Demographic features of the population of Cape Verde include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Cape Verde has a population of about 540,000 inhabitants who live in the islands. A large proportion (236,000) of Cape Verdeans live on the main island, Santiago. Many more live abroad in the Cape Verdean diaspora in mainland Africa, Europe, U.S., Brazil, et cetera. The archipelago of Cape Verde were first found and claimed by Portuguese sailors working for the Portuguese Crown in 1456. Cape Verdeans are West African. Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled in Cape Verde as their permanent country. Survival in a country with few natural resources has historically induced Cape Verdeans to emigrate. In fact, of the more than 1 million people of Cape Verdean ancestry in the world, only a little more than one-third actually live on the islands. Some 500,000 people of Cape Verdean ancestry live in the United States, mainly in New England. Many people of Cape Verdean ancestry also live in Portugal, Netherlands, France, Italy and Senegal. Cape Verdean populations also settled Spain, Germany, Canada, and other CPLP countries (Angola, Brazil and Guinea-Bissau). Since independence from Portugal in 1975, a number of Cape Verdean students continued to be admitted every year at Portuguese high schools, polytechnical institutes and universities, through bilateral agreements between the Portuguese and Cape Verdean governments. Portuguese functions as a state language. Virtually all formal documents and official declarations are stated in Portuguese. But it is not the first language. Cape Verdean, commonly called Kriolu, is spoken as a mother tongue by virtually all Cape Verdeans, irrespective of social status or religious affiliation. Moreover, historical linguists often attribute Cape Verdean Creole as the oldest "New World" contact language. It is a "contact" language in the sense that it was birthed and evolved between linguistically different groups who, by necessity, had to create a common language to communicate with each other. There is a rich repertoire of literature and songs in Cape Verdean Creole. In religion, the majority of Cape Verdeans follow Catholic Christianity. There are some Protestants, Baháʼís and Muslims.

Population

According to the total population was in, compared to only 178,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 31.8%, 62.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 5.9% was 65 years or older.

Vital statistics

Vital events of Cape Verde are not (yet) available for recent years. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.

Births and deaths

Fertility and births

Total fertility rate (TFR) (wanted fertility rate) and crude birth rate (CBR): Fertility data from 2005 (DHS Program):

Life expectancy

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022. The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.

Population

Age structure

Median age

Population growth rate

Total fertility rate

Birth rate

Death rate

Net migration rate

Urbanization

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Sex ratio

Life expectancy at birth

HIV/AIDS

Genetics

E1b1a, R1b

Religions

Languages

Literacy

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

Dependency ratios