Demographics of Eritrea: Difference between revisions

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Eritreans

Regions with significant populations
Eritrea
Languages
Languages of Eritrea
Religion
Predominantly: Christianity (Eritrean Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Catholicism),[1] and · Islam (Sunni)

Sources disagree as to the current population of Eritrea, with some proposing numbers as low as 3.6 million and others as high as 6.7 million.^[2][3] Eritrea has never conducted an official government census.

The nation has nine recognized ethnic groups.^[4] According to SIL Ethnologue, Tigriniya make up about 60% of the population; the Tigre people, who also speak a Semitic language, constitute around 30% of residents. Most of the rest of the population belong to other Afro-Asiatic-speaking communities of the Cushitic branch. Additionally, there are a number of Nilo-Saharan-speaking ethnic minorities and other smaller groups.^[4][5]

A majority of Eritrea's population adheres to Abrahamic religions. The two most followed religions are Christianity and Islam, which have an almost equal number of followers.

Eritrea's population comprises nine recognized ethnic groups, most of whom speak languages from the Ethiopian Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family.^[5] The East African Semitic languages spoken in Eritrea are Tigre, Tigrinya, and the newly recognized Dahlik. Other Afro-Asiatic languages belonging to the Cushitic branch are also widely spoken in the country.^[5] The latter include Afar, Beja, Blin, and Saho.

In addition, languages belonging to the Nilo-Saharan language family (Kunama and Nara) are spoken as a mother tongue by the Kunama and Nara Nilotic ethnic minorities that live in the north and northwestern part of the country.^[5] The Rashaida speak Arabic, while there are also a number of Italians who speak their native Italian language.

The majority of the Tigrinya inhabit the highlands of Eritrea; however, migration to other parts of the country has occurred. Their language is called Tigrinya. They are the largest ethnic group in the country, constituting about 60% of the population.^[4] The predominantly Tigrinya populated urban centers in Eritrea are the capital Asmara, Mendefera, Dekemhare, Adi Keyh, Adi Quala and Senafe, while there is a significant population of Tigrinya in other cities including Keren, and Massawa.

They are 96% Christians, (of which 90% are of the Eritrean Orthodox faith, 5% Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic (whose mass is held in Ge'ez as opposed to Latin), and 5% belonging to various Protestant and other Christian denominations, the majority of which belong to the (Lutheran) Evangelical Church of Eritrea).

The Tigre reside in the western lowlands in Eritrea. Many also migrated to Sudan at the time of the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict and lived there since. They are a nomadic and pastoralist people, related to the Tigrinya and to the Beja people. They are a predominantly Muslim nomadic people who inhabit the northern, western, and coastal lowlands of Eritrea, where they constitute 30% of local residents.^[4] Some also inhabit areas in eastern Sudan. 95% of the Tigre people adhere to the Islamic religion Sunni Islam, but there are a small number of Christians among them as well (often referred to as the Mensaï in Eritrea). Their language is called Tigre.

The Rashaida are one of Eritrea's nine recognized ethnic groups. They represent around 2% of the population of Eritrea.^[4] The Rashaida reside in the northern coastal lowlands of Eritrea and the northern eastern coasts of Sudan. They are predominantly Muslim and are the only ethnic group in Eritrea to have Arabic as their communal language, specifically the Hejazi dialect. The Rashaida first came to Eritrea in the 19th century from the Arabian Coast.^[6]

The Jeberti people in Eritrea trace descent from early Muslim adherents. The term Jeberti is also locally sometimes used to generically refer to all Islamic inhabitants of the highlands.^[7] The Jeberti in Eritrea speak Arabic and Tigrinya.^[8] They account for about 4% of the Tigrinya speakers in the nation.

According to the CIA, the Afar constitute under 5% of the nation's population.^[4] They live in the Debubawi Keyih Bahri Region of Eritrea, as well as the Afar Region in Ethiopia, and Djibouti. They speak the Afar language as a mother tongue, and are predominantly Muslim. Afars in Eritrea number about 397,000 individuals, the smallest population out of the countries they reside in. In Djibouti, there are about 780,000 group members, and in Ethiopia, they number approximately 1,300,000.

The Saho represent 4% of Eritrea's population.^[4] They principally reside in the Debubawi Keyih Bahri Region and the Northern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. Their language is called Saho. They are predominantly Muslim, although a few Christians known as the Irob live in the Debub Region of Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

The Bilen in Eritrea represent around 2% of the country's population.^[4] They are primarily concentrated in the north-central areas, in and around the city of Keren, and south towards Asmara, the nation's capital. Many of them entered Eritrea from Kush (central Sudan) in the 8th century and settled at Merara, after which they went to Lalibela and Lasta. The Bilen then returned to Axum in Ethiopia's Tigray Province, and battled with the natives; in the resulting aftermath, the Bilen returned to their main base at Merara. The Bilen include adherents of both Islam and Christianity. They speak the Bilen as a mother tongue. Christian adherents are mainly urban and have intermingled with the Tigrinya who live in the area. Muslim adherents are mainly rural and have interbred with the adjacent Tigre.

