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- People
-
- Population: 11,800,524 (July 1990), growth rate 3.2% (1990).
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- Birth rate: 47 births/1,000 population (1990).
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- Death rate: 15 deaths/1,000 population (1990).
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- Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990).
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- Infant mortality rate: 97 deaths/1,000 live births (1990).
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- Life expectancy at birth: 50 years male, 54 years female (1990).
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- Total fertility rate: 6.9 children born/woman (1990).
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- Nationality: noun--Malagasy (sing. and pl.); adjective--Malagasy.
-
- Ethnic divisions: basic split between highlanders of predominantly
- Malayo-Indonesian origin (Merina 1,643,000 and related Betsileo
- 760,000) on the one hand and coastal tribes, collectively
- termed the Cotiers, with mixed African, Malayo-Indonesian,
- and Arab ancestry (Betsimisaraka 941,000, Tsimihety 442,000,
- Antaisaka 415,000, Sakalava 375,000), on the other; there
- are also 11,000 European French, 5,000 Indians of French
- nationality, and 5,000 Creoles.
-
- Religion: 52% indigenous beliefs; about 41% Christian, 7% Muslim.
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- Language: French and Malagasy (official).
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- Literacy: 67.5%.
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- Labor force: 4,900,000; 90% nonsalaried family workers engaged
- in subsistence agriculture; 175,000 wage earners--26% agriculture,
- 17% domestic service, 15% industry, 14% commerce, 11% construction,
- 9% services, 6% transportation, 2% other; 51% of population
- of working age (1985).
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- Organized labor: 4% of labor force.
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