Ethnic groups and languages


Mande languages, which also form a branch of the Niger-Congo family, are spoken by groups such as the Samo, the Marka, the Busansi, and the Dyula. Other groups found in the country of Burkina Faso include the Hausa and the Tuareg, whose languages are classified as Afro-Asiatic, and the Fulani, and the Tuaregwhose language (Fula) is a Niger-Congo language of the Atlantic branch.



About More than half the population is Muslim. About one-third fifth of the Burkinabé are Roman Catholic, and one-sixth follow traditional animist religions. The majority Most of the remainder are Roman Catholic Protestant or Protestantnonreligious. The seat of the Roman Catholic archbishopric is in Ouagadougou, ; and there are several bishoprics throughout the country.

Settlement patterns


About fourthree-fifths fourths of the people are rural—the highest percentage in western Africa—and rural and live in villages, which tend to be grouped toward the centre of the country at higher elevations away from the Volta river valleys. For several miles on either side of the Volta rivers, the land is mostly uninhabited because of the prevalence of the deadly tsetse fly, which carries sleeping sickness, and the Simulium fly, which carries onchocerciasis, or river blindness.



Demographic trends

In the early 21st century, yearly population growth averaged about 3 percent; nearly half the population was below age 15. Average life expectancy was about just above 50 years—lower than the global average but similar to that of neighbouring countries.