Population: 6 841 695 (July 1998 est.) note: this estimate was derived from an official census taken in 1987 by the Somali Government with the cooperation of the UN and the US Bureau of the Census; population estimates are updated year by year between census years by factoring growth rates into them and by taking account of refugee movements and of losses due to famine; lower estimates of Somalia's population in mid-1996 (on the order of 6.0 million to 6.5 million) have been made by aid and relief agencies based on the number of persons being fed; population counting in Somalia is complicated by the large numbers of nomads and by refugee movements in response to famine and clan warfare
Birth rate: 46.75 births/1 000 population (1998 est.)
Death rate: 18.5 deaths/1 000 population (1998 est.)
Net migration rate: 16.08 migrant(s)/1 000 population (1998 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female (1998 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 125.77 deaths/1 000 live births (1998 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 46.23 years male: 44.66 years female: 47.85 years (1998 est.)
Total fertility rate: 7.01 children born/woman (1998 est.)
Nationality: noun: Somali(s) adjective: Somali
Ethnic groups: Somali 85% Bantu Arabs 30 000
Religions: Sunni Muslim
Languages: Somali (official) Arabic Italian English
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 24% male: 36% female: 14% (1990 est.)
