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FACT SHEETS
BY COUNTRY
2
THE FACT SHEETS
Each of the 16 sheets refers to one of the countries included in the study, i.e. ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States)
countries and Mauritania. These fact sheets were designed to document the demographic section of the Africapolis database. They describe
the sources and the methodology used for each country and explain, if necessary, how best to reconcile the data for optimizing an international
comparison of the statistics. In order to make it also an easily consultable information tool, we have included the basic demographic indicators
relative to the countries (total population, rates of growth and density of population), as well as a brief comparison between the results obtained
by the Geopolis definition and by the official national definition
The Demographic Sources: National Population Censuses
In the French-speaking countries, the first Population Censuses (PC) date back to the middle of the 1970s, but can go back earlier in the
English- and Portuguese-speaking countries. Nevertheless, in most countries, it is possible to use data from administrative counts done by the
colonial governments at the end of the 1950s. About three to four PCs were carried out and published in each country between 1950 and 2005,
most of them done to comply with UN recommendations of a census every ten years. In total, the area studied was covered by close to 60
counts and censuses for the period 1950-2005. Contrary to preconceptions, the importance of these sources is therefore far from negligible
and, even if the countries were not equally covered or if the quality of the data is sometimes disparate, they represent first choice material for an
exhaustive study of urbanization in West Africa.
There has been remarkable progress in the distribution of the most recent censuses (certain data have been put on line) even though some
older documents are not accessible and others have been lost because there has been no way of keeping them. Finally, the conflicts in Liberia
and Sierra Leone have limited the number of censuses available for these two countries during the 1990s.
3
Table 1. Summary Table of the Demographic Sources used in the Africapolis Database
Country
Dates of PCs
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Côte d'Ivoire
The Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Liberia
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
Nigeria
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Togo
1979, 1992, 2002
1975, 1985, 1996, 2006
1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000
1975, 1988, 1998
1951, 1963, 1973, 1983, 1993, 2003
1948, 1960, 1970, 1984, 2000
1983, 1996
1950, 1960, 1979, 1991
1962, 1974, 1984
1976, 1987, 1998
1976, 1988, 2000
1977, 1988, 2001
1931, 1963, 1991, 2006
1976, 1988, 2002
1963, 1975, 1985, 2003
1959, 1970, 1981
PC: Population Census; d: demographic study
ec: Electoral Census
Number of Spatial Units
3,761
7,750
?
8,540
1,802
52,000
14,000
?
1,750
11,525
7,300
23,916
24,500
13,500
1,800
2,970
a: administrative count
Other Sources
(Partial Data)
d 1961
a 1958, est. 2001
ec 2005
a 1965
a 1938, a 1956, d 1962
a 1955, a 1965
a 1947
ec 1992
est: Estimate by National Statistical Services.
The Africapolis Database: Villages, ‘Localités’ and Localities
The Africapolis database was created from a time series of statistical data provided by censuses and population counts, which were carried out
in the region between 1950 and 2000. To the extent that the information is available and accessible, the population data of the Africapolis
database correspond to the most disaggregate level of the PC grid, i.e., depending on the country, to that of “villages” or “localities”. The
English-speaking countries (Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Nigeria) also use the term “settlements”, a concept without any real
equivalent in French. The settlement represents all categories of population centers, whatever their size and administrative status. Its use within
the framework of censuses can vary from country to country and can be substituted to the term “locality” (Liberia and Nigeria). The population of
villages or localities is either an integrated part of the PC results as the smallest unit of administrative partitioning or published separately (for
example, the village directories of Burkina Faso or Senegal and the Gazetter of Ghana).
4
When indicated by the statistical services, these spatial units have been made explicit in the fact-sheets because they do not always represent
identical population groups or spatial units. For example, the census localities in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire correspond to levels of territorial
desaggregation different: in Senegal, the locality is the sparsest part of the grid, below the village, whereas in the Côte d’Ivoire, the locality is
conceived as an entity, which includes a “core village” and its hamlets (called camps). In the French-speaking countries, the “village” is an
administrative unit that may or may not “absorb” its dependent hamlets, and therefore may not be a spatial unit (Côte d’Ivoire and Niger). In
other cases (Burkina Faso and Mali), the village is defined territorially. On the other hand, excluding a few cases where there was some
methodological trial and error before formal definitions were adopted, these definitions seem relatively stable over time at the level of each
country. Ghana presents an interesting example to the extent that because the original definition was kept, an explosion in the number of listed
localities occurred, going from 31,000 in 1960 to 56,000 in 1984.
In some instances (census years or countries) the population data per village or locality do not exist or, if they do, there are still no reliable
geographical location data to map them. The country sheets show the level of disintegration for the PC years going into the Africapolis
database.
The Official Definitions of “Urban”
The official definitions of “urban” are expressed so that they can be compared with the results of the Geopolis methodology. Indeed,
urbanization at the regional level cannot be measured with these definitions because none of the 16 countries of the area has a similar
definition. The definitions often change and the terminology sometimes changes within the same document (cities, towns, agglomerations,
urban centers, urban locales). National definitions in fact have no other objective than to provide a description of the urbanization appropriate to
a country or its socio-economic conditions at the time.
The study refers only to the definitions given in the population census reports officially published by the corresponding national statistical
services. Indeed, in several countries, the statistical services responsible for analyzing census results set out the discussions and vacillations
that led them to choose one definition over another. In other countries, the administrative definition used by the government is automatically
adopted.
A comparison between the national definitions of ‘urban’ in use in West Africa show that an exclusively demographic approach of urban has
been used in the English-speaking countries, except The Gambia, over the whole period 1950-2005, with a demographic threshold that was
occasionally raised during the most recent censuses. This criterion has not been selected by the French-speaking countries unless combined
with other, often functional, criteria (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, and Guinea). There the definition of “urban” is very unstable, with an
increasing tendency to favor the administrative criterion. In French-speaking countries, in order to be urban (in contrast to rural areas), a locality
must be the administrative center of a territorial unit (Guinea, for example) or have municipal status (Senegal, for example) and sometimes both
at the same time. The implementation of decentralization programs supported by donors from the 1980s onwards seems to have clearly
accentuated the use of the administrative criterion. “Urban” is thus increasingly simply assimilated to urban municipalities.
5
REPUBLIC OF BENIN
A former French colony, Dahomey adopted the name of Republic of Benin in 1975. The first administrative capital was transferred to Porto
Novo in 1923, but Cotonou, the population of which was not much higher in 1960, rapidly became the largest city in the country with a
population four times greater than Porto Novo in 1990.
Table BEN1. National Demographic Indicators (1979-2020)
1979 Population 3,331,210
2002 Population
6,803,259
2000 Population Density
2020s Population 11,336,407 1950-2000 Multiplication
55
4.2
Sources: PCs 1979 and 2002, Africapolis Database
DEMOGRAPHIC SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY
Demographic Data
The first PC in 1979 was the most belated of the region., It was preceded by an administrative census In 1960, which was the basis for a
demographic survey carried out in 1961 over the whole territory (about 10% of villages were surveyed). In January 2006, the Government
carried out an estimate of the population based on the electoral rolls, the data from which were available at the Arrondissement level.
Population Census
Population Census
Population Census
March 20 1979
February 15 1992
February 15 to March 1 2002
6
1979
Table BEN2. PC Territorial Divisions (1979-2002)
1992
2002
5 Departments
Villages
6 Departments
77 Sous-préfectures or
Urban Districts
Urban Communes or
Village
12 Departments
77 Communes (Souspréfectures or urban
districts)
546 Arrondissements
city neighborhood /Village
Territorial Partitioning
Soon after the country’s independence in August 1960, the old administrative ‘circles’ (‘cercles’) and subdivisions were regrouped into six
departments (South East, South, South West, Centre, North East and North West) within the three geographical/natural regions of Lower
Dahomey, Central Dahomey and Northern Dahomey, each divided into three to six Sous-préfectures. There were two administrative territorial
reorganizations, in 1981 and in 1999. The present territorial divisions are the result of a Law of January 15, 1999, which doubled the number of
departments by splitting each of them into two. The changes in territorial partitioning can be reconstructed back to 1960 as shown in Table
BEN3.
Table BEN3. Benin’s Departments (1960-1999)
Departments
1960
North East
Center
North West
South
South East
Departments
1981
Borgou
Zou
Mono
Atacora (or Atakora)
Atlantic
Ouémé
Departments
1999
Borgou
Alibori
Zou
Hills
Mono
Couffo
Atacora (or Atakora)
Donga
Atlantic
Coastal
Ouémé
Plateau
Source: 1960, 1981 and 1999 PCs.
7
At the level below the department, the administrative divisions and those arising from decentralization merge since the Communes today are in
fact territorial subdivisions of departments. The Commune is the only level of decentralization. Another Law of January 15, 1999 changed the
Sous-préfectures and urban districts into 77 Communes, sub-divided into arrondissements (the Association Nationale des Communes du Bénin
[the Benin National Communal Association] was formed in 2003). The arrondissements are not Local Governments but are administrative
divisions like the villages and city neighborhoods, which constitute the lowest level of territorial partitioning.
Data used in the Study from the Africapolis Database
The demographic data come from the lists of the villages and the city neighborhoods established during the three population censuses by the
Benin statistical services. The list is published with the census results by administrative district (department, Sous-préfecture or urban district,
municipality or village), with villages and city neighborhoods constituting the smallest territorial unit in the census. When there is no municipality,
the data are organized on two levels, that of the department and the village/ city neighborhoods. But no definition of the village is given.
URBAN POPULATION AND URBANIZATION
Official Definition of “Urban”
Over time the definition moved back and forth between an administrative and demographic approach and a functional approach with changing
criteria. The 1961 demographic survey made a distinction between a “rural unit” and an “urban unit”, the latter made up of six towns defined by
size and percentage of agricultural population. But later, those responsible for the census noted that it would have been more useful to include
a third unit made up of “secondary centers with administrative and health services”, including the administrative centers of Sous-préfectures
(INSEE, 1964, p. 3). The importance of small towns in urban growth was reaffirmed during the 1992 PC, and urbanization was described
according to a typology of large, medium and small towns.
In 1979, the Institut National de la Statistique et de l'Analyse Economique (INSAE) [National Institute for Statistical and Economic Analysis] had
defined as a town “any agglomeration with 10,000 inhabitants or more and with at least four of the following infrastructures: P and T [Postal and
Telecommunication Services], Tax Office, Public Treasury, Bank Agency, water supply, electricity, health care and a high school.” (PC 1992,
vol.2, 1994, p.37). The PC analysts stress that in 1978 – or the 1979 PC, the official urbanization rate had risen to 40% because then the status
of “town” followed the administrative reform that had established all regional administrative centers as urban Communes. The INSAE’s later
adoption of new criteria thus caused the urbanization rate to plummet almost by half, to 26.5% (ibidem). The definition adopted in 1992 reverted
to an administrative criterion based on communal status; thus “the urban Communes of which shelter at least 10,000 inhabitants (ibidem p.37)
became officially urban.
8
The 2002 census adds a functional criterion to the working definition
and defines “urban” “as a heterogeneous area grouping any
communal administrative center with at least 10,000 inhabitants and
at least one of the following infrastructures: Post Office and
Telecommunications (PTT), Treasury Revenue and Tax Office,
water supply system, electricity, health center, general education
college, including higher secondary education on the one hand; and
any Arrondissement with at least four of the infrastructures listed
above and at least 10,000 inhabitants." (2002 and 2003 PCs).
The map shows, for example, that the (urban) municipality of
Bassila, which became an Arrondissement in 1999, was in fact
made up of villages spread out over more than 70 kilometers along
the border with Togo. Inversely, some official villages are actually
large agglomerations that do not fit in the urban category as defined
by the census categories. Some agglomerations can spread over
different adjacent municipalities.
Map BEN1. Municipal Boundaries and Village Distribution in
Benin (2002)
Table BEN4. Urbanization in Benin according to Official Definitions (1960-2005)
1961
1979
1992
2002
Number
Urban
Centers
6*
23
51
-
of
Average
Size
34,833
38,422
34,435
-
Urban Population
209,000
883,685
1,756,197
2,630,133
Urbanization
Rate
11.14%
26.5%
35.7%
38.9%
Source: PC of corresponding years, urbanization rate calculations of 1960
* the smallest, Djougou, had 9, 500 residents
Measure of Urbanization according to the Geopolis Definition
Map B1 – Agglomerations in Benin in 2000 (map: Africapolis/SEDET, 2008)
Among the agglomerations identified in Benin, 77 had more than
10,000 inhabitants and about a third had less than 50,000
inhabitants in 2000. While the percentage of the population living in
the country’s two metropolitan areas doubled between 1960 and
2000, the increment of secondary centers is out of line (the
percentage of the population of these secondary towns multiplied by
nine, going from 2.6 to 24.4%), which explains the focus placed by
the Benin statistical services on administrative centers beneath the
departmental level; in 1992, they noted an almost equal spread of
the total population among the three large cities (Cotonou, PortoNovo and Parakou) and the Sous-préfectures’ administrative
centers between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants.
Table BEN5. Urbanization Indicators (1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
Geopolis Urbanization Rate
10.8
32.6
43.0
46.0
Primacy Index
1.39
2.67
3.84
4.01
8.0
15.8
17.9
17.6
3
17,512
2.8
37
15,567
16.8
67
24,007
25.09
85
37,857
28.4
% of the population living in the
metropolitan areas (Cotonou, PortoNovo)
Secondary
Towns
of
10,000
inhabitants and above
Number
Average Size
% of resident population
Source: Geopolis Database, Agglomerations of West Africa.
