Cote Divoire People 2024, CIA World Factbook
Population
29,344,847 (2023 est.)
Nationality
noun: Ivoirian(s)
adjective: Ivoirian
Ethnic groups
Akan 28.9%, Voltaique or Gur 16.1%, Northern Mande 14.5%, Kru 8.5%, Southern Mande 6.9%, unspecified 0.9%, non-Ivoirian 24.2% (2014 est.)
Languages
French (official), 60 native dialects of which Dioula is the most widely spoken
major-language sample(s):
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Religions
Muslim 42.9%, Catholic 17.2%, Evangelical 11.8%, Methodist 1.7%, other Christian 3.2%, animist 3.6%, other religion 0.5%, none 19.1% (2014 est.)
note: the majority of foreign migrant workers are Muslim (72.7%) and Christian (17.7%)
Demographic profile
Cote d’Ivoire’s population is likely to continue growing for the foreseeable future because almost 60% of the populace is younger than 25 as of 2020, the total fertility rate is holding steady at about 3.5 children per woman, and contraceptive use is under 30%. The country will need to improve education, health care, and gender equality in order to turn its large and growing youth cohort into human capital. Even prior to 2010 unrest that shuttered schools for months, access to education was poor, especially for women. The lack of educational attainment contributes to Cote d’Ivoire’s high rates of unskilled labor, adolescent pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS prevalence.
Following its independence in 1960, Cote d’Ivoire’s stability and the blossoming of its labor-intensive cocoa and coffee industries in the southwest made it an attractive destination for migrants from other parts of the country and its neighbors, particularly Burkina Faso. The HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY administration continued the French colonial policy of encouraging labor immigration by offering liberal land ownership laws. Foreigners from West Africa, Europe (mainly France), and Lebanon composed about 25% of the population by 1998.
Ongoing economic decline since the 1980s and the power struggle after HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY’s death in 1993 ushered in the politics of "Ivoirite," institutionalizing an Ivoirian identity that further marginalized northern Ivoirians and scapegoated immigrants. The hostile Muslim north-Christian south divide snowballed into a 2002 civil war, pushing tens of thousands of foreign migrants, Liberian refugees, and Ivoirians to flee to war-torn Liberia or other regional countries and more than a million people to be internally displaced. Subsequently, violence following the contested 2010 presidential election prompted some 250,000 people to seek refuge in Liberia and other neighboring countries and again internally displaced as many as a million people. By July 2012, the majority had returned home, but ongoing inter-communal tension and armed conflict continue to force people from their homes.
Age structure
0-14 years: 36.65% (male 5,398,616/female 5,354,973)
15-64 years: 60.4% (male 8,935,673/female 8,789,040)
65 years and over: 2.95% (2023 est.) (male 389,248/female 477,297)
2023 population pyramid: 
Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio: 79.2
youth dependency ratio: 74.9
elderly dependency ratio: 4.3
potential support ratio: 19.3 (2021 est.)
Median age
total: 21 years (2023 est.)
male: 21 years
female: 21 years
Population growth rate
2.16% (2023 est.)
Birth rate
27.9 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Death rate
7.5 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Net migration rate
1.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Population distribution
the population is primarily located in the forested south, with the highest concentration of people residing in and around the cities on the Atlantic coast; most of the northern savanna remains sparsely populated with higher concentrations located along transportation corridors as shown in this 
Urbanization
urban population: 53.1% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 3.38% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Major urban areas - population
231,000 YAMOUSSOUKRO (capital) (2018), 5.686 million ABIDJAN (seat of government) (2023)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth
19.6 years (2011/12 est.)
note: data represents median age at first birth among women 20-49
Maternal mortality ratio
480 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
Infant mortality rate
total: 54 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
male: 61.2 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 46.7 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 62.7 years (2023 est.)
male: 60.5 years
female: 65 years
Total fertility rate
3.47 children born/woman (2023 est.)
Gross reproduction rate
1.71 (2023 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate
27.8% (2020)
Drinking water source
improved: urban: 89.9% of population
rural: 69.1% of population
total: 79.8% of population
unimproved: urban: 10.1% of population
rural: 30.9% of population
total: 20.2% of population (2020 est.)
Current health expenditure
3.3% of GDP (2020)
Physicians density
0.16 physicians/1,000 population (2019)
Sanitation facility access
improved: urban: 77.8% of population
rural: 35% of population
total: 57.1% of population
unimproved: urban: 22.2% of population
rural: 65% of population
total: 42.9% of population (2020 est.)
Major infectious diseases
degree of risk: very high (2023)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and sexually transmitted diseases: hepatitis B (2024)
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis
note: on 31 August 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Côte d'Ivoire 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, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine
Obesity - adult prevalence rate
10.3% (2016)
Alcohol consumption per capita
total: 1.7 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 1.13 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.33 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.2 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0.04 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Tobacco use
total: 9.4% (2020 est.)
male: 17.9% (2020 est.)
female: 0.9% (2020 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight
12.8% (2016)
Currently married women (ages 15-49)
60.3% (2023 est.)
Child marriage
women married by age 15: 7%
women married by age 18: 27%
men married by age 18: 3.5% (2016 est.)
Education expenditures
3.4% of GDP (2020 est.)
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 89.9%
male: 93.1%
female: 86.7% (2019)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 11 years
male: 11 years
female: 10 years (2020)
NOTE: The information regarding Cote Divoire on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cote Divoire 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cote Divoire 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.