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.

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (Census 24.II.2013): Population by Age Group (Estimates 1.VII.2016) (Data refer to national projections.):

Vital statistics

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

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2010 (DHS Program):

Life expectancy

Other demographic statistics

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

Population

Religions

Muslim (official) 100%

Age structure

Median age

Birth rate

Death rate

Total fertility rate

Population growth rate

Mother's mean age at first birth

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Net migration rate

Dependency ratios

Urbanization

Life expectancy at birth

Major infectious diseases

note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Mauritania is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine

Sex ratio

Ethnic groups

Fair Moors (bidhanes) 53% or 2.4 million people, dark Moors (Haratins) 30%, 17% sub-Saharan Mauritanians (non-Arabic speaking, largely resident in or originating from the Senegal River Valley, including Helpulaar, Fulani, Soninke, Wolof, and Bambara ethnic groups)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

9,500 (2003 est.) HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 500 (2003 est.)

Nationality

noun: Mauritanian(s) adjective: Mauritanian

Languages

Arabic (official and national), French (widely used in media and among educated classes), Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof, Serer.

Education expenditures

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24