Table BEN6. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Cotonou
9
21,000
78,300
164,355
358,002
591,710
911,319
1,259,633
1,607,948
Porto-Novo
3
29,100
64,000
94,116
148,178
188,926
237,263
314,272
391,282
Parakou
1
5,200
14,000
19,794
64,156
97,128
140,707
205,202
269,698
Bohicon
5
0
7,200
13,186
26,427
42,964
65,097
88,480
111,863
Djougou
1
5,200
9,500
11,620
30,508
46,605
61,024
81,075
101,125
Abomey
1
15,000
21,000
19,484
22,503
45,950
58,163
73,122
88,081
Nikki
1
0
0
10,195
16,573
26,941
42,213
63,003
83,794
Ouidah
1
13,769
19,000
21,022
26,070
31,514
36,709
52,250
67,791
Ekpé
1
0
0
8,199
11,059
14,913
30,454
47,606
64,757
Malanville
1
0
0
3,718
13,379
23,782
34,106
49,114
64,121
TP: Total Population on July 1 of the relevant year.
NLU: Number of Local Units constituting an agglomeration in 2000.
The population figures are given at a constant expansion of the 2000 agglomeration.
0 means lack of data.
REFERENCES
République du Dahomey - Enquête démographique 1961. [Republic of Dahomey – Demographic Survey, 1961] Ministère de la Coopération, INSEE service
de coopération, Paris, 1964.
Deuxième Population Census et de l'Habitat Février 1992. Volume II Analyse des résultats – Tome 1 Répartition spatiale migration et structure par âge et
sexe. [Second Population and Housing Census, February 1992. Volume II, Result Analysis – Volume 1 Spatial Spread, Migration and Structure by Age and
Sex]). INSAE, March 1994.
RGPH février 1992 - Un cahier publié par département – Population [des] Villages et quartiers des villes (cartes de Sub-prefectures). [PHC, February 1992 –
Portfolio published for each department – Population (of) Villages and Town Boroughs (maps of Sous-préfectures)] Institut National de la Statistique et de
l'Analyse Economique, November 1994; tableau: Nombre de ménages et leurs populations par sexe selon le département, la sous-préfecture ou la
circonscription urbaine, la commune ou le village. [Table: Number of households and their populations by sex according to department, sous-préfecture or
urban district, municipality or village.]
Troisième Population Census et de l'Habitat Février 2002- Synthèse des résultats, [Third Population and Housing Census, February 2002 – Summary of
Results] Direction des Etudes Démographiques, Institut National de la Statistique et de l'Analyse Economique, Cotonou October 2003
Cahier des villages et quartiers de ville – Un cahier publié par département- [Portfolio of villages and town boroughs – a portfolio published by department]
Unicef, UNFPA, DDC Swiss Cooperation to Benin and Institut National de la Statistique et de l'Analyse Economique, Cotonou, May 2004.
SYLL Ousmane (Oct 2005). La décentralisation en Afrique de l’Ouest – Bénin. [Decentralization in West Africa] Master’s Thesis, Université de FrancheComté, within the framework of a Cercoop internship. www.cercoop.org/fiches/Fiche_decentr_Benin.pdf
12
BURKINA FASO
Table BFA1. National Demographic Indicators (1975-2020)
1975 Population
5,638,203
2006 Population
13,902,972
2020 Population e 18,418,670 1950-2000 Multiplication
42
X 3.6
Sources: 1975 and 2006 PCs, Africapolis Database
Demographic Data
The first PC took place in 1975 within the framework of the African Census Program of the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Africa
(UNECA). Data for earlier periods come from the following: administrative surveys of 1949-1950 and 1955, the Demographic Survey by sample
of 1960-61 (75,000 people surveyed) and the demographic census of Ouagadougou of 1962. The last two statistical sources only allow
reconciliation with the 1975 PC at the national level. Censuses then took place at ten-year intervals after 1975: in 1985, in 1996 and in 2006.
Burkina Faso has also carried out three intermediary demographic surveys: in 1991 over a sample of 20,064 households, in 1993 and then in
1998, in order to calculate the increase in population and to update demographic indicators.
Population Census
December 1 to 10 1975
Population Census
October 12 1985
Population and Housing Census
13
Table BFA2. PC Administrative Divisions (1975-2006)
1975
1996
10 Departments
44 Sous-préfectures
98 Arrondissements
7200 Villages
13 Regions
45 Provinces
351 Departments
8317 Villages/Sectors
2006
13 Regions
45 Provinces
350 Urban and Rural
Communes + Commune
of Ouagadougou
8600 Villages/Sectors
Not long before the 1975 PC, an ordinance of July 1974 established new territorial divisions, structured up from the village level and consisting
of three other levels: the departments, the sous-préfectures and the arrondissements. Five years later, 25 sous-préfectures and 25
arrondissements were created (Decrees of April 25 and May 16, 1979).
The Decentralization Laws of 1991 and 1993 created three kinds of Communes: urban Communes, rural Communes and Communes of
Arrondissement in the large cities. There were several territorial partitioning reorganizations until a General Code of Local Government was
adopted in 2005. A first series of laws enacted in 1998 finalized the principles used for implementing decentralization and operating the
associated communal government system. At the time of the local elections in 2000, there were 49 urban Communes. The 2001 provisions
turned the regions into municipalities as well, but without removing their status as administrative districts.
The General Code of Local Government, which provides for the expansion of municipalization to the whole territory, was proclaimed in April
2005. This code matched the Communes’ boundaries with the operating departmental ones and thus redefined urban and rural Communes.
The Communes were organized into sectors and/or villages. The urban Communes with special status (Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso)
were divided into arrondissements, grouping several sectors and/or villages. The villages went from administrative subdivisions to entities
integrated into the municipalization process.
14
The data from the Africapolis database are established from the most disaggregate level of the 1975, 1985, 1996 and 2006 censuses, i.e. the
village. These data are available as Directories or Atlases of the villages, published independently of the census results.
Urban Communes
Rural Communes
Territorial entity with at least one Group of villages of at least 5,000
agglomeration of more than 25,000 inhabitants,
generating
resources
inhabitants, generating resources greater greater than CFAF 5 million
than CFAF 25 million
The issues relating to the definition of villages were dealt with by the Burkina Faso statistical services when the Atlas of Villages was created in
1975. Established for the mapping work that prepared and followed the census operations, the Atlas is an assembly of maps indicating the
location of villages. It also has a folder in which the village populations are listed alphabetically. The aim of locating the villages was to
standardize the definition of the village geographically, rather than administratively or politically (chiefdoms). In 1975, 60% of villages had less
than 500 inhabitants, but regional variations are considerable, going from the wide spread of villages of less than 200 inhabitants in the Goua
region in Lobi-Dagari to the large villages of 2,000 to 5,000 habitants in the agricultural country of Mossi.
Table BFA3. Changes in the Number of Registered Villages (1960 -2006)
1960 1975 1985
1996 2006
7,067
7,200 7,132
8,616 8,600
Note: the number of villages varies slightly depending on the statistical sources consulted.
Although some criteria for defining urban centers have changed since 1960, the approach adopted by Burkina Faso was above all functional.
“Localities” with infrastructures deemed necessary for urban status were called “urban”. The criterion of size was deemed less important than
the “determining criteria of modernization” (1985 PC, Final Results, n.d., p.197).
15
In 1975 and in 1985, the urban localities were those of more than 10,000 residents, with distribution networks for drinking water and electricity.
The number of urban centers went from 5 to 14 between the two censuses to include “some semi-urban centers from 1975, which were
administrative centers of préfectures and sous-préfectures.” (1985 PC. Final Results, n.d., p.197). Among the 31 locales of more than 10,000
inhabitants in 1988, 17 were "rural" because they did not meet the amenities criterion (yet the largest has a population of 22,000 inhabitants).
However the basic definition seemed unsatisfactory for 1985 since 4 locales of more than 10,000 inhabitants were added to the initial list
(Nouna, Gourcy, Orodara and Réo): it was stipulated that, since they were provincial administrative centers, they “played a very important
economic and social role on the regional level”, and their addition enabled the growth of the urban population to be assessed according to the
overall functional approach used in 1975 (ibidem).
In the volume publishing the 1996 PC, “the urban environment includes all the localities with a minimum of socio-economic and administrative
infrastructures (schools, governmental institutions, water and electricity distribution networks, etc.).” The number of population was not an urban
criterion, with the result that localities of less than 10,000 inhabitants or less than 5,000 inhabitants could qualify as “urban”. It should be noted
that in the 1985 census, no locality of less than 10,000 inhabitants was considered urban. Nevertheless, no official list of towns was provided for
1996; and the census report noted that since the amenities thresholds were not defined by the Statistical Institute (INSD), the conceptual
content of the urban environment was therefore relatively blurred.
In 2006, the urban population referred to inhabitants residing in the localities considered to be towns, i.e. the 45 provincial administrative
centers and the four mid-sized towns of Bitou, Niangokolo, Garango and Pouytenga.
Table BFA4. Urbanization in Burkina Faso according to Official Definitions (1960-2006)
1960
1975
1985
1996
2006
Number
of Urban
Centers
5*
18
49
-
Average
Size
Urban Population
Urbanization
Rate
72,522
56,220
-
209,874
362,610
1,011,974
2,766,383
4.7%
6.4%
12.7%
20%
20.1%
Source: PC of corresponding years
* Ougadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso, Banfora, Ouahigouya and Koudougou
16
Urbanization in Burkina Faso according to the Geopolis Definition
Map BFA1. Agglomerations in Burkina Faso in 2000
Although constantly on the increase, as it was elsewhere in West
Africa, neither the population of the two metropolitan areas nor that
of the secondary centers absorbed the majority of the growth in
population in agglomerations between 1960 and 2000. The
percentage of the whole population residing in secondary centers is
thus half that of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana or Benin; on the other hand it
is close to that of Niger. This trend is not likely to change over the
next ten years. With almost 15% of the total population in 2000, the
agglomerations of 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants taken as a whole
seem to be as important in terms of population distribution.
(map: Africapolis/SEDET, 2008)
17
Table BFA5. Urbanization Indicators (1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
3.9
11.0
22.0
27.8
Primacy Index
1.14
1.74
2.59
3.03
3.1
6.6
11.0
13.33
2
15,177
0.83
16
17,941
4.38
56
22,250
10.94
93
28,678
14.48
% of population living in the metropolitan
areas
(Ouagadougou
and
BoboDioulasso)
Secondary Towns of 10,000 inhabitants
and above
Number
Average Size
Table BFA6. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
Ouagadougou
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
10
35,481
60,246
126,044
274,067
562,264
900,064
1,365,051
1,830,038
Bobo-Dioulasso
1
35,839
52,642
86,771
157,271
259,261
349,605
479,563
609,522
Banfora
1
0
3,930
8,310
19,928
40,687
56,747
79,991
103,235
Ouahigouya
1
6,530
11,591
19,658
31,028
43,931
58,205
77,524
96,843
Koudougou
1
10,315
18,763
31,832
43,066
59,610
75,968
86,301
96,633
Tenkodogo
2
2,562
5,637
12,228
24,022
34,002
50,140
67,766
85,391
Pouytenga
1
0
0
4,571
8,741
19,249
41,635
61,748
81,861
Kaya
1
2,123
7,917
15,077
22,026
28,914
39,444
58,015
76,586
Tanghin-Dassouri
1
0
0
0
3,877
11,417
32,088
52,758
73,429
Pissila
1
0
0
0
0
5,417
22,812
40,207
57,602
18
REFERENCES
Republic of Upper Volta. Enquête démographique de haute Volta, 1960, [Demographic Survey of Upper Volta, 1960] Volume1, List of Localities.
Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie. Atlas des villages de Haute Volta 1975.[Atlas of Villages in Upper Volta] Republic of Upper Volta
(n.d.).
Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie. Population Census Décembre 1975. Résultats définitifs, vol I: les données nationales. [Population
Census, December 1975. Final Results, vol. 1: National Data] Republic of Upper Volta (n.d.).
Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie. Population Census Burkina Faso 1985. Analyse des résultats définitifs. [Population Census, Burkina
Faso, 1985. Analysis of Final Results] INSD, Direction de la démographie, n.d.
Bureau National du Recensement. Résultats préliminaires du recensement de la population et de l’habitation (RGPH) 2006. [National Census Bureau,
Preliminary Results of Population and Housing Census (PHC) 2006] Burkina Faso, April 2007.
BAUCHEMIN Cris, BAUCHEMIN Estelle, LE JEUNE Gael. TABVILLES BF: Rapport de présentation. EMIUB. Document technique d’analyse, n° 2002-1.
[Presentation Report. EMIUB. Technical Analysis Document, No. 2002-1]
COULIBALY Daniel. Les évolutions du cadre juridique et institutionnel de la décentralisation au Burkina Faso, Note d’information. [Changes in the legal and
institutional framework of decentralization in Burkina Faso, Briefing note.] On line: http://www.afrique-gouvernance.net
19
REPUBLIC OF CAPE VERDE
Table CPV1. National Demographic Indicators
1991 Population 355,278
108
2020s Population 593,880
1950-2000 Multiplication
3
Sources: 1991 Population Census, Africapolis Database.
Demographic Data
Since 1930, a population census has been carried out every ten years in this former Portuguese colony, which has been independent since
1975. The last three population censuses since independence have been supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Census
December 15 1950
Census
December 15 1960
Census
December 15 1970
Census
June 2 1980
Census
June 23 1990
Census
March 16 2000
Cape Verde is an archipelago made up of the six islands of Barlavento (the “windward” islands) in the North of the archipelago and the four
islands of Sotavento (the “leeward” islands) in the South. The territory is partitioned into concelhos, freguesias (parishes or council subdivisions)
and povoados or bairros. The concelho is an administrative district and the basis on which local communities are organized at the level of the
20
municipality, the municipio. In 2005, five freguesias were promoted to the rank of concelhos. Territorial organization is adapted to the
archipelago’s configuration. While the large islands are made up of several administrative entities and municipalities, the smaller islands are
each represented by an administrative district and only one municipality.
