According to the 2022 revision of the World Population Prospects[3][4], Liberia's total population was 5,193,416 in 2021. This is compared to 911,000 in 1950.[5]
43.5% of Liberians were below the age of 15 in 2010.[5] 53.7% were between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.8% were 65 years or older.[5]
Estimates of Liberia's population prior to the 20th century are unreliable due to the lack of historical censuses.[6] Estimates by scholars of pre-World War II demographics in Liberia differ wildly.[6]
Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 21.III.2008):[7]
Liberia's population from 1961-2013.[8] Liberia's population tripled in 40 years.[8]
Vital statistics
Registration of vital events is in Liberia not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.[9]
Fertility and births
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[10][11]
Fertility data as of 2013 (DHS Program):[12]
Ethnic communities of Liberia
Indigenous
The indigenous ethnic groups of Liberia can be linguistically divided into three groups who speak;
The Gola ethnic group originated somewhere in central Africa. During the Empire of Ancient Ghana they were involved in the land-surveying and jurisprudence of the empire.
The other ethnic groups that fall under the Mande-Tan, Mande-Fu were also members of Ancient Ghana. Because of their influence in the judicial aspects of the Ghana, the Gola's social structure dominated through the Poro.
With the influx of Islam many groups adopted it while others resisted. The Golas fought three wars with pro-Islamic elements in a changing Ghana. These wars were known as the Kumba Wars. The Golas lost the third of these wars and were forced to retreat toward Sierra Leone. They were pursued by the Mende, Gbandi and Loma. Their battles with the Mende in Sierra Leone forced them to retreat yet again and settle finally in Liberia where they encountered the Dei.
Immigrants from Mali
The Kpelle, Gio, Mano, Mandingo and Vai groups migrated from the Empire of Mali for various reasons, some escaping political intrigue, others looking for a better life. The Vais, settled in Grand Cape Mount county in the west of Liberia, were the first to invent a form of writing in 1833 or 1834. The reported inventor was Dwalu Bukele of Bandakor along the Robertsport (provincial capital) highway.
Immigrants from Côte d'Ivoire
In the 16th century; Kru (Tajuasohn), Bassa, Belleh, Krahn, Grebo.
Congos is an eponymic term for "recaptives," people rescued from slave ships after the slave trade, not slavery itself, was abolished by Great Britain and the United States. These people were "repatriated" to Liberia (and Sierra Leone if rescued by the British) and their descendants. The term was used because many of these rescued Africans were thought to be from the Congo River Basin.[13][14][15]
Immigrants from Lebanon
In the late 19th century to early 20th century Lebanese merchants, families and businessmen began arriving in Liberia. Lebanese currently own many major businesses such as supermarkets, restaurants, textiles, construction works, factories and other production based companies across the country.
According to the 2008 National Census, 85.5% of Liberia's population practices Christianity.[17]Muslims comprise 12.2% of the population, largely coming from the Mandingo and Vai ethnic groups.[17] The vast majority of Muslims are MalikiteSunni, with sizeable Shia and Ahmadiyya minorities.[18]Traditional indigenous religions are practiced by 0.5% of the population, while 1.8% subscribe to no religion.[17]
Other demographic statistics
Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022.[19]
One birth every 3 minutes
One death every 14 minutes
One net migrant every 103 minutes
Net gain of one person every 4 minutes
The following demographic are from the CIA World Factbook[2] unless otherwise indicated.
Population
5,358,483 (2022 est.)
4,809,768 (July 2018 est.)
Religions
Christian 84.9%, Muslim 12%, Traditional 0.5%, other 0.1%, none 2.6% (2022 est.)
Christian 85.6% (primarily Baptist), Muslim 12.2%, Traditional 0.6%, other 0.2%, none 1.5% (2008 est.)
urban population: 53.1% of total population (2022)
urban population: 51.2% of total population (2018)
rate of urbanization: 3.41% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Sex ratio
at birth:1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years:1.02 male(s)/female 15–64 years:1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over:0.96 male(s)/female total population:1 male(s)/female (2018 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
Development of life expectancy
total population: 65.45 years. Country comparison to the world: 201st
male: 63.19 years
female: 67.78 years (2022 est.)
total population: 63.8 years (2018 est.)
male: 61.6 years (2018 est.)
female: 66 years (2018 est.)
total population: 57 years (2011 est.)
male: 55.44 years
female: 58.6 years
Major infectious diseases
degree of risk: very high (2020)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vector borne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
aerosolized dust or soil contact diseases: Lassa fever
note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Liberia 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
There are also more or less nomadic groups like the Fula, who engage mostly in trade, and the Fanti, who are often fishermen or traders of fish, usually from Ghana, living seasonally and more and more often permanently in Liberia.
Then there are Americo-Liberians, who are descendants of free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans who arrived in Liberia from 1822 onward and Congo People (descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean), making up an estimated 5% of the population. They used to dominate political life in Liberia and still have a lot of influence.
There are about 5,000 people of European descent, many of them having settled down as miners, missionaries, business people, and so on. There also is a sizeable number of Lebanese, Indians, and other people with Asian roots who make up a significant part of Liberia's business community. Because of the civil war and its accompanying problem of insecurity, the number of non-Africans in Liberia is low and confined largely to Monrovia and its immediate surroundings.
The Liberian Constitution restricts citizenship of Liberia only to people who are either 'Negroes or of Negro descent' wherein the Liberian Constitution / Chapter 4 / Article 27b states: "In order to preserve, foster and maintain the positive Liberian culture, values and character, only persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent shall qualify by birth or by naturalization to be citizens of Liberia."[21]
Languages
English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages, of which a few can be written and are used in correspondence.
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)
^"World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
^ a b cPopulation Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision Archived May 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ a bGardner, Leigh A., ed. (2022), "Reconstructing the Fragments: Liberia's Economic History, 1847–1980", Sovereignty without Power: Liberia in the Age of Empires, 1822–1980, Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–30, doi:10.1017/9781009181082.002, ISBN 978-1-009-18110-5
^"UNSD — Demographic and Social Statistics".
^ a bData of FAO, year 2005
^"World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". population.un.org. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
^"Liberia Demographic and Health Survey 2013" (PDF). Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
^"Demographic and Health Survey 2007" (PDF). Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
^"Demographic and Health Survey 2013" (PDF). Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
^Clegg 2004
^Ciment 2013
^Sundiata 2003
^ a b"Africa :: LIBERIA". CIA The World Factbook. 19 April 2022.
^ a b c"International Religious Freedom Report 2010: Liberia". United States Department of State. November 17, 2010. Archived from the original on November 23, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
^"The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity" (PDF). Pew Forum on Religious & Public life. August 9, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 24, 2012. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
^"Liberia Population 2022", World Population Review
^"2008 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS" (PDF). Lisgis.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.