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People
Introduction
Togo's population of around six million is a mosaic of an estimated 43 ethnic groups. The Ewe and Mina in the south, the Kabye of the Kara region, and the Moba north of the Kara make up the majority of the population. All ethnic groups other than the Ewe came to Togo fairly late. During the 18th and 19th centuries the surrounding areas were under pressure from the Akwamu Confederacy, the Ashanti Kingdom to the west and from the Kingdom of Dahomey to the east. These pressures forced people into present day Togo concurrent with the heights of the slave trade.
Cultural Demography
Local religions are still major spiritual forces in nearly every people group. Togo has one of the highest percentages of non-evangelized local religions of any country in Africa. Some estimate that as many as half of the Togolese population practices some form of indigenous animism. Around 30 percent of the population claims to be Christian, and most of that population practices some syncretic blend of local religion and Christianity. Christian outreach has often been achieved through schools. Islam, in Togo since the 1700s, is also growing, mainly in the north, and now claims about 20 percent of the population as adherents.
It should be noted that these estimates are quite broad, precisely because of the degree of blending between local animist practices with traditional religions, namely Christianity and Islam. Thus, these religious estimates should be understood as approximations rather than precise indicators of the religious breakdown for Togo.
The official language is French, but only the more educated speak it. Local languages are taught in schools at the grade school level. Additionally, some Togolese have been educated in Ghana and speak English, especially those in the hospitality industries.
Health and Welfare
An estimated 60.9 percent of the population is literate -- although the rate for males is significantly higher (75.4 percent) than for females (46.9 percent). Still, over 70 percent of the children receive formal primary education. These incongruent figures imply that education is improving rapidly, many children who are enrolled in school don't attend, or schools are too poor to teach basic literacy. With a 68 percent rural subsistence population, it is most likely that children attend regularly until they are old enough to work in the fields (generally second year) and then leave school. Complicating matters is the fact that clearly, females are less encouraged to stay in school than are their male counterparts.
Forty-six percent of the population is under the age of 15, making it of average age as compared to other sub-Saharan African countries, but young compared to most of the world. At 2.17 percent, the population growth rate is slightly faster than the sub-continent as a whole. The average life expectancy in Togo is 57.1 years of age according to recent estimates. The infant mortality rate is 66.61 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Note: About 5.9 percent of GDP in this country is spent on health expenditures. About 4.6 percent of GDP is spent on educational expenditures.
Human Development
HIV/AIDS in Togo infects an estimated 4.1 percent of the adult population, according to the available statistics from recent years. Studies estimate that 80 percent of sex workers are infected. With a steady increase in the number percentage of the population infected and 10,000 AIDS related deaths in 2003 alone, there is reason for concern that even though the infection levels do not reach the epidemic proportions of some other African countries, Togo must take significant measures if it is to avoid a similar crisis.
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 Togo in the low human development category, at 139th 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.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief at Countrywatch.com; see Bibliography for research sources.
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