Table CPV2. Territorial Organization in 2006
Santo Antao Island
3 concelhos
Sao Nicolau Island
2 concelhos
Fogo Island
3 concelhos
Santiago Island
9 concelhos
Brava, Boa Vista, Maio, Sal and São Vicente (Mindelo). 1 concelho each
URBAN POPULATION AND URBANIZATION: Urbanization in Cape Verde according to the Geopolis Definition
Map CPV1. Agglomerations in Cape Verde in 2000
Cape Verde, the population of which living abroad is greater than
the resident population, has the highest GDP per inhabitant in West
Africa (>$2000 per year). In this small country, the size of the few
agglomerations is increasing significantly. In 2000, three of them
had more than 10,000 inhabitants; they should number eight in
2020. The capital, Praia, will not become an agglomeration of more
than 100,000 inhabitants until 2010. The urbanization rate, at close
to 60%, remains definitely higher than the West African average.
(map: Africapolis/SEDET)
21
Table CPV4. Urbanization Indicators in Cape Verde (1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
15.8
25.2
39.3
57.7
Primacy Index
1.4
1.02
1.5
1.7
% of the population living in metropolitan
areas (Praia)
6.5
12.7
21.8
27.1
2
2
3
8
15,750
37,250
56,982
42,863
6
12
39
58
and above
Number
Average Size
Table CPV5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Praia
1
10,084
13,100
21,494
37,700
61,644
94,757
127,870
160,983
Mindelo
1
7,300
18,400
28,797
36,800
47,109
62,970
78,831
94,692
Santa Maria
1
1,838
0
0
0
1,343
13,220
18,000
22,780
Pedro Badejo
1
0
0
0
0
5,302
8,492
11,682
14,872
Mindelo
1
0
0
1,939
2,677
3,414
7,095
10,776
14,457
Ribeira Brava
1
0
0
0
0
1,899
5,456
9,013
12,570
São Filipe
1
0
0
3,359
4,400
5,616
7,894
10,172
12,450
Tarrafal
1
0
0
361
1,089
3,626
5,785
7,944
10,103
Porto Novo
1
0
0
0
0
4,867
5,532
6,197
6,862
São Miguel
1
0
0
1,215
2,599
4,022
4,884
5,746
6,608
22
REPUBLIC OF CÔTE D'IVOIRE
Yamoussoukro, once a village, was chosen as the political capital in 1983. Once promoted to the position of capital, this “new town” grew
strongly: it was the fourth largest urban center in the country during the latest PHC in 1998. Côte d'Ivoire is planning to have a new PHC in
November 2008.
Table CIV1. National Demographic Indicators
1975 Population
6,702,866
1998 Population
15,366,672
2020s Population 25,905,447
51
X 6.1
Demographic Data
The first PC was carried out in 1975. For earlier periods, demographic data were collected during administrative censuses in 1936, 1954-56 and
1965. Data collected by the large regional surveys carried out for economic planning in the 1960s and 1970s also make it possible to calculate
a certain number of demographic indicators. A new census is planned for 2008.
1975
26 Departments
8265 localities
April 30 1975
March 3 1988
November 21/December 20 1998
Table CIV2. PC Territorial Divisions (1975-1998)
1988
1998
19 Regions
58 Departments
58 Departments
8481 localities, including one municipal sector 8540 localities (core village
(135 Communes )/non municipal sector
+ camps)
23
Administrative Partitioning
The administrative grid and hierarchy have been relatively stable since the country’s independence; the territory is divided into departments and
sous-préfectures. On the other hand, the number of administrative entities, especially the departments, has increased considerably since 1960
when there were four departments and 100 sous-préfectures. Also, some of these entities have changed names. The regions were only created
in 1991 and there were initially ten of them (Decree of December 16, 1991). The smallest administrative division is the village – still called
locality. The village is a “geographical territory made up of the core village and the camps that depend upon it. The core village is the village’s
main agglomeration.” (1988 PHC, vol.3, 1992, p.10). The localities were not administrative territorial divisions when the censuses were carried
out (2001 Law on Territorial Organization).
The administrative partitioning does not coincide completely with the one that emerged from the decentralization policy, but the PGC reports
nevertheless include both kinds of territorial divisions. The results of the 1998 PHC presented by department showed both a non municipal and
a municipal sector. The decentralization policy was implemented through the first laws of 1978, and continued through a proactive policy at the
end of the 1980s. But the rural environment was excluded from municipalization until the first rural municipalities (‘Communautés Rurales’) were
created in 1995 and established outside the boundaries of existing municipalities (Communes). As for the regions, they became municipalities
in 1991. In 2001, Abidjan was given the special status of "district", and organized into Communes, the boundaries of which corresponded to the
large historic city neighborhoods. At the beginning of the 2000s there were about 200 Communes in Côte d'Ivoire, a certain number of which
were also the administrative centers of sous-préfectures; the municipal sector included 40% of the territory and 52% of the population.
The Data from the Africapolis Database Used for the Study
The data was gathered at the most disaggregate level shown in the censuses, i.e. the “locality” or “village”. The population of agglomerations in
the Africapolis database comes from the directories of localities of 1975, 1988 (floppy disc provided by the Institut National de la Statistique
[National Statistical Institute]) and 1998, and a directory of villages published in 1955, which shows the population over a period stretching from
1949 to 1955 depending on the village. The statistical services of Côte d’Ivoire have indeed produced exhaustive directories of localities since
the beginning of the 1960s. The first was constructed for the smallpox eradication campaign of 1962-1963 (published in 1965).
The village is therefore regarded as a unit consisting of a “core village” and its “camps”. The term “camps”, which originally designated the
seasonal or temporary residences of farmers in the plantation areas of the South of the country, now seems to be applied to all the camps and
hamlets of Côte d’Ivoire. These camps and hamlets vary in size, including tens to hundreds of residents, but the regional weight of population
they represent is far from negligible: in some sous-préfectures, the camps have a larger population than the core village. While the population
of the camps represented 38% of the total population registered in the core villages during the last census, this proportion was clearly higher in
the South East of the country. In 1988, half the population considered as rural lived in villages of 1,000 inhabitants or less (which represented
76% of the total of villages in Côte d’Ivoire).
24
The census documents consulted do not provide a formal definition of the village, any more than of the core village. The core villages are
probably recorded geographically (they have a territory), but the camps and hamlets officially attached to them are under the political or
customary authority of their core village. In both cases, there is no legal territorial demarcation of the localities or their camps (DUREAU, 1991,
p.105). Furthermore the creation of several hundreds of Communes has created increasing confusion between the village or locality and the
municipality because the Communes sometimes include several localities, the area boundaries of which have not been defined (DUREAU,
1991, p. 111).
Table CIV3. Change in the Number of Localities/Villages (1975 -1998)
1975
1988
8,200
8,482 (and
83,549 camps)
1998
8,540 localities
(and 35,217
camps)
25
Urban measurement in Côte d’Ivoire reveals an increasing indecision over different approaches. The approach used over time has proven more and more
complex, sometimes becoming a blend of demographic threshold, administrative and functional criteria. In 1955, the administrative centers were de facto
considered as urban. From 1975, the minimum demographic threshold of 4,000 inhabitants for a locality to be classified as urban referred back to the work
carried out in 1966-67 for the creation of the Côte d’Ivoire Atlas (DUREAU, 1991, p. 106). The dual classification adopted in 1975 showed the problems of
defining “urban” while respecting a functional rationale: all the localities with a population of more than 10,000 inhabitants were urban whereas those with a
size varying from 4,000 to 10,000 inhabitants had to have less than half their population classified in the agricultural sector.
Whatever the criteria adopted – administrative in 1955, demographic and administrative in 1960, demographic, administrative and functional in 1975 and 1988
– the PC analysts corrected the initial list of urban localities, either because these did not seem to be urban (a group of villages) or because the rural localities
had to be de facto urban because they were the department’s administrative centers. The administrative status of localities contributed to increased confusion
since the analysis report of the 1988 PC noted that “out of 184 administrative centers of sous-préfectures, only 66 are classified as towns in 1988. This
contributed to an increase in the average size of villages, which is 764 inhabitants.” (1988 PHC, volume 2, September 1992, p.10)
Table CIV4. Urbanization in Côte d’Ivoire according to the Official Definition (1955-1998)
Number
Definition of Urban
of
Urbanization
Average Size Urban Population
Localities
Rate
Urban
Centers
1955
Administrative centers (1)
48
1960
1975
1988
1998
+ 5000
+ 10.000 and 400010.000 with agri. pop. <
50%
see 1975 def. and (3)
see 1975 def.
21
65
67*
-
62,993
-
4,220,535
6,529,138
38.5%
46%
Source: DUREAU, 1991; 1988, 1998 PHCs.
(1) except Touba and Toulepleu.
(2) + 2 administrative centers, - 1 village group. The 2 administrative centers are Dabakala and Grand-Lahou since 1985, which had less than 4,000 inhabitants.
The village group, the population of which was higher than 10,000 inhabitants, is Bonon.
(3) plus Bangolo and Sakassou.
* number provisionally given by the 1988 PHC based on the 1975 town classification.
Urbanization according to the Geopolis Definition
Map CIV1. Agglomerations of Côte d’Ivoire in 2000
The spread of agglomerations is, as in Ghana and Nigeria, quite
dense, although most of the urban centers identified are located in
the South-Eastern quadrant of the country. In 2000, there were 109
agglomerations of between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. The
main agglomerations of Côte d’Ivoire, those of more than 100,000
inhabitants in 2000, are also regional economic centers: these are
Bouake, Daloa, Yamoussoukro, Korhogo, San-Pedro, Man and
Gagnoa. Between 1975 and 1988, the number of departments
doubled and the number of secondary agglomerations doubled,
going from 52 to 108 agglomerations of more than 10,000
inhabitants. This phenomenon confirms the “administrative center
effect” described in the second part of the report and shows the
importance of administrative status in urban growth.
Table CIV5. Urbanization Indicators in Côte d’Ivoire (1960-2020)
Number of agglomerations of 10,000
inhabitants and over
Primacy Index
% of the population residing in the
metropolitan area of Abidjan
Secondary
Towns
of
10,000
inhabitants and over
Number
Average Size
% of the resident population
1960
9.7
1980
34.3
2000
42.6
2020e
46.8
8
53
109
190
3.86
5.79
6.48
6.87
5.6
16.0
19.3
19.6
8
21,027
4.1
52
28,305
18.3
106
35,930
23.3
195
36,089
27.2
Table CIV6. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Abidjan
2
89,423
228,915
598,079
1,286,719
2,182,307
3,147,499
4,112,691
5,077,883
Bouaké
1
28,893
59,321
122,386
222,411
359,150
485,969
612,787
739,606
Daloa
1
4,051
17,058
47,137
81,371
133,069
182,689
232,309
281,929
San-Pedro
1
0
0
0
40,646
81,577
145,408
209,240
273,071
Yamoussoukro
1
671
3,503
17,819
56,638
119,101
163,604
208,107
252,611
Korhogo
1
11,153
18,589
34,679
67,165
116,424
147,944
179,464
210,984
Man
1
6,502
18,021
39,594
63,426
94,175
121,886
149,597
177,308
Gagnoa
1
12,677
17,748
30,602
56,456
89,752
111,077
132,403
153,728
Divo
1
2,445
9,423
27,182
49,498
75,529
88,992
102,456
115,920
Soubré
1
1,181
3,091
5,609
12,361
37,764
63,507
89,250
114,993
28
REFERENCES
Répertoire des localités de Côte d'Ivoire et population 1975. [Directory of localities in Côte d’Ivoire and population, 1975] National Census Bureau, Statistical
Directorate, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (n.d).
Recensement Général de la Population et de l'Habitat année 1988. Résultats provisoires par localités, ensemble Côte d'Ivoire, 3ème Edition [Population and
rd
Housing Census, 1988. Provisional Results by Locality, all of Côte d’Ivoire, 3 Edition] Direction de la Statistique/ DCGTx, July 1991.
Recensement Général de la Population et de l'Habitat année 1988. Tome 2 : Répartition spatiale de la population et migrations.[Population and Housing
Census, 1988. Volume 2: Spacial Spread of Population and Migrations] INS, Abidjan September 1992.
Recensement Général de la Population et de l'Habitat année 1988. Tome 3 : Analyse des résultats définitifs. [ Population and Housing Census, 1988. Volume
3: Analysis of Final Results] INS, Abidjan septembre 1992.
DUREAU Françoise (1991). « D’une approche non fonctionnaliste du milieu urbain africain » in Croissance démographique et urbanisation. Séminaire
International de Rabat (15-17 mai 1990). Numéro 5, AIDELF. [“On a Non Functional Approach to the African Urban Environment” in “Demographic Growth
and Urbanization. International Seminar of Rabat – May 15-17 1990 – Number 5, AIDELF]
SATO Akira (ed) (2003). « L'administration locale en Cote d'Ivoire » [“Local Administration in Côte d’Ivoire”] in Africa Research Series. No. 10 / 2003, Institute
of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO).URL : http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Ars/10.html
29
REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA
Table GMB1. National Demographic Indicators
1983 Population
687,817
119
X 5.2
Sources: 1975 and 1998 PCs, Africapolis Database.
Demographic Data
The first national census took place in 1963. However, the population of Bathurst1 and Kombo StMary Division had already been recorded in
1951.
