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MAURITANIA
Six ethnic groups; one primarily Arab Berber (Maure), remainder black African (Toucouleur, Fulbe, Soninké, Wolof, and Bambara). Numerical proportions of each a source of contention; in 1978 government claimed 70 percent Maure; others said blacks constituted 50 percent or more. |
POPULATION GRAPH |
2,828,858 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 46.1% (male 653,005; female 650,530)
15-64 years: 51.7% (male 720,473; female 741,094)
65 years and over: 2.2% (male 26,251; female 37,505) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.92% (2002 est.)
Birth rate:
42.54 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate:
13.34 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2002 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
75.25 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 51.53 years
female: 53.71 years (2002 est.)
male: 49.42 years
Total fertility rate:
6.15 children born/woman (2002 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
1.8% (2000 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
6,600 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
610 (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Mauritanian(s)
adjective: Mauritanian
Ethnic groups:
mixed Maur/black 40%, Maur 30%, black 30%
Religions:
Muslim 100%
Languages:
Hassaniya Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof (official), French
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 41.2%
male: 51.5%
female: 31.3% (2002 est.)
Religion of Mauritania
Almost all Mauritanians are Sunni Muslim. The declaration of the country as an Islamic republic at independence marked a political aspiration that religion might unite very diverse populations under that common confession. Two of the major Sufi (mystical) brotherhoods—the Qādiriyyah and Tijāniyyah orders—have numerous adherents throughout the country, but there is little distinct pattern in the distribution of these groups. Urban religious associations based on place of worship, common hometowns or regions, and ethnicity have flourished throughout the country, and most urban dwellers identify first with their rural origins rather than with the new towns and cities.
History of Mauritania
Mauritania is a mainly desert country spanning the Arab Maghreb of North Africa and the western sub-Saharan Africa.
The country has a population of 3.1 million, divided between the Arab-Berber population to the north and black Africans to the south.
In the Middle Ages, Mauritania was the cradle of the powerful Almoravid dynasty, which spread Islam across North Africa and later controlled Islamic Spain.
In 1904, France established Mauritania as a colonial territory.
Mauritania gained independence in 1960, with Nouakchott as its capital. Its first president, Moktar Ould Daddah, ushered in an era of authoritarian rule and was eventually deposed in a coup in 1978.
A series of military rulers followed until August 2005 when the Military Council for Justice and Democracy seized power and appointed a transitional government, promising to return the country to democracy by 2007.
Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was elected President of Mauritania in a run-off vote on 25 March 2007, in the first democratic presidential elections since independence.
The present putsch is Mauritania's 11th coup or attempted coup since independence.
Mauritania's claim to parts of the disputed territory of Western Sahara brought it into conflict with Polisario Front guerillas until a peace deal was struck in 1979.
With national income per capita averaging $560, Mauritania is one of the world's poorest countries. But the discovery and exploitation of oil and gas reserves on its Atlantic coast has raised hopes of future prosperity.
Slavery was banned in 1981, but the practice is still believed to be widespread.
Mauritania is one of three Arab states to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
The country has recently become the target of terrorist activities. In December 2007, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQM) claimed responsibility for the killing of four Mauritanian soldiers and a family of French tourists. In February 2008, AQM attacked the Israeli Embassy in Nouakchott.
Mauritania
The West African country of Mauritania is mostly located in the Sahara Desert. In fact, only 10% of land in Mauritania lies outside of the Sahara, which creates an overall vibe of an arid and warm country, as you can probably imagine from the sounds of a desert lifestyle.
The country of Mauritania is not totally landlocked, for its westernmost border is situated along the coast of the Atlantic. However, all other borders of Mauritania are shared with other African countries. Algeria, Mali, Senegal, and the Western Sahara all encompass Mauritania. A notable feature of Mauritania is that it ranks as the eleventh largest country in all of Africa.
