Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
22 June 2009
Maputo — The population of the central Mozambican province of Sofala grew by 27 per cent between 1997 and 2007, the years of the last two population censuses.
According to the definitive results of the 2007 census for the province, released in Beira earlier this month, there were 1,642,636 people living in Sofala in August 2007, compared with 1,289,390 ten years earlier.
Sofala's population growth rate is thus 2.7 per cent per year, somewhat higher than the national average rate of 2.4 per cent a year.
The city of Beira, with 431,583 people, accounts for over a quarter (26.3 per cent) of the Sofala population. Around 400,000 people were counted in Beira in the 1997 census.
47.2 per cent of the Sofala population is under 15 years old, and 48.6 per cent is aged between 15 and 64. Only 4.2 per cent are aged 65 and above.
As in every other province, the illiteracy rate in Sofala has fallen sharply - from 56.2 per cent in 1997 to 43.3 per cent in 2007. Also like the rest of the country, there is a sharp disparity between male and female illiteracy. In 2007, only 23 per cent of Sofala men were illiterate, but the figure rose to 61.9 per cent among women.
The main language spoken in the province is Sena - 49.1 per cent gave Sena as their mother tongue and 47.8 per cent said it was the language they spoke most often at home. Ndau is the second most common language - with 29.8 per cent giving it as their mother tongue, and 28.4 per cent saying it is the language they speak most often at home.
The real surprise is the number of people - 13.3 per cent - claiming Portuguese as their mother tongue. An even larger number (20.3 per cent) say that Portuguese is the language they usually speak at home. The great majority of these Portuguese speakers almost certainly live in Beira - the switch from African languages to Portuguese is a phenomenon that has accompanied urbanization in Mozambique.
Beira's weight in the province is clearly shown by the fact that only 36.1 per cent of the economically active population work in the primary sector (agriculture, fisheries and mining), while 17.6 per cent work in manufacturing and construction, and the remaining 44.8 per cent work in transport, finance and other services. The great bulk of the province's industry and services is concentrated in Beira and along the line of rail from Beira towards Zimbabwe.
The number of households with electricity doubled between the two censuses - from 6.3 per cent in 1997 to 12.6 per cent in 2007. However, an absolute majority of households - 58 per cent - relied on kerosene lamps for illumination, while the poorest 26 per cent depended on firewood for all their energy needs, including lighting.
The number of households with piped water (inside or outside the house) rose from 14.6 to 17.2 per cent. About 20 per cent of the Sofala population drew their water in 1997 from protected wells - but 35 per cent depended on traditional wells without any pumps, and 15 per cent took their water straight from rivers or lakes.
As for household durables, 65.1 per cent of households owned a radio, and 12 per cent owned a television (implying that, as soon as a family is connected to the electricity grid, it buys a television). Only 1.1 per cent of Sofala households owned a computer. Two per cent owned a car, 1.3 per cent owned a motorbike, and 41.9 per cent owned a bicycle. But the poorest 12 per cent of households owned none of these goods.
If these material goods are used as the measurement Sofala is by no means among the poorest provinces. Thus in Maputo province, even though it contains the country's second largest city, Matola, over a third (33.8 per cent) of all households have none of these consumer goods, and in Gaza the figure is 45 per cent. Indeed, the census figures indicate that, in terms of household possessions, only Maputo City has a better standard of living than Sofala.
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