Mauritanie B5

Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern state covers a territory far to the southwest of the old kingdom. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.

The government of Mauritania was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup d'état led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, General Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won. In Mauritania about 20% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Mauritania, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population: 3,381,634 (June 2011 est.)

Age structure:

Median age:

Population growth rate: 2.349% (2011 est.)

Birth rate: 33.67 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)

Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (2010 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.94 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2010 est.)

Sex ratio:

Infant mortality rate

Life expectancy at birth:

Total fertility rate: 4.3 children born/woman (2011 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 9,500 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 500 (2003 est.)

Nationality: noun: Mauritanian(s) adjective: Mauritanian

Ethnic groups: mixed Moor/black 40%, Moor 30%, black 30%

Religions: Muslim 100%

Languages: Arabic (official), French (widely used in media and among educated classes), Pulaar, Soninke, Hassaniya, Wolof

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write