Population:
2,214,858
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 2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 144
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: 31.95% (male 357,003/female 350,657)
15-24 years: 18.91% (male 207,209/female 211,629)
25-54 years: 38.45% (male 401,082/female 450,437)
55-64 years: 5.46% (male 51,195/female 69,835)
65 years and over: 5.23% (male 50,206/female 65,605) (2017 est.)
population pyramid:
Africa ::BOTSWANA
Population Pyramid
A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.
For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page under the References tab.
Dependency ratios:
total dependency ratio: 55.1
youth dependency ratio: 49.3
elderly dependency ratio: 5.8
potential support ratio: 17.3 (2015 est.)
Median age:
total: 24.5 years
male: 23.5 years
female: 25.6 years (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 159
Population growth rate:
1.55% (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 72
Birth rate:
22.1 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 71
Death rate:
9.6 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 49
Net migration rate:
3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 34
Population distribution:
the population is primarily concentrated in the east with a focus in and around the captial of Gaborone, and the far central-eastern city of Francistown; population density remains low in other areas in the country, especially in the Kalahari to the west
Urbanization:
urban population: 58% of total population (2017)
rate of urbanization: 1.38% annual rate of change (2015-20 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 (2017 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth:
19 years (2007 est.)
Maternal mortality ratio:
129 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
country comparison to the world: 66
Infant mortality rate:
total: 29.6 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 32.2 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 26.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 65
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 63.3 years
male: 61.2 years
female: 65.5 years (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 194
Total fertility rate:
2.56 children born/woman (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 77
Contraceptive prevalence rate:
52.8%
note: percent of women aged 12-49 (2007/08)
Health expenditures:
5.4% of GDP (2014)
country comparison to the world: 129
Physicians density:
0.38 physicians/1,000 population (2012)
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:
21.9% (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
360,000 (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
3,900 (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 36
Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria (2016)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate:
18.9% (2016)
country comparison to the world: 114
Children under the age of 5 years underweight:
11.2% (2007)
country comparison to the world: 66
Education expenditures:
9.6% of GDP (2009)
country comparison to the world: 5
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)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
total: 36%
male: 29.6%
female: 43.5% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 22