Census of Bathurst and Kombo StMary Division
1951
Population Census
April 17 1963
Population Census
April 21 1973
1983
April 15 1993
2003
The presentation of the PCs follows the current administrative partitioning at the time of the census, although in 1963, the term “Division” was
used instead of “LGA”. The Gambia is divided into Local Government Areas (LGA), districts and villages. In 2003, Banjul Municipality and
Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) each had the status of LGA (for the census). Banjul is divided into 3 wards or constituencies (South, Central
and North).
1
The town of Banjul bore the name of its founder, the Earl of Bathurst, until 1965.
30
1963
Table GMB2. PC Territorial Divisions
1973
1993
5 Divisions (or LGAs) +
Bathurst (Island of St.Mary)
Districts
8 LGAs
46 Districts
LGA
Districts
2003
8 LGA
39 Districts
1883 Settlements
The data presented in the sources used by the Africapolis database are far from homogeneous from the perspective of the size of the
“settlements”. The settlement is a generic term describing any kind of center and inhabited place whatever its demographic size and
administrative status. Only the population of Banjul is available for 1951. For 1963, only data on towns of more than 2,000 inhabitants are
available. The data come from the settlement directories for the 1973, 1983 and 1993 PCs. Finally, the directory of settlements of the 2003 PC
has still not been published. The available data used dealt with towns of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
« To be accurate, there is no town in the Gambia except that of Bathurst », wrote the 1963 census director in his report (Oliver, 1965, p. 25).
The list of the 43 (or 48 according to the documents consulted) places or towns recorded by the census services correspond in fact to the
largest settlements, the size of which varies from 6,500 to 700 inhabitants. If the same criterion is used for 1973, there would be 66 “towns”. The
statistical services of the Gambia did not raise the question of “urban” in the published documents of the 1973 and 1983 PCs. They simply
noted that probably the only urban centers in the country were in the most densely populated regions of Banjul and Kombo St Mary (Population
Census 1973 Provisional Report, 1973, p.7). In 2006, the provisional report of the PGC results provided an overall urbanization rate by LGA
without stating the criteria used. Only the Banjul and Kanifing LGAs were considered completely urban. The Brikama LGA, located just South of
Banjul and Kanifing, of which 60% of the population is considered urban, makes up the third urban area. As a result, more than 80% of the
official urban population resides in the two LGAs of Kanifing and Brikima.
31
Table GMB3. Urban Population of The Gambia according to the Official Definition
1963
1973
1993
2003
Number
of
Urban Centers
Bathurst
2 LGAs
2 LGAs 100%
urban
Average
Size
NA
-
Urban Population
Urbanization Rate
27,809
130,417
-
8.9%
15.9% - 26.4%
37%
NA
-
51%
Source: PCs for the corresponding dates, and no calculations
Urbanization in the Gambia according to the Geopolis Definition
The population of The Gambia is very highly concentrated into the Greater Banjul Area, which groups the morphologically distinct
agglomerations of Banjul and Kanifing Municipal Council (or Kombo St. Mary Division), a tiny area representing only 1% of the total area of the
country, but where more than a third of the total population lives. Constrained by the layout of Banjul, the population has spread out into
Kanifing, which became the foremost agglomeration of the Gambia between 1970 and 1980. Kanifing expansion meant that the primacy rate
leaped ahead in 2,000 and projections show that this trend should increase further in the future. As for the population of Banjul, it began to
decrease in 1983. At the start of the 2000s, there were still fewer than 10 agglomerations of more than 10,000 inhabitants in The Gambia.
Table GMB4. Urbanization Indicators in The Gambia, 1960-2020
1960
1980
2000
2020e
8.6
25.7
43.7
47.4
-
2.38
7.7
8.31
8.6
23.1
35.3
37.6
Number
0
1
5
8
Average Size
-
16,067
21,183
25,268
-
10.0
19.2
20.7
Primacy Index
% of the population residing in the metropolitan areas (Banjul, Kanifing)
Secondary Towns of 10,000 inhabitants and over
32
Map GMB1. Agglomerations of The Gambia in 2000
33
Table GMB5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Kanifing
5
5 000
8 845
28 549
102 037
236 344
407 567
578 788
750 011
Brikama
1
0
3 352
7 578
16 067
33 929
52 696
71 463
90 229
Farafenni & Jigimarr
1
0
0
0
7 844
17 260
19 943
22 626
25 309
Banjul
1
26 038
25 520
35 850
42 839
42 889
36 766
30 195
24 799
Gunjur
1
0
3 304
4 339
6 285
9 065
12 713
16 361
20 009
Soma
1
0
0
0
3 322
6 940
10 107
13 274
16 441
Basse Santo Su
1
0
1 468
2 503
4 533
7 975
10 457
12 939
15 421
Busumbala
1
0
0
0
1 350
2 926
6 159
9 393
12 627
Sanyang
1
0
0
0
1 919
3 484
6 110
8 737
11 364
Essau
1
0
0
0
1 653
3 617
5 993
8 369
10 745
REFERENCES
th
OLIVER H.A. Report on the Census of Population of The Gambia Taken on April 18 , 1963. Sessional Paper no 13 of 1965, Printed by the Government
Printer, Bathurst, Gambia 1965.
Gambia Population census 1973 – Vol III General Report. Central Statistics Division, Ministry of Economic Planning and Industrial development, July 1976.
Gambia Population Census 1983 – Vol I General Report. Central Statistics Division, Ministry of Economic Planning and Industrial development, October 1987.
The 2003 provisional census report is available electronically:
http://columbia.edu/~msj42/pdfs/Chapter1_Introduction.pdf and Chapter 1
34
REPUBLIC OF GHANA
Ghana was created from the combining of the territories of the Gold Coast, a British colony, and part of Togoland, a former German colony that
had been placed under a joint type “B” Franco-British protectorate in 1920, after World War I. In December 1956, the Gold Coast annexed the
British section of the former German colony of Togoland, called Transvolta Togoland. The remainder of the Togoland territory became the future
Togo. Ghana became independent in 1957.
Table GHA1. National Demographic Indicators (1960-2020)
1960 Population
6,726,800
2000 Population
18,412,256
2020e Population
26,836,282
77
X
4.1
Demographic Data
Population counts were carried out by the British administration every ten years between 1891 and 1948 (except 1941). The first population
census was carried out by the Ghanaian statistical services in 1960.
Population and Housing Census of Ghana*
February 1 1948
Population and Housing Census of Ghana
March 20 1960
March 1 1970
March 11 1984
March 26 2000
* The 1948 census excluded the non-African population.
35
1948
3 Administrative Areas
(The Colony, Ashanti,
Northern Territories)
19 Districts
88 Native Authorities
(states or traditional
areas headed by
paramount chiefs)
Table GHA2. PC Territorial Divisions (1948-2000)
1960
1970
1984
6 Regions + Accra
Capital District (entity
legally part of the
Eastern Region, but
created as an
independent region for
the census).
93 Local Authorities
2000
10 Administrative
Regions
10 Administrative
Regions
10 Administrative
Regions
140 Local Authorities (or
Council Areas)
140 Local Authorities (or
Council Areas)
Local Authorities (or
Council Areas)
City Councils, Municipal City Councils, Municipal
Councils, Urban
Councils, Urban
Councils, Local Councils Councils, Local Councils
Colonial Inheritances
As with a variety of English possessions (India, Sudan, Nigeria), the British regime distinguished the “colonies” directly under the control of its
administration and the “protectorates”, where traditional law prevailed and where local particularities were carefully cultivated.
In 1874, Ghana’s coastal area became a British colony. In 1900, the Ashanti region, already a protectorate, was annexed whereas the
protectorate was extended to the Northern Territory in 1902. From then on, the Gold Coast became by far the largest producer of cocoa in the
world2. In Ghana, this process was transcribed by a North-South development gradient, i.e. from the coast to the interior, the interior being
considered as a hinterland.
2
Richard R. BRAND (1972). « The Role of Cocoa in the Growth and Spatial Organization of Accra (Ghana) Prior to 1921 » in African studies review. Vol. 15,
n°2, Sep., 1972, pp. 271-282.
36
Table GHA3. Population Changes in the Colonial Era (1871-1948)
Territories
Ashanti
Gold Coast
Colony
Northern Territory
Total (1920-1956)
British Togoland
Present Territory
1871
1891
408,000
765,000
1,473,900
1901
364,000
1911
346,000
1921
448,000
1931
585,000
1948
962,000
1,095,000
1,227,000
1,396,000
1,715,000
2,637,000
435,000
1,894,000
144,000
2,038,000
531,000
2,104,000
166,000
2,270,000
694,000
2,538,000
207,000
2,745,000
861,000
3,161,000
294,000
3,568,000
1,277,000
4,876,000
458,000
5,334,000
Source: Population Censuses.
This system led to considerable uneven development during the colonial era. Whereas development and infrastructure projects took place in
the “colonies”, the British Empire was usually content to keep watch on the protectorates from afar. The graph thus shows that transforming a
protectorate into a colony brought with it acceleration in demographic growth.
The administrative subdivisions: Regions and Districts
The regions were created following independence. Their boundaries were in large part inherited from the colonial era:
reminiscent of the British colonization process and of past imperatives.
- the Gold Coast colony was subdivided into Eastern, Central and Greater Accra;
- the former protectorate, later the Ashanti colony, corresponds to the two regions of Ashanti and Brong Ahafo;
- the Transvolta became the Volta region;
- the Northern protectorate was subdivided into two, the Northern region and the Upper region.
their shape is
The inheritance of a territory that was colonized in stages explains the fact that the Northern region is not the country’s most Northern area and
that the Central region is located in the South. For the purposes of studying the changes in population, this partitioning has the advantage of
having remained stable, apart from the reorganization of Greater Accra and the partitioning of the Upper region into Upper West and Upper
East.
37
Graph GHA1. Demographic Growth in the territories of the Gold Coast (1900-1940)
4.0%
3.5%
3.0%
2.5%
2.0%
Ashanti
Gold Coast Colony
1.5%
Northern Territory
1.0%
British Togoland
0.5%
0.0%
-0.5%
-1.0%
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
The regions were divided into 141 Local Government Councils, but this division was abolished on January 1, 2000 and replaced by 110
districts, the number of which increased to 167 in 2004. The district then became the favored level in the decentralization, guaranteed,
according to the general objectives presupposed by any decentralization policy, “good governance” and democratic participation. Although the
districts represent large geographical areas (the average area in 2000 was 1,324 km2), their importance in the communal government system
corresponds to that of the new large “municipalities” of Benin, Mali or Niger. The districts are the subject of an unparalleled policy of promotion
through the media in order to impose them in the face of other levels representing an old administrative landscape and to compensate for their
lack of historical consistency and for the heterogeneity of their content. The districts are extremely varied, hence the problems in identifying this
level. Many of them are characterized by considerable lack of polarization: the districts either group together several agglomerations of equal
size or they do not include any urban center.
38
The Gazetter is one of the publications of population censuses in Ghana. It lists all the country’s localities alphabetically, with their population
and the number of houses. Since 1960, the census bureau has defined the locality as any built-up unit (house, hamlet, village or town) at least
200 yards away from the nearest built-up unit (Paragraph 5.3 of the 1960 Gazetter). As a result, the Gazetter includes a large number of
hamlets that might have very few inhabitants. In 1960, two thirds of the localities had a population of less than a 100. In contrast, in 1948, there
was no definition for the locality and, as a result, some of the hamlets were grouped together under the name of a single locality. This partly
explains why the number of localities doubled between the two censuses. The locality is not a territorial division in Ghana.
Table GHA4. Change in the Total Number of Localities (1948-1984)
1948
1960
1970
1984
15,121
30,397
47,769
56,170
For the purpose of this study, only the localities of more than 5,000 inhabitants were considered over the whole period. The geo-referenced
data available to us at the moment do not make it possible to map the localities with a population below this threshold.
There are two superimposed approaches for defining “urban”: functional and statistical criteria are used, together with a demographic threshold.
The old partitioning system distinguished Local Councils (LCs) from Municipal or Urban Councils (MCs or UCs). These categories became
obsolete with the new partitioning into districts, but some districts are defined as “metropolitan districts”.
An official definition of “urban” was adopted by an independent Ghana during the preparatory work for the first census in 1960. The threshold of
5,000 inhabitants was chosen based on the theory that, beyond that size, the population of localities was no longer generally rural. And the
national statistical services confirmed this hypothesis by publishing a table showing that only 41% of the population in the localities with
between 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants was involved in the agricultural and forest sector. The urban localities were then called “towns”. This
definition remained valid in 1984. It should also be noted that the Ghanaian statistical services have been publishing, since 1960, in the Special
Report series, a special volume on the localities of more than 10,000 inhabitants. There is no statistical definition of the agglomeration.
Nevertheless, due to the sprawl of built-up areas, some agglomerations group together several localities, either urban or rural, then escaping
39
the existing official definitions of urban. The official urbanization rates were respectively 36%, 39% and 41% in 1960, 1970 and 1984.
(Gazetteers)
Urbanization in Ghana according to the Geopolis Definition
The number of agglomerations of 10,000 inhabitants and over is the highest in the region – excluding Nigeria – although it is only slightly higher
than that of Côte d’Ivoire. This density of urban networks together with a hierarchy in secondary centers makes the configuration of the urban
system in Ghana the most complete in West Africa, together with that of Nigeria (see page 75 in the report). The large commercial city of
Kumasi is one of the region’s rare second ranked agglomerations to pass the million inhabitant threshold. In contrast, the 3rd rank
agglomerations, Sekondi/Takoradi and Tamale, are clearly smaller as their population was 200,000 inhabitants in 2000. Ghana is also one of
the countries with large secondary towns and, although the metropolitan area of Accra should reach almost 4.5 million inhabitants in 2020, only
15% of the total population will live there. Unsurprisingly, given the number of localities of more than 5,000 inhabitants considered de facto as
urban in Ghana, the official urbanization rate is greater than that calculated using the Géopolis definition.
