People

Population: 5 080 004 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 45% (male 1 130 728; female 1 167 084)

15-64 years: 52% (male 1 257 901; female 1 367 902)

65 years and over: 3% (male 79 113; female 77 276) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 4.01% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 46.16 births/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 17.25 deaths/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 11.18 migrant(s)/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 0.96 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 1.02 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 129.38 deaths/1 000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 48.57 years

male: 45.56 years

female: 51.66 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.23 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:

noun: Sierra Leonean(s)

adjective: Sierra Leonean

Ethnic groups: 20 native African tribes 90% (Temne 30% Mende 30% other 30%) Creole 10% (descendents of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-eighteenth century) refugees from Liberia's recent civil war small numbers of Europeans Lebanese Pakistanis and Indians

Religions: Muslim 60% indigenous beliefs 30% Christian 10%

Languages: English (official regular use limited to literate minority) Mende (principal vernacular in the south) Temne (principal vernacular in the north) Krio (English-based Creole spoken by the descendents of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write in English Mende Temne or Arabic

total population: 31.4%

male: 45.4%

female: 18.2% (1995 est.)