Population
Senegal had a population density of 81 residents per km
2 in 2019, but due to changing natural conditions
and the large concentration of administrative and economic
activities to Dakar, the population is very unevenly
distributed.
In 2019, 46 percent of the population lived in urban
areas, which is one of the region's higher rates of
urbanization. The dominant city is Dakar, which in 2015 had
2.6 million residents, which corresponds to about 20 percent
of the population.
According to
Countryaah data, Senegal's population is made up of some thirty ethnic
groups. The largest, the Muslim, West Atlantic-speaking
Wolof (4.6 million), is found in the western and central
parts of the country; they feed on agriculture and urban
trade. The social organization is strongly hierarchical.
Those with wolof culturally related seres (1.1 million) live
in the area south of Dakar; to 45 percent they have
maintained their indigenous African religion, while 40
percent are Muslims and 15 percent are Christians.
In the central parts of the country and in the south are
the livestock- feeding fulani (1.6 million), and the
furthest in the south are the male-speaking malinka
(maninka, 465,000). In the northeast, towards the border
with Mauritania and Mali, are the Fulan-speaking,
agricultural tubercles (933,000). Smaller groups are diola
(382,000) in the west and soninke (268,000) in the east. As
traders, over 50,000 Lebanese live in cities and larger
communities.
Language
Among the thirty-five native languages in Senegal, most
of which belong to the Mandate or Atlantic languages in
the Niger-Congo languages, Wolof dominates, which is also
used as an interpersonal language. The official language is
French. Arabic and a Portuguese-based Creole language
(crioulo) also occur. Recognized "national languages" are
considered fulani, diola, mandinka, serer, soninke and
wolof.
See also population and Ethnography above.
Religion
A large majority of Senegal's more than 90% of Muslims
(2010) are Sunnis. Islam is believed to have come to this
area in Africa sometime in the 11th century, when a subgroup
of the Fula people, the Tukulors, were converted to Islam by
the Zenegabber who had established an Islamic monastery at
the mouth of the Senegal River, which in time became a base
for the Almoravids. Sufism has a dominant position,
especially the Qadiriya, Tijaniya and Muridiyya hordes.
Above all, through its investment in peanut cultivation, the
Muridiyyahmarabutas, the spiritual leaders of the order,
have gained an economically and politically strong position.
Modern and anti-Sufi Islamist groups, partly inspired by
Islamic reform movements from earlier centuries, have
focused primarily on Islamizing the younger urban population
and therefore have had only limited political success.
Of the country's Christians (just over 5%), most are
Catholics. Catholicism came to the region in 1445 through
the Portuguese, but also with the French who founded the
city of Saint-Louis in 1659. Contact with the Catholic
Church was renewed in 1815 when Senegal became a French
colony and in 1819 when the Saint Joseph sisters from Cluny
established themselves in Senegal. The Christians are mainly
found in the French-influenced middle class in the cities
and in the province of Ziguinchor in southwestern Senegal,
where almost 20% are Christians. More than 3% of Senegal's
population mainly practice traditional indigenous religion.
Senegal became independent in 1960. As a colony under
France, the constitution was secular, which is also the case
according to the current constitution from 2001. The
constitution and other laws guarantee freedom of religion.
However, unlike other religious groups, Muslims have the
right to follow Islamic law in matters relating to
inheritance and marriage. Religious organizations are
offered financial support by the state for the maintenance
of buildings or other places intended for worship or the
like. The state provides free air tickets to those who wish
to travel on pilgrimage to Mecca, Rome or Israel.
Religious organizations, like all other organizations,
must be registered with the Ministry of the Interior to
obtain legal status. In the secondary school, which is
secular, the students who want to participate in teaching
either in Christianity or in Islam are allowed. The state
grants financial aid to schools run by religious
organizations, but these schools must meet the requirements
of national curricula. Furthermore, the state also runs
Islamic schools, whose popularity is increasing. Today
(2011) there are about 200 such schools and the number is
increasing. The Islamic schools are bilingual with French
and Arabic.
National holidays are tabaski (Id al-adha),
tamkharit (Ashura), Prophet Muhammad's birth,
Kority/Id al-fitr, Easter Day, Ascension Day,
Pentecost, Mary's ascension to heaven, all Saints' Day and
Christmas Day.
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