Overview

 

In mid-2004 Sudan had a total population of some 39,47 million. Over 40% of the population is estima ted to be under the age of 15. Most of the population is found in the central belt where there are many wells and small reservoirs that allow subsistence farming. During the rainy season the lowland area becomes a huge swamp, forcing the nomadic population into the mountains. The south is tropical, underdeveloped, and populated by Dinkas, Nuers, Azandes and some hundred other ethnic groups of African descent who are socially, culturally and historically related to the peoples of east Africa. The north, but contrast, is drier and wealthier – a Saharan world with strong links to the Muslim Middle East. The extreme north is uninhabited desert. In the north and central regions the population consists mainly of Muslim Arabs and Nubians.

There are marked, and growing wealth differentials between the eastern and western Sudan and the richer, central area where the oil fields are found. This is in part a consequence of the development of the federal system. The southern states are especially resource-poor.

Rural - Urban trends

 

Urbanisation is much the same as the regional average, but well below the Middle Eastern average of 54%.

Refugees and Internally Displaced People's (IDPs)

 

By the end of 2003 Sudan was host to one of the largest foreign refugee populations on the continent. Refugees have been arriving at various times in Sudan over the past 35 years, with the result that the Sudan programme is the UNHCR's longest-running refugee programme in Africa. The Ugandan and Congolese refugees who sought asylum in Sudan 20 to 30 years ago were the first to arrive. From the mid-1980s, civil war and natural disasters drove large numbers to the towns, particularly to Khartoum/Omdurman. At the end of 2003, Sudan was host to more than 285,000 refugees, 270,000 of them from Eritrea, the rest from Ethiopia, Chad, Uganda, DRC and Somalia.

Internal displacement affected some 5 million Sudanese by the end of 2003, while another 600,000 sought refuge or asylum status outside the country's borders. Though the anticipated conclusion of the peace negotiations at Naivasha may bring some relief, the conflict in Darfur continues to add to a humanitarian catastrophe categorised as "the worst in the world".

Health

 

There are approximately 160 hospitals in Sudan, but they are poorly supplied and standards of hygiene are poor. Dysentery, giardia, hepatitis and other water-borne diseases are common, and malaria is becoming more frequent. Only 15% of the population is estimated to have access to essential medicines. What little primary health care there is, is provided by an NGO, Operation Lifeline Sudan.

 

World Bank estimates for life expectancy at birth (1999) reflect the disparities between the North and the South, highlighting the impact of the conflict, and uneven development.

 

•  Men (North) – 55

•  Men (South) – 48.4

•  Women (North) – 59.1

•  Women (South) – 51.2

HIV/AIDS

 

Although little data is available on Sudan, information having only recently become available, UNAIDS estimates for the adult infection rate were put at 2.6% at the end of 2001.

Food security

 

By mid-2002 an estimated 2.9m people were in need of urgent food assistance. The crisis is most extreme in the south where the impact of poor climatic conditions have been compounded by the effects of the civil war, and aid agencies frustrated in their relief efforts. Nearly one-third of the population in Southern Sudan are highly food insecure and an average of 572,000 people required food every month during 2003.

Education

 

The war and neglect of this sector over many years are reflected in the low standards, although there have been modest improvements in recent years. Illiteracy levels fell during the 1990s, largely a factor of low enrolment levels at some 51% of the relevant age group in 1997, considerably lower than neighbouring countries. In 2000 the adult illiteracy rate was estimated at 30.2% and 53.7% for men and women respectively. Elementary education for those aged seven to twelve is free. Intermediate education lasts three years, and secondary education, which starts at 16, also lasts for three years.