Table GHA6. Urbanization Indicators in Ghana (1960-2020)
1960
Number of agglomerations
of
10,000
Primacy Index
% of the population residing
metropolitan area of Accra
in
the
and above
Number
Average Size
1980
2000
2020e
17.4
27.2
39.1
48.4
31
58
118
200
1.98
2.15
1.95
1.84
5.4
9.4
13.7
16.4
30
57
117
199
26 840
34 252
40 045
4 3257
12.0
17.7
25.4
32.1
Source: Geopolis Database, Agglomerations of West Africa
40
Map GH1. Agglomerations of Ghana in 2000
(Map: Africapolis/SEDET)
41
Table GHA7. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Accra
36
162 401
365 800
737 427
1 041 032
1 504 012
2 515 556
3 452 100
4 388 642
Kumasi
16
93 413
184 806
371 648
483 267
744 894
1 291 472
1 838 050
2 384 626
Sekondi
2
47 842
75 400
143 982
173 986
221 166
289 595
358 024
426 454
Tamale
2
18 768
40 400
84 088
118 917
159 461
210 195
260 929
311 663
Obuasi
3
16 796
22 800
32 182
52 018
82 222
132 431
182 640
232 849
Sunyani
5
7 460
20 800
35 634
50 437
70 561
99 060
127 559
156 058
Koforidua
3
24 171
41 500
56 648
67 429
83 851
107 446
131 041
154 637
Cape Coast
3
30 993
48 900
70 573
79 501
91 377
106 456
121 535
136 615
Techiman
2
3 183
8 755
12 333
21 054
36 248
66 786
97 324
127 862
Wa
1
6 449
14 300
21 400
31 070
45 405
66 644
87 883
109 122
REFERENCES
1960 Population Census of Ghana. Volume I : The Gazetteer alphabetical list of localities. Census Office Accra 1962.
1960 Population Census of Ghana. Volume III : Demographic characteristics. Census Office Accra 1964.
1984 Population Census of Ghana. The Gazetteer I (AA-KU). Statistical Service, Accra, Ghana.
1984 Population Census of Ghana. The Gazetteer II (KW-WU). Statistical Service, Accra, Ghana.
1984 Population Census of Ghana.). Demographic and economic characteristics. Total country. Statistical Service, Accra, Ghana, 1987.
42
REPUBLIC OF GUINEA
Table GIN1. National Demographic Indicators of Guinea (1960-2020)
1954-55 Population
2,435,720
1996 Population
7,164,893
2020s Population
10,221,657 1950-2000 Multiplication
31
X 2.9
Sources: 1954-55 Demographic Survey and 1996 PC, Africapolis Database.
The population data gathered remain incomplete and not very homogeneous, which limits comparisons between urban trends over the period of
the study. Urban dynamics in Guinea might still have been influenced by political events such as the return of exiles after the death of President
Touré and the influx of refugees from Liberia between 1989 and 1996. The United Nations program has announced a new census in 2007,
which does not appear to have been carried out.
Demographic Data
The results of the first PC carried out in 1960 do not appear to have been published and the data from the second PC of 1967 remain lost.
Although not exhaustive, the demographic survey by sample of 1954-1955 by the Demographic Mission of Guinea is therefore the only
historical reference for the period.
Population Census
Population Census
Population Census
Population Census
August 10 1960*
1967*
1983
January 12 1996
* Data lost, never published
43
Table GIN2. Territorial Divisions during 1954-55 Survey and PCs
1996 PC (administrative
1954-55 Survey
1983 PC
presentation)
4 ecological Regions: Maritime 7 Regions
4 Sectors
Guinea, Mid-Guinea or Fouta
20 Circles (‘Cercles)
Djallon,
Upper-Guinea
and
Forested Guinea
Préfectures*
33 Préfectures
340 Sous-préfectures, of which 38
urban Communes
city neighborhoodSector/locality
* the results of the 1983 PC were published according to the division into préfectures in force since 1984.
In 1983, the census analysts preferred to present the census results according to Guinea’s four large natural regions, which, according to them,
were much more homogeneous ecological and socio-cultural entities than the seven Commissariats Généraux de la Révolution (Revolutionary
General Commissariats) or Provinces of the current administrative partitioning. A dual presentation by administrative region and natural region
was adopted in 1996.
Before independence in 1958, Guinea was divided into four sectors, which corresponded to the country’s large ecological regions, and into 20
circles (‘Cercles’) or subdivisions. President Sékou Touré’s regime established a territorial division into 7 Commissariats Généraux de la
Révolution (CGRs). This partitioning was modified to make way for the various levels represented by the provinces, the administrative regions
and the arrondissements. In 1984, the new government divided the territory into 8 provinces and changed the arrondissements into souspréfectures. It seems that the prefectures established in 1984 were called administrative regions again in 1996.
A series of legislative documents structured a first decentralization phase between 1986 and 1990. The towns were divided into official
neighborhoods and rural areas into districts, which led to the progressive establishment of urban Communes and ‘rural Communes’
(Communautés Rurales de Développement), numbering 38 and 303 respectively in 2006. The préfecture was also a municipality between 1990
and 2001.
The legislative framework states that the Communautés Rurales de Dévelopment result from of a grouping of more than 5,000 inhabitants from
one or more localities or of rural districts organized around an urban center recognized as such by the population. In fact, they were substituted
44
for the sous-préfectures, which, in the initial plan of the decentralization program, should have disappeared. The urban Communes were
created for each administrative center of the 33 préfectures of the country, and all municipalities were defined according to the boundaries of
the administrative subdivisions they were replacing. The former province of Conakry had special status as it had a dual status: it s both an
administrative district and a municipality. Five Communes (Kaloum, Dixinn, Ratoma, Matam and Matoto) replaced the former prefectoral
administrative division, and were grouped into a metropolitan municipality, an inter-communal structure with full municipal status. Finally the
urban Communes were divided into city neighborhoods.
The data do not provide the same level of disaggregation as that reached for the other countries of West Africa. Indeed, the directory of villages
of 1958 has not been found, while the list of villages established for the 1983 census has not been available from the statistical services of
Guinea. For 1996, a list of localities has been reconstructed based on two files provided by the statistical services of Guinea: a file with a list of
names of localities and a file with raw data from the population census on all individuals counted to whom a code was given according to the
locality in which they were registered. A comparison of the two files leaves 683 observations, which cannot be given a locality, or a little less
than 1% of the total population counted in 1996. In the reconstituted table, the localities have been reclassified according to the official
administrative partitioning of the 1996 census.
The official definition is essentially based for the whole period on the administrative criterion. In 1954-55, the demographic survey alluded to the
“urban stratum”, which included most of the administrative centers of the circles and subdivisions, among which were excluded four centers “the
urban characteristics of which were too poorly indicated”. The survey also distinguishes the agglomerated population of the “bush” stratum.
In 1983, the functional criterion was used. The town was a “locality of at least 1,000 inhabitants, easily accessible and with services such as a
post office, police, a dispensary (or hospital), an educational center at high school level at least, a market, shops, a cinema and with the
possibility of water and electricity distribution. However, a locality of fewer than 1,000 inhabitants with constant water and electricity distribution
and with such services as a dispensary (or hospital) a market, shops and a cinema, will also be considered a town.” (PC 1983 volume 1, 1987).
During the 1996 PC, the definition becomes administrative again and “urban” was related to the administrative centers of préfectures, and
therefore implicitly to urban municipalities. As a result, in 1996, two official villages have more than 10,000 inhabitants (Kamsar with 61,233
45
inhabitants and Sangarédi with 19,360 habitants), whereas four “towns” have fewer than 4,000 inhabitants. The official definition cannot in fact
take account of the agglomeration of coastal populations over almost 15 kilometers in the Kamsar area.
Table GIN3. Urbanization in Guinea according to the Official definition (1954-1996)
1954-55
1983
1996*
Number of
Urban
Centers
23
n.d
36
Average Size
7,530
61,468
Urban
Population
Urbanization
Rate
173 204
n.d
2,212,871
7.11%
26.0%
30.88%
Source: 1954-55 Survey and PCs of corresponding years
Urbanization in Guinea according to the Geopolis Definition
After the very considerable growth of Conakry before 1980, the secondary towns have since taken over. The number of agglomerations of more
than 10,000 inhabitants increased between 1980 and 2000, but in particular, their average size doubled between 1980 and 2000 and should
double again toward 2020.
Table GIN4 - Urbanization Indicators in Guinea (1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
6.2
24.3
31.0
36.0
Primacy Index
3.5
11.6
9.7
8.1
3.6
14.6
16.2
18.6
4
18
26
25
17,653
24,706
49,956
70,906
2.6
9.7
14.8
17.3
% the population residing in the
metropolitan area of Conakry
and above
Number
Average Size
46
Map GIN1. Agglomerations of Guinea in 2000
47
Table GIN5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Conakry
3
38,500
97,747
359,519
668,714
922,500
1,249,209
1,575,918
1,902,628
Nzérékoré
1
10,800
8,836
17,124
37,230
74,889
128,260
181,631
235,002
Guéckédou
1
0
1,696
2,421
15,034
47,561
102,902
158,242
213,583
Kindia
1
1,000
19,954
38,786
41,890
71,869
110,649
149,429
188,209
Kénéma
2
5,007
10,582
22,639
40,818
65,075
104,222
143,369
182,516
Kankan
1
24,600
28,242
48,338
57,640
86,794
108,694
130,595
152,495
Kissidougou
1
0
4,327
14,997
31,527
52,098
75,258
98,418
121,578
Macenta
1
4,500
9,822
22,827
23,952
34,876
55,909
76,941
97,973
Labé
1
11,800
11,833
19,086
24,458
40,618
55,226
69,834
84,442
Mamou
1
3,500
9,769
16,613
25,000
41,650
54,520
67,390
80,260
REFERENCES
Jean-Etienne Bidou and Julien Gbéré Toure, “La population de la Guinée – dynamiques spatiales”, [“Guinea’s population – special trends”] Cahiers d'outremer, 217, Guinea, 2002, [On line], put on line February 13, 2008. URL : http://com.revues.org/document1049.html.
ère
Etude démographique par sondage, Guinée, 1954-55, 1
of Study] Cahiers INED, 1956.
st
partie Technique d’Enquête. [Demographic Study by Sample, Guinea, 1954-55, 1 Technical Part
“La décentralisation en République de Guinée” [“Decentralization in the Republic of Guinea”] not dated; document available on the site of the Online
Information Network of the United Nations on government and public finances. http://UNPAN010828Guinee.pdf
RGPH 1983. Volume 1 Notes méthodologiques sur le recensement de la population et de l’Habitat. [PC 1983. Volume 1. Methodological Notes on the
Population and Housing Census] Direction Générale de la Statistique et de l’informatique, Conakry May 1987.
Recensement Général de la Population et de l’Habitation de 1996. Résultats provisoires. [Population and Housing Census of 1996. Provisional Results]
Bureau National du Recensement, Conakry 1997
Mamadou Lamine Bah. Capitalisation des projets d’appui en développement local et décentralisation en Afrique de l’Ouest : Le cas de la Guinée
[Capitalization of Local Development Aid Projects and Decentralization in West Africa: The Case of Guinea], in collaboration with Carlos Hernandez Barry –
United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) June 2006. URL : http://www.uncdf.org/francais/local_development/docs/technical_review/capitalisation/FENU_Guinee.pdf
48
REPUBLIC OF GUINEA BISSAU
Table GNB1. National Demographic Indicators (1960-2020)
1960 Population
525,437
1991 Population
954,492
2020E Population 1,803,288
35
X 2.3
Demographic Data
Between 1950 and 1991, Guinea Bissau carried out a census every ten years.
Recenseamento Geral da Populacao e da habitacao
June 15 1950
December 30 1960
December 15 1970
April 16 1979
Recenseamento Geral da Populacao e da Habitacao
December 1 1991
Table GNB2. PC Territorial Divisions (1979-1991)
1979
1991
8 Regions (Bafata, Bissau, Boloma,
9 régioes
Buba, Cacheu, Gabu, Farim et
37 setores
Catio)
Number of villages unknown
Sectors
Villages
49
In the 1979 PC, the partitioning of Guinea Bissau defined nine administrative divisions at the regional level: eight regions and the autonomous
sector of the city of Bissau. The regions were subdivided into sectors and villages, the tabancas. The city of Bissau was itself divided into
bairros, of which 28 are urban and suburban and nine constitute rural divisoes.
The directories of villages published with the PCs have not been found. The list of agglomerations in the study is based on the population of the
cidades and lugares of more than 5,000 inhabitants for all dates. An estimate was done for 2001.
Urbanization in Guinea Bissau according to the Geopolis Definition
Table GNB4- Urban Indicators in Guinea Bissau, 1960-1970
1960
Primacy Index
Bissau metropolitan area
and above
Number
Average Size
1980
2000
2020e
9.5
16.5
27.7
42.2
-
8.4
15.6
20.7
9.5
14.8
25.1
34.1
0
-
1
13,760
1.8
2
15,587
2.6
9
16,179
8.1
The most notable fact based on these indicators is the
preponderance of the capital city. A quarter of the
country’s population was concentrated in Bissau in
2000. It weighed on the other towns since only two
towns had more than 10,000 inhabitants in 2000 and
the primacy index remains particularly high. 15% of the
population lived in 9 small agglomerations of 5,000 to
10,000 inhabitants.