Mauritania Population - History
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NOTE: The information regarding Mauritania on this page is re-published from the 2020 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Mauritania 2020 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Mauritania 2020 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
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White Moors (Bidhan/Sahrawi)
About 30% of the population of Mauritania is the Saharawi people. The Sahrawi inhabit mainly the western part of the Sahara Desert including countries such as Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Morocco. The name Sahrawi is an Arabic word which literally translates to “inhabitants of the desert.” The regions where the ethnic group hails from were originally inhabited by the nomadic Berbers before the arrival of Islam in the 8th century CE. It was the Berbers who spread the new faith in the region. The Arabs began settling in the area in the 11th century and were slowly assimilated after several failed opposition from the Berber. The Berbers would eventually embrace the Arabs and their culture. Today, Hassaniya, an Arabic dialect, remains a mother tongue in Mauritania and has almost replaced the Berber languages originally spoken in the area. Thus, the modern Saharawi people in Mauritania are of Arab-Berber descent.
The ethnic group is divided into several groups of different social status. At the top is the Hassane (aristocratic warriors) who are the descendants of Beni Hassan Arab tribe. Below them are the Zawiya tribes (scholars) followed by the Znaga tribes (mainly fishermen). The Saharawi people are mainly Sunni Muslims.
Mauritania Population 1950-2021
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Mauritania Population Density 1950-2021
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Afro-Asiatic Languages Spoken in Mauritania
Arabic
The official language of Mauritania is Literary Arabic, also referred to as Modern Standard Arabic. The fact that Mauritania’s population is almost completely Muslim makes Arabic the most recognized language in the nation.
Hassaniyya Arabic
This language serves as a lingua franca in Mauritania. It is the Arabic language’s local and oral form that is spoken by the common people of Mauritania in their daily lives. The language is also closely related to the Arabic dialect spoken by the Bedouins. The Imraguen people, an ethnic group living in Mauritania, also speak Hassaniyya Arabic.
Mauritania
Mauritania is an arid, lower-middle-income country in Northwest Africa, bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean. Although it has made significant improvements in reducing poverty and chronic malnutrition, its rapidly growing population still faces major challenges, including food insecurity, malnutrition, gender inequality and land degradation. In the Sahel, population displacement and frequent climate-related crises pose further challenges.
Just under one quarter of the population lives in poverty, and malnutrition remains widespread. The latest figures show global acute malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition affecting respectively 11.6 and 2.3 percent of children under 5 years old during critical peaks of the lean season, with figures dropping to and 9.8 and 1.6 percent respectively in non-emergency years. Moreover, during the lean season, 23 of the country’s 52 departments have rates of global acute malnutrition of 15 percent – the level set by the World Health Organization as emergency threshold – or higher. One in five children is chronically malnourished, estimated to cost the country US $759 million in annual economic loss.
74 percent of Mauritania’s poor live in rural areas, with much of the population relying on agriculture to survive. Of these, 60 percent are smallholder farmers and 20 percent seasonal workers with no land of their own many are women, who are at a disadvantage due to persistent discrimination and an unequal burden of unpaid labour. An estimated 12.5 percent of children aged 5 to 14 work, primarily in agriculture, putting them at risk of the worst forms of child labour.
With 90 percent of agricultural production subsistence-based, large numbers of people are vulnerable to the effects of events such as droughts, floods and locust invasions, all of which are made worse by rapid soil erosion and desertification due to climate change. A series of major droughts in 2011, 2014 and 2017 weakened communities and damaged ecosystems, forcing many to cope by eating less and poorer quality food, and selling livestock at less than its market value.
Tensions within agricultural communities rise at times of crises, and natural resources – such as fishing stocks – are over-exploited. Poor storage facilities and transportation mean that as much as 30 percent of agricultural produce is lost after harvest.
Adding to Mauritania’s problems, regional instability continues to affect the country even at a time of relative security. Regular influxes of Malians fleeing violence have brought the population of the Mbera camp to around 56,000 refugees, placing a strain on host communities and limited environmental resources.
WFP has been working in Mauritania since 1964, providing relief assistance, livelihood support and humanitarian air services. Today, WFP is addressing the causes of vulnerability while working with the Government towards achieving its aims of reducing food insecurity to under 5 percent, eradicating severe food insecurity and reducing global acute malnutrition to under 2 percent by 2030.