Botswana: People & Society#
| Population | 2,209,208 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2016 est.) |
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| Nationality | noun: Motswana (singular), Batswana (plural) adjective: Motswana (singular), Batswana (plural) |
| Ethnic groups | Tswana (or Setswana) 79%, Kalanga 11%, Basarwa 3%, other, including Kgalagadi and white 7% |
| Languages | Setswana 77.3%, Sekalanga 7.4%, Shekgalagadi 3.4%, English (official) 2.8%, Zezuru/Shona 2%, Sesarwa 1.7%, Sembukushu 1.6%, Ndebele 1%, other 2.8% (2011 est.) |
| Religions | Christian 79.1%, Badimo 4.1%, other 1.4% (includes Baha'i, Hindu, Muslim, Rastafarian), none 15.2%, unspecified 0.3% (2011 est.) |
| Demographic profile | Botswana has experienced one of the most rapid declines in fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. The total fertility rate has fallen from more than 5 children per woman in the mid 1980s to approximately 2.4 in 2013. The fertility reduction has been attributed to a host of factors, including higher educational attainment among women, greater participation of women in the workforce, increased contraceptive use, later first births, and a strong national family planning program. Botswana was making significant progress in several health indicators, including life expectancy and infant and child mortality rates, until being devastated by the HIV/AIDs epidemic in the 1990s. Today Botswana has the third highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the world at approximately 22%, however comprehensive and effective treatment programs have reduced HIV/AIDS-related deaths. The combination of declining fertility and increasing mortality rates because of HIV/AIDS is slowing the population aging process, with a narrowing of the youngest age groups and little expansion of the oldest age groups. Nevertheless, having the bulk of its population (about 60%) of working age will only yield economic benefits if the labor force is healthy, educated, and productively employed. Batswana have been working as contract miners in South Africa since the 19th century. Although Botswana’s economy improved shortly after independence in 1966 with the discovery of diamonds and other minerals, its lingering high poverty rate and lack of job opportunities continued to push workers to seek mining work in southern African countries. In the early 1970s, about a third of Botswana’s male labor force worked in South Africa (lesser numbers went to Namibia and Zimbabwe). Not until the 1980s and 1990s, when South African mining companies had reduced their recruitment of foreign workers and Botswana’s economic prospects had improved, were Batswana increasingly able to find job opportunities at home. Most Batswana prefer life in their home country and choose cross-border migration on a temporary basis only for work, shopping, visiting family, or tourism. Since the 1970s, Botswana has pursued an open migration policy enabling it to recruit thousands of foreign workers to fill skilled labor shortages. In the late 1990s, Botswana’s prosperity and political stability attracted not only skilled workers but small numbers of refugees from neighboring Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 32.4% (male 364,807/female 350,888) 15-24 years: 21.32% (male 234,251/female 236,650) 25-54 years: 37.61% (male 444,290/female 386,622) 55-64 years: 4.55% (male 45,186/female 55,272) 65 years and over: 4.13% (male 36,216/female 55,026) (2016 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 55.3% youth dependency ratio: 49.7% elderly dependency ratio: 5.6% potential support ratio: 17.9% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 23.2 years male: 23.4 years female: 23.1 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 1.19% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 20.7 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 13.3 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | 4.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Urbanization | urban population: 57.4% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 1.29% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | GABORONE (capital) 247,000 (2014) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1.15 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.82 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.66 male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2016 est.) |
| Mother's mean age at first birth | 19 (2007 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 129 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 8.6 deaths/1,000 live births male: 8.9 deaths/1,000 live births female: 8.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 54.5 years male: 56.3 years female: 52.6 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 2.3 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 52.8% note: percent of women aged 12-49 (2007/08) |
| Health expenditures | 5.4% of GDP (2014) |
| Physicians density | 0.4 physicians/1,000 population (2009) |
| Hospital bed density | 1.8 beds/1,000 population (2010) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 99.2% of population rural: 92.3% of population total: 96.2% of population unimproved: urban: 0.8% of population rural: 7.7% of population total: 3.8% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 78.5% of population rural: 43.1% of population total: 63.4% of population unimproved: urban: 21.5% of population rural: 56.9% of population total: 36.6% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 22.21% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 348,900 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 3,200 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: malaria (2016) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 19.5% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 11.2% (2008) |
| Education expenditures | 9.6% of GDP (2009) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 88.5% male: 88% female: 88.9% (2015 est.) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) | total: 13 years male: 13 years female: 13 years (2013) |
| Child labor - children ages 5-14 | total number: 45,036 percentage: 9% note: data represent children ages 7-17 (2006 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 36% male: 29.6% female: 43.5% (2010 est.) |