50
Map GNB1. The agglomerations of Guinea Bissau, 2000
Table GNB5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
Bissau
NLU
1
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
46,163
49,844
118,572
115,636
182,832
298,818
456,828
614,837
Bafatá
Gabú
Bissorã
1
1
1
0
0
0
3,570
0
0
7,717
0
0
13,760
8,127
0
16,721
11,256
4,635
19,158
12,016
9,070
24,421
15,369
14,500
29,684
18,723
18,000
Catió
Cacheu
Bolama
Bubaque
Mansôa
Farim
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3,100
0
0
0
0
0
2,551
0
0
0
5,311
7,688
9,138
8,438
5,466
4,530
6,586
8,426
9,451
8,751
6,116
5,061
8,167
9,236
9,775
9,075
6,842
5,653
11,896
11,978
11,980
10,992
8,972
8,157
15,624
14,719
14,185
12,909
11,102
10,661
REFERENCES
Republica da Guine-Bissau, Recenseamento Geral da Populacao e da habitacao, 16 de Abril de 1979.
Republica da Guine-Bissau, Recenseamento Geral da Populacao da Populacao e da Habitacao, Resultadao Preliminares, 1991.
Guinée Bissau. Dossier d’information économique. Ministère de la Coopération, Service des études et questions internationales, Paris (n.d), June 1979.
52
REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA
Table LBR1. National Demographic Indicators (1962-2020)
1962 Population
1,016,443
1974 Population
1,563,400
1984 Population
2,101,700
2008 Population
3,489,072
2000 Population Density 29
2020e Population 3,760,207 1950-2000 Multiplication X 3.4
Demographic Data
The first reliable estimate of the country’s total population dates from 1956. Thereafter, three censuses were carried out in 1962, 1974 and
1984. From 1989 onwards, two civil wars (1989-1996 and 1999-2003) plunged the country into chaos. The latest population census has just
been completed (March 21 to 27, 2008).
Population Census
1962
3 Provinces + 1
Territory
5 Counties
April 2 1962
February 1 1974
February 1 1984
Table LBR2. PC Territorial Divisions
1974
14 Counties
54 Districts
(369 Clans and 46
Townships)
16.000 Localities
1984
Counties
66 Districts
Clans and Townships
16.000 Localities
53
Territorial Partitioning : Counties, Districts and Localities
Liberia became independent in 1847, or more than a century before its neighbors. Yet, some customs in territorial management have lasted.
Liberia was then divided into territories with various status: 5 Counties, 1 Territory and 3 Provinces. During the colonial era and until 1963, the
coast (Counties: coastal regions) and the interior (Provinces) were covered by different systems; for example, customary law remained in effect
in the interior. In 1964, the administrative grid was simplified: the territory was divided into 9 counties and 6 territories. In 2001, all the
administrative entities became counties. The boundaries of the former administrative divisions were revived, with the exception of the
amalgamation of certain territories and the subdivision of some counties. From 1962 to 2005, therefore, the changes in population can be
reconstructed at the regional level of the county over a stable grid (Table LBR3), consisting of 14 geographical entities and taking account of ad
hoc modifications. In contrast, the partitioning of districts has been more unstable. There were 66 districts in 1984 and 102 in 2005.
Table LBR3. Changes in Population in Liberia according to the 14 Counties of 1962
N County
1 LOFA (obsolete)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
13
14
Modification
Subdivided into:
LOFA
GBARPOLU
1962
PC
1974
PC
1984
PC
1999e
2005e
131,600 180,800 247,641 351,492 231,307
183,821
47,486
162,900 249,700 313,050 338,887 401,453
NIMBA
32,200 56,700 79,322 120,141 78,762
GRAND CAPE MOUNT
130,500
182,200 255,783 299,825 308,782
BONG
39,400 62,200 66,420 114,316 81,286
BOMI
168,600 321,900 491,078 843,783 998,439
MONTSERRADO
99,600 123,400 159,648 215,338 212,268
GRAND BASSA
48,300 71,900 102,810 94,497 113,368
GRAND GEDEH (obsolete) Subdivided into:
RIVER GEE (obsolete)
46,420
GRAND GEDEH (obsolete)
66,948
RIVER CESS
28,800 27,800 37,849 38,167 39,687
MARGIBI
Fusion of:
32,000 47,300 151,792 219,417 207,369
MARSHALL (obsolete)
12,700 20,800 31,200
GIBI (obsolete)
32,000 47,300 66,900
SINOE
44,700 57,700 64,147 79,241 59,242
MARYLAND
34,900 64,500 69,267 71,977 82,298
GRAND KRU
In the Past:
21,300 27,200 62,791 39,062 39,634
SASSTOWN (obsolete)
9,600 10,000 11,600
KRU COAST (obsolete)
21,300 27,200 35,300
The localities, as in the other Englishspeaking countries of the CEAO, were
defined for the requirements of the censuses:
they are the most disaggregated spatial units.
In Liberia, this includes any population center
formed around a core and bearing a name. In
1962, there were some exceptions (localities
near Monrovia, plantations, and temporary
agricultural camps in rice fields).
Nevertheless, the rigorous application of this
definition during the 1974 census brought the
number of localities to 16,000, a number of
which in fact turned out to be urban
neighborhoods with a separate name from
that of the main locality. Also, in the Northern
mining areas (County of Nimba), some
localities were in fact administrative districts
grouping various dispersed settlements
(villages, hamlets, compounds). Saniquellie
or de Bahn, with populations of 12,500 and
9,589 inhabitants respectively, in fact
54
assemble together different inhabited places spread out over several tens of square miles. Some plantations (Firestone) and “farms” of the
Liberia Agricultural Company (LAC) reproduce this pattern. In 2005, 1,135 localities were identified when an electoral map was created; 97
were located in the agglomeration of Monrovia, which does not however cover the entirety of the County of Montserrado.
Graph LBR1. Rank/Size Distribution of Localities in 2005
Source: National Electoral Commission (http://www.necliberia.org/).
NB: The localities included in Monrovia were considered a single entity.
1000000
100000
10000
1000
100
10
1
1
10
100
1000
10000
55
Since there has been no population census since 1984, the National Electoral Commission database represents a valuable source of
information. In September 2005, it provided the first report on the geographical distribution of registered voters for each polling station,
accompanied by a detailed map. When the localities had several polling stations, the number of registered voters was added up in order to
reconstitute the total number of registered voters by locality. These numbers, when multiplied by a ratio (2.233), make it possible to estimate the
total population (including minors).
While an estimate of the population of the main agglomerations before 1989 and then in 2005 can be made, it is not possible to calculate the
number of inhabitants between 1990 and 2000 by simple interpolation. The population was unevenly affected by the civil wars in time and
space. Some localities were almost emptied of their population, but at different times depending on the area. Some towns were sometimes
places of refuge and saw their numbers inflate before themselves being destroyed. Apart from the death of 200,000 people, population shifts
were considerable. Refugees were grouped into camps: some returned to their original locality, others emigrated abroad or toward other towns,
especially Monrovia.
No official definition of “urban” was established during the 1962 PC, but the statistical services indicated that the size of localities could be a
criterion and that therefore those of 2,000 inhabitants and above could be considered urban. The definition of urban appears to have raised
more questions during the next census. While the threshold of 2,000 inhabitants was generally maintained for a locality to go from rural to
urban, a few amendments were made to include smaller localities with amenities such water and electricity services and schools and hospitals.
Inversely, some localities of more than 2,000 inhabitants were excluded; those under clan rule, for example, were considered rural by definition.
The statistical services also provided an official list of urban centers. In 1984, the urban demographic threshold rose to 3,000 inhabitants, but
some less populated localities were still included. The list of urban centers became more and more incomplete around the 3,000 inhabitant
threshold because the government was trying to take account of the fact that some localities were in reality only administrative districts grouping
various villages and hamlets spread over large territories, so that the number of inhabitants they included was all the greater the more
widespread the territory.
In 2005, this list became partly obsolete because of the disasters caused by the civil wars. For example, the country’s second town, Camp IV,
had 49,400 inhabitants in 1984. Located in the extreme North of the country, it corresponded with the main location of the iron mine and was
56
completely destroyed in 2003, the population falling to 1,078 inhabitants in 2005. Many towns experienced a similar decline although in different
proportions and different times. However, this instability in settlements was not unknown in Liberia before the civil wars. In the past, a few
localities had experienced intense growth, like mushroom towns, only later to become ghost towns. Such was the case of “Firestone (Division
10,44,45)”, which had 31,800 inhabitants in 1974, 17,400 in 1984 and which today is abandoned. This locality must not be confused with the
same company’s site of “Harbel, Division 45” (12,300 inhabitants in 1984), which today has close to 20,000 inhabitants.
In the 1962, 1974 and 1984 censuses, the agglomeration of Monrovia officially had four localities: Paynesville, Congotown, Gardnersville and
Monrovia. That partitioning is no longer current. On the one hand, the localities have been dismembered. On the other, the agglomeration has
spread considerably. In 2005 the agglomeration identified by the “Geopolis” methodology included 97 localities.
Table LBR3. Urban Population of Liberia according to the Official Definition (1962-1984)
Number of
Average
Urbanization
Urban Population
Urban
Size
Rate
Centers
1962
8,730
23
199,076
19.6%
inhabitants
1974
8,114
438,171
29.1%
54
inhabitants
Source: Population Censuses of corresponding years.
Urbanization in Liberia according to the Geopolis Definition
The threshold of 2,000 inhabitants used in the official calculation of the urbanization rate explains the difference with the one obtained when
considering the Geopolis urban agglomerations. As in the small countries (Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and The Gambia), the section of the
population living in the only metropolitan area in the country is clearly higher than the average in West Africa and will continue to increase
greatly in 2020. The growth of the primacy index can be explained in part by the effects of the war on population movements toward the capital.
The urban network is not very hierarchized: outside of Monrovia, most of the urban population lives in 13 agglomerations of between 20,000
and 50,000 inhabitants.
57
Map LBR1. The Agglomerations of Liberia in 2000
Table LBR4. Urbanization Indicators (1960-2020)
Primacy Index
metropolitan area of Monrovia
and above
Number
Average Size
1960
1980
2000
2020e
7.1
26.7
36.5
53.5
-
10.2
16.5
23.0
7.1
17.4
27.4
42.2
0
-
11
15 343
9.3
13
19 666
9.1
16
26 743
11.3
Table LBR5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Monrovia
1
22,900
64,861
150,086
315,311
529,941
763,323
1,068,901
1,374,479
Ganta
1
0
0
5,426
10,411
18,965
29,360
43,701
58,043
Gbarnga
1
0
0
5,327
14,318
25,166
29,852
35,172
40,493
Kakata
1
0
3,862
7,826
16,262
25,065
29,749
35,071
40,394
Voinjama
1
0
0
5,049
10,716
17,604
22,225
27,719
33,213
Buchanan
1
0
9,042
18,560
30,813
35,828
34,939
34,067
33,195
Harbel (Division 45)
1
0
0
10,676
11,974
14,562
19,038
24,498
29,959
Pleebo
1
0
0
5,234
9,379
14,316
18,696
24,036
29,375
Foya
1
0
0
1,321
4,159
8,178
13,370
20,821
28,271
Zwedru
1
0
0
3,336
11,037
18,105
21,182
24,641
28,099
REFERENCES
1962. Population Census of Liberia. Population Characteristics of Major areas. Office of National Planning, Bureau of Statistics, Monrovia 1965.
1974. Population and Housing Census of Liberia. Population Characteristics of Major areas. Office of National Planning, Bureau of Statistics, Monrovia 1977.
59
REPUBLIC OF MALI
Table MLI1. National Demographic Indicators (1976 -2020)
1976 Population
6,394,916
1998 Population
9,810,910
8
2020e Population 16,139,716 1950-2000 Multiplication
X3
Demographic Data
Before 1976, date of the first PC, the available demographic data came from partial surveys or surveys carried out for economic reasons: the
administrative surveys of 1955 and 1966, the demographic section of a regional survey in the central delta of the Niger (1957 to 1958), two
population censuses in Bamako (1958 and 1965), a 1960 national demographic survey by sample, which led to the publication of the
“Perspectives démographiques du Mali Novembre, 1963” (Demographic Perspectives in Mali, 1963), a Niger-Mali survey (1962) and, finally, a
census of the city of Bamako (1974). The fourth Population and Housing Census is expected in April 2009.
Population and Housing Census *
March 20 1976
April 1 to 14 1987
April 1 to 14 1998
* The 1976 census is shown pursuant to the new administrative division of 1977.
60
Table MLI2. PC Territorial Divisions (1976-1998)
1976*
1987
6 Regions + District of Bamako
46 Circles (‘Cercles’)
281 Arrondissements and
18 Communes, including 6 in Bamako
7 Regions + District of Bamako
46 Circles + 18 Communes,
including 6 in Bamako
1998
9 Regions
48 Circles
301 Arrondissements or Communes
(including 6 in Bamako)
701 Communes (including 6 in
Bamako)
* the PC is shown according to the partitioning in force during the publication of results in 1985.
The present administrative districts were created by a modification of the territorial partitioning carried out in July 1977, which was followed by
the partition of existing districts, the creation of two new regions and the creation of arrondissments. The arrondissements were abolished in
1996. The decentralization program established by the 1993 Decentralization Mission inherited about twenty urban Communes, the oldest of
which had been created by the colonial administration. Decentralization was especially directed at the rural areas where no local municipality
had been created before 1993.
Law number 96-059 of November 4, 1996 creating the Communes led to 701 new Communes. These were explicitly given a territory; the
creation of Communes based on a voluntary grouping of villages and of sections of municipalities (not a simple transformation of
arrondissements into Communes) was thus accompanied by a territorial reorganization at the lower local level3. The village is not an
administrative unit: as the incorporating element of the Commune, it is placed under the latter’s authority. The regions, the district of Bamako,
the circles, the urban and rural Communes all became municipalities. The arrondissment was abolished.
