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People
Demography
In Sudan's 1981 census, the population was calculated at 21 million. In the next decade, the population increased to 25 million. Today, the population is close to 40 million.* The population of metropolitan Khartoum (including Khartoum, Omdurman, and Khartoum North) is growing, and has reached nearly four million, including over one million displaced persons from the southern war zone.
In Sudan, there are over 500 languages, but Arabic is the primary and official language. English is a common second language in southern part of the country. Other languages include Bedawiye used by Beja and various dialects of Niger-Kurdufanian and Nilo-Saharan.
The population of Sudan is composed principally of Arabs in the north and diverse Nilotic ethnic groups in the south. There are also many Arabs are of mixed ancestry. The major black ethnic groups in southern Sudan are the Dinka and the Nuer.
More than half of total population is Muslim, most living in north where Muslims constitute 70 percent or more of population. There are relatively few Christians, almost all of whom live in the south. Most other people in the south and a substantial minority in the north are adherents of various indigenous religions.
Reflecting its ethnic, linguistic and religious divisions, Sudan has two distinct cultures -- Arab and black African -- and effective collaboration between them has historically been a major problem.
The five northern regions cover most of Sudan and include most urban centers. Most of the Sudanese who live in this area are Arabic-speaking Muslims, as suggested above. Among these are several distinct tribal groups; the Kababish of northern Kordofan, a camel-raising people; the Jaalin and Shaigiyya groups of settled tribes living along rivers; the semi-nomadic Baggara of Kordofan and Darfur; the Hamitic Beja in the Red Sea area and Nubians of the northern Nile area, some of whom have been resettled on the Atbara River; and the Negroid Nuba of southern Kordofan and Fur in the western reaches of the country.
The southern region* has a population of about four to six million and a predominantly rural, subsistence economy. Here the Sudanese practice mainly indigenous, traditional beliefs, although Christian missionaries have converted some of the population. The south* also contains many tribal groups and uses many more languages than the north. The Dinka (numbering one million or more) is the largest of the many black African tribes in Sudan. Along with the Shilluk and the Nuer, they are among the Nilotic tribes. The Azande, Bor, and Jo Luo are "Sudanic" tribes in the west, and the Acholi and Lotuhu live in the extreme south, extending into Uganda.
Human Development
Some 69 percent of economically active people are engaged in agricultural or pastoral activities; another 22 percent are employed in services; and only 8 percent have jobs in manufacturing, construction and mining.
Although a six-year primary education has become increasingly available, in the early 1990s, many communities still suffered from the shortage of schools and teachers. Moreover, many schools in south were eventually destroyed by Sudan's civil war. Today, there is a small proportion of primary school graduates that continue in three-year junior secondary and upper secondary schools or technical schools. Most schools tend to be in urban locations; many lack adequately trained teachers. There are universities producing adequate numbers of highly educated graduates, but Sudanese with skills relevant to a largely agricultural economy is in short supply. Estimates of adult literacy total around 61.1 percent, however, that statistic belies a gap between genders. Among males, literacy is 71.8 percent and among females it is 50.5 percent.
In terms of health and welfare, there is very little social infrastructure in Sudan. By 1991, civil war had destroyed most of the medical facilities in the south, and famine in 1980s and 1991 had a serious impact on general health. The weak modern medical infrastructure, personnel shortages and urban-rural imbalances exacerbated the problems. Even today, most personnel and facilities are concentrated in the capital area.
Malaria and gastrointestinal diseases are prevalent through much of the country; tuberculosis is widespread in the north but also occurs in the south; schistosomiasis (snail fever) is more restricted to the territory near the White Nile and the Blue Nile rivers and adjacent to irrigated areas; sleeping sickness is spreading in the south; acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is also increasing. Sudanese have a life expectancy of 50.28 years of age. The infant mortality rate is 86.98 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Note: About 7.3 percent of GDP in this country is spent on health expenditures.
One notable indicator used to measure a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which is compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main areas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a ranking of 169 countries, the HDI places Sudan in the low human development category, at 154th place. Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
*Note that this figure includes the population of South Sudan, which is now an independent and sovereign country, separate from Sudan (Khartoum).
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief at CountryWatch.com; see Bibliography for research sources.
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