Demographics of Libya include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the Libyan population.
Libya has a small population residing in a large land area. Population density is about 50 persons per km² (130/sq. mi.) in the two northern regions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, but falls to less than one person per km² (2.6/sq. mi.) elsewhere. Ninety percent of the people live in less than 10% of the area, primarily along the coast. About 88% of the population is urban, mostly concentrated in the two largest cities, Tripoli and Benghazi. Half of the population is estimated to be under age 15.
Native Libyans are primarily of Berber and Arab heritage. Small Tuareg and Tebu tribal groups in southern Libya are nomadic or seminomadic. Among foreign residents, the largest groups are from other African nations, including citizens of other North African nations (primarily Egyptians) as well as sub-Saharan Africans.
CIA World Factbook demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.
6,461,454 (July 2010)
0-14 years: 36% (male 938,476; female 899,139)
15-64 years: 60% (male 1,595,306; female 1,485,069)
65 years and over: 4% (male 97,770; female 99,690) (2000 est.)
0-14 years: 33% (male 1,065,606/female 1,020,102)
15-64 years: 62.6% (male 2,036,780/female 1,923,566)
65 years and over: 4.4% (male 136,224/female 142,079) (2009 est.)
2.11% (2006 est.)
24.58 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)
3.4 deaths/1,000 population (2010 est.)
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.98 male(s)/female
total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
20.87 deaths/1,000 live births (2010 est.)
total population: 77.47 years
male: 75.18 years
female: 79.88 years (2010 est.)
3.71 children born/woman (2000 est.)
3.01 children born/woman (2010 est.)
noun: Libyan(s)
adjective: Libyan
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 95.4%
male: 96.9%
female: 94% (2006 est.)
Ethnic and tribal groups
Ethnic groups
The native population of Libya is a mixture of Berber and Arab ethnicities, for the most part qualifying as Arabized Berber, although there remains a small minority of Berber-speaking tribal groups. Despite this, Muammar Gaddafi denies the very existence of such an ethnicity as the Berbers. There is also some Punic admixture, and a curious traditional element from the Romanized Punics such as the Roman toga can be seen in Tripoli's people and is used by Muammar Gaddafi himself.
In the west of the country, there are some Tuareg nomads, mobile across the Libyan-Algerian border. Tuaregs are also scattered over Algeria, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
In the southeast, there are small populations of the Nilo-Saharan Toubou (Tibbu), although they occupy between a quarter and a third of the country, and who also inhabit Niger and Chad.
Tribal groups
Libyan society is to a large extent structured along tribal lines, with more than 20 major Arabized Berber tribal groups. The major tribal groups of Libya are:
Foreign population is estimated at 3%, mostly migrant workers in the oil industry from Tunisia and Egypt, but also including small numbers Greeks, Maltese, Italians, Pakistanis, Turks, Indians and people from former Yugoslavia. Due to the 2011 Libyan uprising, most of these migrant workers have returned to their homelands or simply left the country for a different one.
Religions
Almost all Libyans are Sunni Muslim.
Foreigners contribute very little Christian presence, but there are some churches. A small Jewish community historically lived in Libya since antiquity (see history of the Jews in Libya), but the great majority of the Jewish community in Libya has left the country for Italy, Israel, or the United States, particularly after anti-Jewish riots in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War between Egypt and Israel. Although there were an estimated 36,000 Jews in Libya in 1945, due to Muammar Gaddafi's hostility towards them and Israel, there are no Jews left in Libya today.
Languages
The official language of Libya is Standard Arabic. The prevalent spoken language is Libyan Arabic, spoken by about 4 million Libyans, besides other Arabic dialects (partly spoken by immigrant workers, partly by native populations), viz. Egyptian Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Sudanese Arabic, Tunisian Arabic, Ta'izzi-Adeni Arabic, South Levantine Arabic and Hassaniyya Arabic, amounting to a total number of first-language Arabic speakers of about 95% of total population.
SIL Ethnologue estimates for indigenous minority languages in Libya:
Non-Arabic immigrant languages include (more than 10,000 speakers): Eastern Panjabi, Italian, Serbian, Korean, Sinhala, Tagalog, English.
References
See also
Retrieved from :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Libya#Ethnic_and_tribal_groups