3
The creation of Communes was supposed to take place according to socio-cultural and demographic criteria, as well as criteria of distance and accessibility
to administrative centers and economic viability. Failure to respect these criteria led to the creation of very small Communes: “the circles of Sikasso and
Koutiala led to the process of micro- Communes or, on the other hand and depending on the region, of very large Communes.” (Kassibo, 1998).
61
Table MLI3. Territorial Reorganizations in Mali (1977-1996)
1977
1996
Regions*
46 Circles
281 Arrondissements
Regions** and district of
Bamako
Circles
Urban or Rural Communes city
neighborhood or
Villages/Sections
Special Status of Bamako: the
former region became a district
divided into 6 Communes
18 Communes (instead of 13)
*Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Ségou, Mopti, Gao and Tombouctou
** plus Kidal
The data were compiled at the village level based on the village directories published with the general results of the PCs. The directory of
villages of 1976, for example, showed the population distribution by villages and city neighborhoods and by assembly point for the nomadic
population (6.7% of the total population), as well as the village infrastructure. The village was defined as “an assembly of compounds grouped
over a given geographical space and sheltering households dependent upon the same local authority or chiefdom;” the village had at least 100
inhabitants. The 1998 definition was the same.
Table MLI4. Number of Villages in Mali (1976-1998)
1976
1998
10,242-10,557
11,525
Source: 1976 and 1998 PCs
62
The statistical services of Mali chose a demographic and administrative approach to the definition of urban. The report of the 1976 PC
described the problems of defining urban centers, except for the “administrative centers of a region or municipality, which satisfy the economic,
social, dimensional and administrative criteria” (1976 and 1985 PCs, p.13). A first definition was adopted in 1976 following a meeting of the
administrators in charge: “all the administrative centers of a region, municipality and circle, as well as any locality with 5,000 inhabitants or
more are considered urban centers.” (1976 and 1985 PCs, p.16). The district of Bamako is completely urban. According to this definition with
dual criteria, 19 urban centers (administrative centers of administrative divisions) had fewer than 5,000 inhabitants in 1976.
The census reports of 1987 had no official definition of urban centers, but did have a list of “towns considered urban” (1987 and 1987 PCs,
pages 3 to 13). In 1998, the size of the urban population could be extracted from the detailed table of administrative divisions, where the whole
population is divided into “rural population” and “urban population” (1998 PC, Table 2). The number of urban centers remained unchanged
between 1976 and 1987. Thus, in 1998, two villages had more than 10,000 inhabitants: Kalaban-Coro (23,718 inhabitants) and Dyalakorodji
(12,230 inhabitants). Inversely, several urban centers had fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, with 7 having fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.
Table MLI4. Urban Population according to Official Definitions (1976-1987)
1976
1987
1998
Number
Urban
Centers
58
58
of
Average
Size
18,566
26,712
Urban Population
Urbanization
Rate
1,076,829
1,549,289
2,645,416
16.84
18.85
26.96
Sources:1976, 1987 and 1998 PC, and our calculations.
63
Urbanization in Mali according to the Geopolis Definition
The number of urban agglomerations identified by the study is less than half (32 agglomerations of 10,000 inhabitants and above) that of the
official urban centers. The number and average size of secondary towns has nevertheless grown over the period. The urbanization rate
according to Geopolis is less than the one shown in the census results.
Map ML1. The agglomerations of Mali in 2000
64
Table MLI5. Urban Indicators in Mali (1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
4.4
14.3
20.9
25.5
Primacy Index
4.3
6.7
9.5
9.8
2.3
7.0
11.2
12.1
5
17,594
2.1
18
27,904
7.3
29
34,306
9.7
60
30,648
11.4
metropolitan area of Bamako
and above
Number
Average Size
Table MLI6. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Bamako
9
56,525
99,049
230,772
478,625
754,467
1,153,522
1,550,581
1,947,637
Sikasso
1
13,421
16,206
28,029
52,757
82,827
121,360
159,892
198,424
Ségou
1
16,390
20,950
37,608
70,964
91,533
103,833
116,133
128,433
Koutiala
1
0
6,232
15,179
31,845
53,941
75,851
97,760
119,669
Mopti
1
9,300
17,589
34,653
56,815
70,655
83,133
95,611
108,089
Kayes
1
20,381
23,050
35,148
49,852
55,029
70,937
86,844
102,751
Kati
1
0
8,991
14,815
27,121
38,577
56,993
75,409
93,826
San
1
7,242
10,176
17,187
25,197
33,309
43,375
53,442
63,508
Dyalakorodjitoumou
1
0
0
0
490
1,429
20,917
40,405
59,893
Niono
1
0
0
0
11,816
20,365
31,112
41,859
52,606
65
REFERENCES
Analyse du recensement de 1976. Tome 2 : rapport administratif et technique. [Analysis of 1976 Census. Volume 2: Administrative and Technical Report]
Direction nationale de la Statistique de l’informatique, République du Mali, August 1983.
Analyse du recensement de 1976. Tome 3 : caractéristiques démographiques. [Analysis of 1976 Census. Volume 3: Demographic Characteristics] Direction
nationale de la Statistique de l’informatique, République du Mali, April 1985.
Répertoire des villages de 1976. [1976 Directory of Villages] Volume III of overall results of the 1976 census.
Répertoire des villages 1987. [1987 Directory of Villages] Volume II 1987 PC, January 1990.
er
Recensement général de la population et de l’habitat (du 1 au 14 avril 1987), Population Urbaine (résultats provisoires). [Population and Housing Census
(from April 1 to 14, 1987), Urban Population (Provisional Results)] Direction nationale de la Statistique de l’informatique, République du Mali, July 1987.
Analyse du recensement de 1998. Tome 1 : série démographique. [Analysis of 1998 Census. Volume 1: Demographic Series] Direction nationale de la
Statistique de l’informatique, République du Mali
KASSIBO Bréhima. «La Décentralisation au Mali : État des Lieux» [Decentralization in Mali: Location Report], APAD Bulletin, n° 14, 1998, put on line on
January 26, 2007. URL : http://apad.revues.org/document579.html.
SYLL Ousmane. La décentralisation en Afrique Sub-saharienne. Mali. [Decentralization in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mali] Memo written within the framework of a
Cerpood internship, October 2005. URL : www.cercoop.org/fiches/Fiche_decentr_MALI.pdf
66
THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MAURITANIA
Table MRT1. National Demographic Indicators (1976-2020)
2000 Population
2,548,157
2.4
5.4
Demographic Data
The 1976 PC took place in two phases: the sedentary population was recorded first, followed by a survey of the nomadic population. This
method was due to the large spread of the nomadic population over a wide territory of more than a million square kilometers. The nomadic
population was usually counted at watering places, as it was in Niger. A similar procedure was used for the 2000 PC, although the very severe
drought of the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s led to the relative settling of nomadic populations, especially around the existing urban centers
Population Census
December 1976/January 1 1977*
Population Census
1988
Population Census
November 2000 and April 2001
*the census documents refer to it as the 1977 PC
Table MRT2. PC Territorial Divisions (1977-2000)
1977
1988
2000
13 Administrative
12 Regions + the
12 Regions + the
Regions
District of Nouakchott. District of Nouakchott.
67
During the 1977 PC, the administrative hierarchy was laid out into regions or “wilayas” (13), departments or “Moughataa” and villages (2,341).
The former region of Nouakchott is now a District. In 2000, there were 53 departments. Decentralization did not start until the early 1990s and
led to the creation of 216 Communes throughout the territory. In 2001, the District of Nouakchott became a metropolitan municipality
(Communauté Urbaine) comprising 9 Communes.
The Mauritanian statistical services have produced village directories for each census, and these constitute the spatial units of the Africapolis
database. According to the 1977 PC directory, the village designated “any settlement with at least one permanent house.” This definition
included villages inhabited for less than six months of the year. The majority of Mauritanian villages are small population centers: in 1976, 38%
had fewer than 100 inhabitants. For some of these villages, this smaller size is explained by the recent settling of formerly nomadic families. The
15 localities passing the 5,000 inhabitant threshold are regional administrative centers.
In 1976, the definition of urban was based on demographic and administrative criteria, since “urban areas [are] any locality which is the
administrative center of a region (even if the population falls below 5,000 inhabitants) and any locality with 5,000 [inhabitants] or above” (1977
PC, p.23).
Table MRT3. Urban Population according to the Official Definition (1976-1988)
Urban
Urbanization
Population
Rate
1976
303,189
22.7%
1988
807,852
41%*
Source : PCs for the corresponding years and our calculations* UN Database
68
Urbanization in Mauritania according to the Geopolis Definition
Nouakchott, born of a military camp at the end of the 1950s, soon became the country’s main locality, but its relative importance should tend to
decline in 2010/2020. The configuration of the urban network is unusual, divided between the same number of towns in the 10,000 to 20,000
and 20,000 to 50,000 inhabitant classifications.
Map MT1. Agglomerations of Mauritania in 2000
69
Table MRT4. Urbanization Indicators(1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
0
19.2
31.4
30.9
Primacy Index
-
6.3
7.7
8.9
0
12.1
21.9
22.7
and above
Number
0
5
9
10
Average Size
-
21,242
26,759
30,426
-
7.1
9.5
8.2
% of the population residing
metropolitan area of Nouakchott
in
the
Table MRT5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
Nouakchott
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
4,812
37,134
184,139
416,956
558,195
699,434
840,672
1
0
Nouadhibou
1
0
685
15,018
29,165
61,209
72,337
83,465
94,593
Zoueiratt
1
0
0
0
19,834
26,995
33,255
39,515
45,775
Rosso- Mauritanie
1
0
2,016
7,002
18,504
28,122
29,882
31,642
33,401
Kaédi
1
0
7,969
14,216
22,732
30,646
31,310
31,974
32,638
Atar
1
0
3,683
10,062
17,622
21,624
22,960
24,296
25,632
Bassiknou
1
0
0
0
2,241
4,081
7,433
12,625
17,817
Sélibabi
1
0
0
3,539
6,687
11,802
13,259
14,716
16,174
Boghe
1
0
0
0
8,957
12,672
13,262
13,852
14,442
Maghama
1
0
0
0
4,648
5,180
7,874
10,568
13,262
REFERENCES
Recensement Général de la Population 1977. Répertoire des villages. [1977 Population Census. Village Directory] Office national de la Statistique, Nouakchott n.d.
Recensement Général de la Population 1977. Volume I : résultats prioritaires.[1977 Population Census. Volume 1: Priority Results] Office national de la Statistique,
Nouakchott, n.d.
Recensement Général de la Population 1988. Répertoire des villages.[1988 Population Census. Village Directory] Office national de la Statistique, Nouakchott n.d.
Recensement Général de la Population 1988. [1988 Population Census] Office national de la Statistique, Nouakchott, n.d.
Recensement Général de la Population et de l’Habitat 2000. Répertoire des villages. [2000 Population and Housing Census. Village Directory] Office national de la
Statistique, Nouakchott n.d.
Recensement Général de la Population et de l’Habitat 2000. [2000 Population and Housing Cenus] Office national de la Statistique, Nouakchott, n.d.
71
REPUBLIC OF NIGER
Table NGR1. National Demographic Indicators of Niger (1977-2020)
2001 Population
10,790,352
9
X 4.6
Demographic Data
Before the first population census carried out in 1977, demographic data had to be taken from administrative surveys of 1938, 1956 and 1962.
Population Census
Population Census
Population Census
June 12 to November 21 1977
1988
May 20 to June 18 2001
Table NGR2. PC Territorial Divisions (1977-2001)
1977
7 Departments
42 Arrondissements
1988
7 Departments
35 Arrondissements
2001
8 Departments
38 Arrondissements
Cantons/Communes
Territorial partitioning terminology was established in 1964 when the existing circles and administrative districts were replaced by departments
(7), arrondissements, and administrative posts (Postes Administratifs) (GIRAUT, 1993, p.181). Just before the 1988 census, the former
department of Niamey became the department of Tillaberi, then in November 1988 the city of Niamey became a department and assumed the
status of metropolitan municipality (Commune Urbaine) (1988 and 1992 PCs).
A municipalization movement began in 1969 in some departments, but the decentralization program did not start until the middle of the 1990s.
Following the law of February 6, 1996, and within the framework of the new constitution of 1999, Niger reorganized its territorial partitioning and
created regions (which replaced the departments), divided into departments (the old arrondissements) and arrondissements. The region, the
department, and the commune were, according to law, Local Governments, whereas the arrondissement remained an administrative division.
The so-called traditional entities (sultanates, provinces and cantons) are also administrative divisions.
The Commune thus became the basic territorial unit according to the provisions of the Law of September 14, 1998, which created urban and
rural. Communes and fixed their geographical boundaries. The Communes were made up of groups of villages, boroughs or tribes. Following
Law 35 of October 27, 2003 providing a definition and demarcation of the Communes, the old departments were turned into regions and the old
arrondissements became departments; whereas the arrondissements had most often been subdivided into cantons in their rural sections, the
new departments were systematically subdivided into urban and rural Communes. The urban Commune is a territorial sub-division that includes
an urban locality and several rural localities. Niamey is now a metropolitan municipality. A 2004 law raised the number of Communes to 265,
213 of which were rural. The municipal grid will eventually cover the whole territory. The Communes thus created sometimes spread over
enormous physical territory. “Fourteen Communes in the regions of Agadez, Diffa and Tillaberi over an area of more than 10,000 km². The rural
Commune of N’Gourty, with its 96,000 km², its population of 23,000 inhabitants and its 265 villages and tribes is part of these huge districts.”
(HALIDOU, 2006; 2001 PC, Final Results - Introduction, 2005).