The Beja in Eritrea, or Hedareb, constitute under 5% of local residents.^[4] They mainly live along the north-western border with Sudan. Group members are predominantly Muslim and communicate in Hedareb as a first or second language. The Beja also include the Beni-Amer people, who have retained their native Beja language alongside Hedareb.

According to the CIA, the Kunama constitute around 2% of Eritrea's population.^[4] They mainly live in the country's Gash Barka Region, as well as in adjacent parts of Ethiopia's Tigray Region. Many of them reside in the contested border village of Badme. Their language is called Kunama. Although some Kunama still practice traditional beliefs, most are converts to either Christianity (Roman Catholic and Protestant) or Islam.

The Nara represent under 5% of the nation's population.^[4] They principally reside along the south-western border with Sudan and Ethiopia. They are generally Muslim, with a few Christians and some practising their indigenous beliefs. Their language is called Nara.

A few monolingual Italian Eritreans remain. As of 2008, they were estimated at 900 people, down from around 38,000 residents at the end of World War II.

People in Eritrea practice various religions. According to the Pew Research Center (2010), 62.9% of the population are Christian, mostly followers of Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo, and to a lesser extent, Roman Catholicism, with the second-largest denomination being Muslims.^[10] In general, most local residents who adhere to Christianity live in the Maekel and Debub regions, whereas those who follow Islam predominantly inhabit the Anseba, Northern Red Sea, Southern Red Sea and Gash-Barka regions. A few adherents of traditional faiths can also be found, particularly in the lowlands.

Sources disagree as to the current population of Eritrea, with some proposing numbers as low as 3.6 million and others as high as 6.7 million.^[2][3] Eritrea has never conducted an official government census. In the 2010s, worsening conditions have fuelled migration pressure, with Eritreans trying to reach Europe illegally.^[11][12]

The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2020 was 41.1%, 54.3% werebetween 15 and 65 years of age, while 4.5% were65 years or older.^[13]

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs expects Eritrean population growth to accelerate to 1.8% per year from 2020-2030, vs. 1.1% per year from 2010-2020.^[13]

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Population Division published its UN DESA 2019 Revision (World Population Prospects 2019) data release^[14] based on several data samples, including the 1995 and 2002 Demographic and Health Surveys (1995 DHS, 2002 DHS) and the 2010 Population and Health Survey (2010 PHS), since a full census had not been carried out in Eritrea as of 2010^[update].^[15]: 31

The 1995 DHS survey was carried out in Eritrea by the Eritrean National Statistics Office (NSO) and Macro International Inc., collecting data by interviewing 5,054 women aged 15–49 and 1,114 men aged 15–59, chosen to be a statistically representative sample, from September 1995 to January 1996.^[16]

The 2002 DHS survey was carried out by the NSO (renamed as the National Statistics and Evaluation Office), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and ORC Macro, collecting data with interviews of 8,754 women in Eritrea in the 15–49 age range, in what was considered to be a statistically representative sample of the full population.^[17] Key findings of the survey included a drop from 1995 to 2002 of fertility from 6.1 to 4.8 children per woman; improved knowledge of contraception; a drop in postneonatal mortality; improved antenatal care; a doubling of the full vaccination rate for 12–23 month old babies from 41 to 76 percent; 38 percent of children under five years old were chronically malnourished or stunted; and near universal knowledge of HIV and AIDS.^[18]

In 2010, the NSO, supported by the Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies, published a Population and Health Survey (EPHS2010), based on a survey covering 34,423 households by choosing 900 areas around Eritrea, 525 rural and 375 urban, and randomly selecting 40 households in each cluster. Interviews aimed to include all women aged 15–49 and men aged 15–59 who were either residents or visitors in any selected household on the night preceding the interview. Key findings compared to the 1995 DHS survey included a decrease in early childhood mortality, increased children's vaccination, decreased maternal death, and a "wide gap between knowledge and use of family planning".^[15]

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR) (1995 DHS, Table 3.1;^[16] 2002 DHS, Table 4.1;^[17][26])

Fertility geographical distribution as of 2010 (PHS, Table 4-2):^[15]

Period	Life expectancy in Years[27]
1950–1955	34.08
1955–1960	36.68
1960–1965	40.08
1965–1970	42.15
1970–1975	44.11
1975–1980	45.91
1980–1985	47.33
1985–1990	48.69
1990–1995	50.77
1995–2000	53.97
2000–2005	56.70
2005–2010	60.71
2010–2015	63.42
2015–2020	65.74

Eritrean migration (immigrants minus emigrants; UN DESA Revisions 2010 to 2019)

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Negative numbers indicate more emigration than immigration; positive numbers indicate more immigration. Sources: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Population Division: (Revisions 2012^[28] and 2017 are almost identical to Revisions 2010 and 2015, respectively.^[29])

• Revision 2010^[30]
• Revision 2015^[31]
• Revision 2019^[32]

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