Demographics of Cape Verde

Demographic features of the population of Cape Verde include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Cape Verde has about 540,000 inhabitants. A large proportion (236,000) of Cape Verdeans live on the main island, Santiago. Many more live abroad in the Cape Verdean diaspora in mainland Africa, Europe, U.S., Brazil, et cetera.

The archipelago of Cape Verde was first discovered and claimed by Portuguese sailors working for the Portuguese Crown in 1456. Cape Verdeans are West African. Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled in Cape Verde as their permanent country. [[File:IMG0053a.jpg|thumb|right|Two Cape Verdean children playing]]

The difficulty of survival in a country with few natural resources has historically induced Cape Verdeans to emigrate. In fact, of the more than 1 million people of Cape Verdean ancestry in the world, only a little more than one-third actually live on the islands. Some 500,000 people of Cape Verdean ancestry live in the United States, mainly in New England. Many people of Cape Verdean ancestry also live in Portugal, Netherlands, France, Italy and Senegal. Cape Verdean populations also settled Spain, Germany, Canada, and other CPLP countries (Angola, Brazil and Guinea-Bissau). Since independence from Portugal in 1975, a number of Cape Verdean students have continued to be admitted every year to Portuguese high schools, polytechnical institutes and universities, through bilateral agreements between the Portuguese and Cape Verdean governments.

Portuguese functions as a state language. Virtually all formal documents and official declarations are in Portuguese. But it is not the first language. Cape Verdean, commonly called Kriolu, is spoken as a mother tongue by virtually all Cape Verdeans, irrespective of social status or religious affiliation. Moreover, historical linguists often attribute Cape Verdean Creole as the oldest "New World" contact language. It is a "contact" language in the sense that it was born and evolved between linguistically different groups who, by necessity, had to create a common language to communicate with each other. There is a rich repertoire of literature and songs in Cape Verdean Creole. In religion, the majority of Cape Verdeans follow Catholic Christianity. There are some Protestants, Baháʼís and Muslims.

Population

|1940|181,740 |1950|149,984 |1960|199,902 |1970|270,999 |1980|295,703 |1990|341,491 |2000|431,989 |2010|491,875 |2021|491,233 According to the total population was in , compared to only 178,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 31.8%, 62.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 5.9% was 65 years or older.

Year	Total	Ages 0–14 (%)	Ages 15–64 (%)	Ages 65+ (%)
1950	178,000	32.6	59.8	7.6
1955	195,000	35.8	57.9	6.2
1960	211,000	42.1	53.2	4.8
1965	240,000	48.5	47.3	4.2
1970	274,000	48.2	47.8	4
1975	311,000	45.8	49.6	4.6
1980	300,000	46.0	48.7	5.3
1985	328,000	44.5	50.5	5
1990	348,000	45.4	49.8	4.8
1995	395,000	44.5	50.5	5
2000	437,000	41.7	52.9	5.3
2005	473,000	37.0	57.2	5.8
2010	496,000	31.8	62.3	5.9

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%	Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
Total	243 403	248 280	491 683	100
0–4	25 131	25 069	50 200	10.21
5–9	25 168	25 040	50 208	10.21
10–14	27 864	27 361	55 225	11.23
15–19	29 655	29 405	59 060	12.01
20–24	27 327	25 578	52 905	10.76
25–29	23 336	21 005	44 341	9.02
30–34	18 165	16 339	34 504	7.02
35–39	14 106	13 130	27 236	5.54
40–44	12 988	13 303	26 291	5.35
45–49	11 347	12 165	23 512	4.78
50–54	8 162	9 999	18 161	3.69
55–59	4 947	7 196	12 143	2.47
60–64	2 613	3 580	6 193	1.26
65–69	2 499	3 716	6 215	1.26
70–74	3 437	5 229	8 666	1.76
75–79	2 980	4 453	7 433	1.51
80–84	2 092	3 185	5 277	1.07
85–89	827	1 358	2 185	0.44
90–94	377	696	1 073	0.22
95+	172	325	497	0.10
0–14	78 163	77 470	155 633	31.65
15–64	152 646	151 700	304 346	61.90
65+	12 384	18 962	31 346	6.38
Unknown	210	148	358	0.07

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%	Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
Total	281 533	275 324	556 857	100
0–4	26 739	25 524	52 264	9.39
5–9	26 162	24 973	51 135	9.18
10–14	25 262	25 389	50 651	9.10
15–19	23 734	23 483	47 218	8.48
20–24	23 955	22 461	46 416	8.34
25–29	28 159	26 015	54 173	9.73
30–34	28 603	24 995	53 597	9.62
35–39	24 111	20 484	44 595	8.01
40–44	18 738	15 923	34 660	6.22
45–49	14 043	12 780	26 822	4.82
50–54	12 282	12 693	24 974	4.48
55–59	10 437	11 557	21 994	3.95
60–64	7 125	9 226	16 351	2.94
65–69	4 080	6 402	10 482	1.88
70–74	2 050	2 955	5 006	0.90
75–79	1 722	2 772	4 494	0.81
80–84	2 037	3 496	5 533	0.99
85–89	1 443	2 389	3 833	0.69
90–94	682	1 249	1 931	0.35
95+	170	560	730	0.13
0–14	78 163	75 886	154 049	27.66
15–64	191 186	179 615	370 801	66.59
65+	12 184	19 823	32 007	5.75

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%	Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
Total	246 363	244 870	491 233	100
0–4	23 111	22 429	45 540	9.27
5–9	23 533	23 086	46 619	9.49
10–14	23 809	22 771	46 580	9.48
15–19	21 903	20 401	42 304	8.61
20–24	20 391	18 159	38 550	7.85
25–29	22 481	21 665	44 146	8.99
30–34	22 552	21 681	44 233	9.00
35–39	19 217	18 105	37 322	7.60
40–44	15 820	14 259	30 079	6.12
45–49	12 269	11 347	23 616	4.81
50–54	11 257	11 224	22 481	4.58
55–59	10 001	10 682	20 683	4.21
60–64	7 536	8 765	16 301	3.32
65–69	4 496	6 510	11 006	2.24
70–74	2 347	3 279	5 626	1.15
75–79	1 685	2 842	4 527	0.92
80–84	1 839	3 404	5 243	1.07
85–89	1 257	2 473	3 730	0.76
90–94	648	1 316	1 964	0.40
95+	211	472	683	1.39
0–14	70 453	68 286	138 739	28.24
15–64	163 427	156 288	319 715	65.08
65+	12 483	20 296	32 779	6.67