Equatorial Guinea Population and Language
About two-thirds of Equatorial Guinea’s population lives on the mainland. The majority of residents belong to different bantu people. They identify themselves primarily with their people or their clan and firstly as equatorial Guineans. The largest group is fangs, which make up perhaps four-fifths of the population.
The prisoners who are also in Cameroon and Gabon are divided into nearly 70 clans. Among them is the current president Teodore Obiang’s clan, esangui, as well as the mongomo clan that many in the elite of society belong to. Along the coast are minority people, often called playeros (“those who live by the beach”), like balengue and bujeba.
- COUNTRYAAH.COM: Key populations estimated size and data of Equatorial Guinea, including population density of how many people per square mile. Also included are facts for population and language.
The indigenous people of the island of Bioko, the bubi people, have been forced back by the prison since the 1970s, which today dominates the administration in the capital Malabo. However, Bubi is still in the majority in the countryside.
Relations between bubi and fang are strained and violent confrontations have sometimes taken place. At Bioko there is also the group of the Fernandins, who are descendants of released British slaves.
Population growth was low for a long time because of the dreaded dictatorship of Francisco Macías Nguema 1968-1979. Under Nguema’s regime, nearly a quarter of the population was killed or expelled. The number of Europeans in the country fell from about 7,000 to about a hundred. Today there are some thousands of Europeans, mainly Spaniards and French. There are also a lot of Lebanese and North Africans, Filipinos and a growing Chinese colony.
When the oil boom began in the 1990s, Equatorial Guinea received a fierce stream of immigrants from other African countries who wanted to work in the oil industry. Immigration has been cited as one of the explanations for the widely differing figures for the number of residents circulating. In 2014, the UN estimated the population of Equatorial Guinea to just over 778,000, while the government cited a census made in 2002 that is said to show that the country has a population of over one million.
Official languages are Spanish, French and since 2011 also Portuguese. Socializing languages are the local languages and so-called pidgin English (which mixes English with several local languages).
FACTS – POPULATION AND LANGUAGE
Population
prisoner 80%, bubi 10-15%, fernandines, combo etc. (estimate)
Number of residents
1 267 689 (2017)
Number of residents per square kilometer
45 (2017)
Percentage of residents in the cities
71.6 percent (2017)
Nativity/birth
34.1 per 1000 residents (2016)
Mortality/mortality
10.2 per 1000 residents (2016)
Population growth
3.7 percent (2017)
Fertility rate
4.7 number of births per woman (2016)
Percentage of women
44.6 percent (2017)
Life expectancy
58 years (2016)
Life expectancy for women
59 years (2016)
Life expectancy for men
56 years (2016)
Language
Spanish and French are official languages, in addition to a number of local languages
2009
November
The mercenary man is released
Imprisoned British mercenary Simon Mann (see July 2008) is released together with four South Africans who were imprisoned simultaneously. In an interview with Mann’s wife, it appears that he lived a life as a “luxury prisoner” with gourmet food and other benefits, something other prisoners hardly received. It is believed that South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, prior to a visit to Equatorial Guinea, worked for the men’s release. However, no pardon was issued for the many Equatorial Guineans who were also imprisoned after the alleged coup attempt in March 2004.
President Obiang re-elected
President Obiang Nguema again wins a superior victory in the presidential election. According to the official result, he gets 95.8 percent of the vote.
February
Attempt to exempt Mann
According to Spanish radio, troops loyal to the mercenary Simon Mann try to free him in connection with his hospitalization.
