Senegal Population Profile 2012

Senegal has a population of over 12.5 million, about 42 percent of whom live in rural areas. Density in these areas varies from about 77 inhabitants per square kilometre (199/sq mi) in the west-central region to 2 inhabitants per square kilometre (5/sq mi) in the arid eastern section.

According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Senegal has a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 23,800 in 2007. The majority of this population (20,200) is from Mauritania. Refugees live in N'dioum, Dodel, and small settlements along the Senegal River valley.

Senegal has a wide variety of ethnic groups and, as in most West African countries, several languages are widely spoken. The Wolof are the largest single ethnic group in Senegal at 43 percent; the Peul and Toucouleur (also known as Halpulaar, Fulbe or Fula) (24 %) are the second biggest group, followed by others that include the Serer (15 %), Lebou (10 %), Jola (4 %), Mandinka (3 %), Maures or Naarkajors, Soninke, Bassari and many smaller communities (9%). (See also the Bedick ethnic group.)

About 50,000 Europeans (mostly French) and Lebanese as well as smaller numbers of Mauritanians and Moroccans reside in Senegal, mainly in the cities. The majority of Lebanese work in commerce.

Also located primarily in urban settings are small Vietnamese communities as well as a growing number of Chinese immigrant traders, each numbering perhaps a few hundred people.        There are also tens of thousands of Mauritanian refugees in Senegal, primarily in the country's north.

From the time of earliest contact between Europeans and Africans along the coast of Senegal, particularly after the establishment of coastal trading posts during the fifteenth century, communities of mixed African and European (mostly French and Portuguese) origin have thrived. Cape Verdean migrants and their descendants living in urban areas and in the Casamance region represent another recognized community of mixed African and European background.[20]

French is the official language, used regularly by a minority of Senegalese educated in a system styled upon the colonial-era schools of French origin (Koranic schools are even more popular, but Arabic is not widely spoken outside of this context of recitation). Most people also speak their own ethnic language while, especially in Dakar, Wolof is the lingua franca. Pulaar is spoken by the Peuls and Toucouleur.

Portuguese Creole is a prominent minority language in Ziguinchor, regional capital of the Casamance, where some residents speak Kriol, primarily spoken in Guinea-Bissau. Cape Verdeans speak their native creole, Cape Verdean Creole, and standard Portuguese.

There have been numerous initiatives in favour of employment since President Wade took office. Instituted in 2001, a national agency for employment of the young, (ANEJ, Agence nationale pour l’emploi des jeunes) and a national fund for employment of the young (FNPJ, Fonds national pour l’emploi des jeunes) have not produced all the expected results. The September 2008 floods in the outer suburbs of Dakar, where the unemployment rate amongst the young is high, led to a rise in the protest movement. To address it, the government instituted a major projects programme (TGP, Très grands projets) during a forum on the future of the suburbs, (Forum banlieue avenir). President Wade claimed that the programme would generate 100 000 jobs per year. The TGP was materialised in December 2008 with a suburban-youth employment bureau (OFEJBAN, Office pour l’emploi des jeunes dans la banlieue) directly connected to the president’s office. Its task is to focus on suburban-youth unemployment.