.6	9.6	31.0	6.06	71.0	59.77
1991	2 066	84	20	64	40.6	9.5	31.1	6.04	70.1	59.94
1992	2 148	87	20	67	40.6	9.4	31.3	6.04	69.5	60.26
1993	2 237	93	21	72	41.5	9.4	32.1	6.04	69.1	60.38
1994	2 315	95	22	73	40.9	9.4	31.6	5.92	68.9	60.34
1995	2 380	97	22	75	40.7	9.4	31.3	5.85	68.9	60.26
1996	2 429	97	23	74	39.6	9.4	30.2	5.71	69.1	60.06
1997	2 484	97	23	74	39.0	9.2	29.8	5.66	68.9	60.45
1998	2 551	98	23	75	38.4	9.1	29.4	5.57	68.8	60.61
1999	2 621	100	24	77	38.2	9.0	29.3	5.54	68.7	60.82
2000	2 695	102	24	78	37.8	8.9	28.9	5.46	68.5	61.03
2001	2 762	104	24	80	37.5	8.8	28.7	5.38	68.2	61.19
2002	2 822	105	25	80	37.0	8.7	28.3	5.29	68.0	61.27
2003	2 883	106	25	81	36.7	8.6	28.1	5.23	67.7	61.35
2004	2 947	109	25	84	36.8	8.5	28.2	5.19	67.0	61.59
2005	3 012	112	26	86	36.9	8.5	28.4	5.19	66.3	61.66
2006	3 081	115	26	89	37.1	8.4	28.7	5.19	65.2	61.89
2007	3 154	117	26	91	37.1	8.3	28.8	5.15	64.1	62.23
2008	3 233	121	27	94	37.2	8.2	29.0	5.15	62.7	62.40
2009	3 323	123	27	95	36.9	8.2	28.7	5.08	61.3	62.80
2010	3 419	126	28	97	36.8	8.3	28.4	5.04	59.8	63.11
2011	3 524	129	30	99	36.7	8.5	28.3	5.03	58.5	63.35
2012	3 636	132	31	101	36.4	8.6	27.8	4.99	57.2	63.58
2013	3 743	134	32	102	35.8	8.7	27.2	4.94	55.8	63.91
2014	3 843	137	32	105	35.5	8.3	27.2	4.89	54.4	64.16
2015	3 946	139	32	107	35.2	8.0	27.2	4.81	53.0	64.49
2016	4 052	141	31	110	34.8	7.7	27.1	4.74	51.7	64.77
2017	4 160	143	31	112	34.4	7.4	27.0	4.66	50.3	65.08
2018	4 271	146	31	115	34.2	7.2	26.9	4.61	49.1	65.31
2019	4 384	148	31	117	33.7	7.0	26.7	4.52	47.8	65.69
2020	4 533	164	29	135	35.7	6.4	29.3	4.91	33.7	66.8
2021	4 667	167	30	138	35.3	6.3	29.1	4.85	32.7	66.8
2022	4 803	170	27	142	34.8	5.6	29.2	4.77	31.7	64.53
2023	4 948	173	28	145	34.4	5.5	28.9	4.70	30.8	68.5

Demographic and Health Surveys

Total Fertility Rate and Crude Birth Rate :
Fertility data as of 2010 :

Zone	Total fertility rate	Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant	Mean number of children ever born to women age 40–49
Nouakchott	4.3	8.0	5.7
Sud-Est	5.0	10.4	5.2
Fleuve	5.1	8.5	6.0
Nord	4.6	7.1	6.5
Centre	4.0	6.7	6.1

Religion

Official census figures identify 100% of Mauritanian citizens as Muslim.
In practice, approximately 99.2% of the population is Sunni Muslim following the Maliki school, with very small minorities, about 0.8%, made up of foreign residents practicing Christianity, Judaism, or other faiths.

Ethnic groups

40% Black Moors, 30% sub-Saharan Mauritanians, and 30% White Moors.

Languages

Arabic, Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof are the four national languages of Mauritania while Arabic, particularly spoken in the Hassaniya Arabic dialect, remains the sole official language. Other languages, such as Serer and Frenchare also spoken. French is widely used in media and among educated classes), Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof, and Serer.