Data from the Africapolis database come from the village directories established during the 1988 and 1998 PCs. The village directory for the
1977 PC has not been found; perhaps it was never published. The results of the census located 8,615 villages with an average size of 516
inhabitants, but the largest villages come close to a thousand inhabitants in the departments of Tahoua and Agadez. A large increase in the
average size of villages can be noted since 1960, when it was 273 inhabitants.
A national directory of villages was established based on the processing of results of the 1988 census. The administrative village was thus
defined: “it is a village administered by a village head, recognized as such by the territorial administrative government. Very often, hamlets,
73
camps or isolated compounds are attached to it.” (1988 and 1990 PC, p.10). The 2001 village directory was published in 2006 under the title of
“Répertoire des localités” (“Directory of Localities”).
The definition of urban, which initially combined the two criteria of administrative status and demographic threshold, grew progressively simpler
and eventually only used one criterion: the administrative criterion in 1988 and the demographic criterion after 2001. In 1977, all the
administrative centers of departments and arrondissements were considered urban centers, as well as localities with at least 2,500 inhabitants
and with an administrative post. This definition automatically excluded some large localities without administrative services and the new mining
agglomerations that emerged at the time of the census. Among the 42 urban centers of 1976, 2 had more than 50,000 inhabitants and 12 had
between 2,000 and 5,000 inhabitants4.
During the 1988 PC, the urban centers were the administrative centers of the departments and arrondissements with no minimum size
restrictions (1988 and 1988 PC, p.10). But another official document specified that the municipalities were also considered urban centers (1988
and, 1992 PCs, p. 24). The census report introduced a classification designating small towns (less than 10,000 inhabitants), mid-sized towns
(between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants) and large towns (more than 100,000 inhabitants). Out of the 39 official towns, half fell within the
category of small towns. At the same time, about twenty villages had more than 5,000 inhabitants, including Arlit (13,783 inhabitants) and Tibiti
(10,295 inhabitants), while the smallest town, Bouza, had 6,825 inhabitants.
The terminology of towns became fuller during the 2001 PC, since Niamey is the only one in the category of “national metropolitan area” with
more than 500,000 inhabitants. The upper limit of “large towns” hangs to 500,000 inhabitants. A demographic criterion for defining urban may
have been in use de facto as the small town category was defined as between 2,000 and 5,000 inhabitants. The report highlights the
“spectacular” increase in number and population of mid-sized towns: this increase was not due to the spontaneous emergence of towns but to
the stability of categories. In fact, there was a slide from one category to the next between the two censuses, with the small towns (5% of the
urban population in 2001 as opposed to 11% in 1988) moving into the mid-sized town classification5.
4
The census documentation sets out the adjustments made to individual data, which considerably overestimated the urban population of some localities.
In 2003, a new definition of the concept of “urban” altered the list of localities classified as urban localities. The documentation presenting the results of the
2001 PC published in 2005 did not take account of the new definition.
5
74
Table NGR3. Urban Population of Niger according to the Official Definition (1977-2001)
1977
1988
2001
Number
Urban
Centers
42
39
40
of
Average
Size
Urban Population
Urbanization
Rate
28,000
28,132
43,727
656,203
1,097,137
1,749,095
13%
15.2%
16.2%
Sources: PCs of corresponding years
Urbanization in Niger according to the Geopolis Definition
Among the 34 agglomerations of more than 10,000 inhabitants in 2000, three of the four largest (more than 50,000 inhabitants), Zinder, Maradi
and Tahoua, are located on the borders with Nigeria and Burkina Faso. Niger’s urbanization rate, the weakest in West Africa, is increasingly
becoming relatively more stable. Settlements in the country are mainly found in the spread of rural agglomerations and small agglomerations of
2,000 to 5,000 inhabitants (56 identified in 2000).
1960
1980
2000
2020e
2.8
9.3
16.1
18.3
Primacy Index
1.7
3.7
3.9
4.4
metropolitan area of Niamey
1.1
4.7
6.2
6.8
3
16,958
1.7
9
28,771
4.6
34
30,428
9.9
49
37,361
11.4
Table NGR4. Urbanization Indicators in Niger (1960-2020)
Secondary Agglomerations of
Number
Average Size
10,000
75
Map NGR1. The Agglomerations of Niger
Map: Africapolis/SEDET.
Table NGR5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
Niamey
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
1
13,830
33,373
100,820
260,227
426,334
647,341
868,348
1,089,356
Niamey
1
13,830
33,373
100,820
260,227
426,334
647,341
868,348
1,089,356
Zinder
1
13,103
19,574
37,764
70,462
126,527
166,004
205,482
244,959
Maradi
1
9,900
15,170
29,267
57,499
114,479
143,730
172,981
202,232
Arlit
1
0
0
0
12,945
36,146
63,687
91,227
118,767
Agadès
1
5,414
6,028
12,333
25,749
52,851
74,373
95,894
117,415
Tahoua
1
12,828
16,131
24,115
35,334
52,883
70,402
87,922
105,442
Dosso
1
0
3,069
6,044
12,863
28,477
41,675
54,873
68,072
Birni N'Konni
1
0
7,588
11,239
18,058
30,786
41,623
52,459
63,296
Tessaoua
1
0
5,445
8,585
13,721
21,102
30,177
39,252
48,327
REFERENCES
Recensement Général de la Population 1977. Résultats définitifs. Rapport d’Analyse. [Population Census, 1977. Final Results. Analysis Report] Bureau
Central du Recensement, Republique du Niger, Niamey, December 1985.
ème
2
Recensement Général de la Population 1988. Rapport méthodologique et administratif. [2
Report] Niamey, May 1990.
nd
Population Census, 1988. Methodological and Administrative
RGP 1988. Analyse des données définitives. L’état de la population. [1988 PC. Final Data Analysis. State of the Population] Niamey, February 1992.
Recensement Général de la Population 1988. Répertoire National des Villages du Niger. [Population Census, 1988. National Directory of Villages in Niger]
Bureau Central du Recensement, Ministère du Plan, Niamey, March 1991.
Rapport provisoire des résultats du RGP 2001. [Provisional Report on 2001 PC Results] Document put on line by the Census Bureau of Niger. URL :
https://customer.stone-env.com
Recensement Général de la Population 2001 - Résultats définitifs : répartition par sexe et par groupe d’âge, selon la situation matrimoniale de la population
du Niger en 2001 [Population Census, 2001 – Final Results: spread by sex and by age group according to the matrimonial situation of the population of Niger
in 2001]; Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances, Bureau central du recensement, 2005
OUEDRAOGO Hubert (2000). « Dispositifs juridiques et cadres politiques actuels » in Atelier Développement local et gestion décentralisée des ressources
naturelles. [Current Legal Mechanisms and Politcal Frameworks” in Atelier Local Development and Decentralized Management of Natural Resources] General
Report, UNCDF, United Nations Capital Development Fund, Cotonou (Benin), December 10-16, 2000.
URL:www.uncdf.org/francais/local_development/documents_and_reports/thematic_papers/cotonou/ap_ii.php –
GIRAUT Frédéric (1993). « Les petites villes entre émancipation et implosion des pouvoirs (Ghana, Togo, Niger) » [The Small Towns between Emancipation
and the Implosion of Government] in JAGLIN Sylvie, DUBRESSON Alain (dir.). Pouvoirs et cités en Afrique Noire. Décentralisations en questions. Karthala
Paris.
HALIDOU Saïdou, GLORIEUX Henry, FOURNIER Christian (2006). Capitalisation des expériences des projets d’appui en développement local et
décentralisation en Afrique de l’Ouest : Le cas du Niger.[Capitalization of Experiences on Local Development Assistance Projects amd Decentralization in West
Africa : the Case of Niger. UNCDF, United Nations Capital Development Fund, June 2006. URL :
http://www.uncdf.org/francais/local_development/docs/technical_review/capitalisation/FENU_Niger.pdf
78
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Nigeria, a former British colony that has been independent since 1960, adopted a federal system in 1954. There is a substantial difference
between the identification of agglomerations according to the Geopolis definition as compared to information on the urban population provided
by the Nigerian Government. A special methodology has had to be established for Nigeria – described in a Chapter in the General Report – in
order to estimate the population and make reliable data available to complete the study.
Table NGA1. National Demographic Indicators
1991 Population 88,514,501
2020s Population 193,099,000 1950-2000 Multiplication
209
5.7
Sources: 1991 Population Census, Africapolis Database
Controversies Surrounding the Population Censuses
Since the progressive establishment of independent institutions after World War II, the PCs carried out in Nigeria have been the subject of
political battles and multiple pressures, which explains the recognized manipulation of the figures produced. Demographic importance has
determined the proportion of resources, of military and political posts allocated to each State in the Federation of Nigeria, as well as
representation in terms of seats in Parliament. The dispute over the 1961 PC numbers by the States thus led to the official cancellation of these
results by the Federal Government. Another PC hastily carried out the following year was ratified by the Federal Government. Despite the
creation of a National Census Bureau and better technical preparation, the 1973 PC provoked the same tensions. The States denounced the
overestimations at the enumeration stage so that the results were officially cancelled and as a result were never published. In 1991, the
Nigerian Government tried to prevent controversy by withdrawing questions relating to ethnicity and religion from the questionnaire, and by
presenting the results according to the partitioning of the country into seven large natural areas in order to partially short-circuit partitioning
according to States. The census results were again called into question in 2006. The State of Lagos, especially, disputed the results, according
to which there had been a population decrease of a million in relation to previous census, and claimed the right to make its own count.
79
Demographic Data
Before the 1951-53 PC, which was to be the first modern and exhaustive census of the Nigerian population, there were only partial
demographic data from a geographical coverage point of view. The 1866 census only dealt with the colony of Lagos. The censuses planned
every ten years by the colonial government between 1881 and 1931 could not be carried out in their entirety and under good conditions.
Although the 1951-53 PC covered the whole territory, it was carried out in stages between 1950 and 19536 and resorted in part to group
counting and not to individual counting of the population. Because of the cancellation of the 1961 and 1973 censuses, the available national
demographic data are limited to the 4 censuses that were carried out effectively.
Population Census of Nigeria
1951 to 1953
November 5 to 8 1963
November 1991
National Population and Housing Census
March 21 to 27 2006
Excluding the States making up the Federation of Nigeria, the results were provided following the other hierarchical levels. The boundaries of
the Census Districts were those of the enumeration areas defined for the technical operation of each census.
Table NGA2. PC Territorial Partitioning
1963
1991
2006
Region
31 States
36 States
Province
550 Local
774 LGA
Government Areas
Census District
(LGA)
Source: 1963, 1991 and 2006 PCs; Geopolis data.
6
The population of Lagos counted between 1950 and 1951, Northern Nigeria between May and July 1952, the Western and Mid-Western sections in
December 1952 and January 1953 and finally the East between May and August 1953.
80
In 2007, Nigeria was a Federal State composed of 36 States to which was added the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Abuja, which was also
divided into LGAs. As regards the State of Lagos, 16 out of its 20 LGAs covered the agglomeration of Lagos. The total number of Local
Government Areas (LGAs) was 774.
During the colonial era, the country was divided into three large regions (Northern-Hausa, Western-Yoruba and Eastern-Ibo) according to an
ethnically based partitioning. The regions were themselves divided into provinces. Three years after independence, in 1963, two Western
provinces formed a new region (Mid-Western). The division of the country into States took place in 1967, when General Yakubu Gowon took
power. He abolished the portioning inherited from the colonial era and created 12 States. The LGA constituted the other level of administrative
hierarchy. Later, the territory’s administrative grid was constantly reworked. The number of States increased: 19 States in 1976, 21 in 1987, 30
in 1991 and 36 in 1996. The multiplication of LGAs accompanied the repartitioning at the Federal level. Between the 1991 and 2006 censuses,
219 LGAs were thus created, or close to a third of all the present LGAs.
The agglomerations of the Africapolis database were defined based on data available at the level of the locality. The locality, according to the
2006 census “is a distinct inhabited place in which the inhabitants live in neighboring buildings and which has a name or a locally recognized
status”. (National Population Commission, 2005, p.7) However, access to the full data by locality is restricted, either because the censuses were
cancelled or because the results remain unpublished. The last chapter of the main report details the method used to make a reliable estimate of
the urban population of Nigeria and the nature of the collected data. These data are incomplete for the years before 2006 and the results of
2006 are provisional.
Official Definition of “Urban”: Demographic
The principle remained relatively stable. In 1962, 1963, 1973 and 1991, the urban centers were localities of more than 20,000 inhabitants. In
1951-52 the threshold had been fixed at 5,000 inhabitants.
81
Table NGA3. The Urban Population in Nigeria according to the Official Definition
Number
Average
Urbanization
of Urban
Urban Population
Size
Rate
Centers
1952-53
329
1963
182
59,038
10,745,000
19.3%
1991
359
88,600
31,807,000
36.3%
Source: 1991 Population Census and our calculations
Urbanization in Nigeria according to the Geopolis Definition
The case of urbanization in Nigeria is discussed in the final chapter of the main report.
Table NGA4. Urbanization Indicators in Nigeria (1960-1970)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
15.3
23.5
30.0
30.9
Primacy Index
1.1
2.0
3.2
3.1
4.4
7.4
9.9
9.5
133
253
438
574
34,918
45,241
57,090
71,918
10.9
16.1
20.4
21.3
metropolitan areas (Lagos, Ibadan and
Kano)
and above
Number
Average Size
82
Map NGA1. The Agglomerations of Nigeria, 2000
83
Table NGA5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Lagos
1
290,539
659,504
1,266,015
2,778,913
6,100,000
8,052,958
10,005,916
11,958,874
Ibadan
1
521,342
728,849
997,646
1,353,264
1,835,645
2,489,974
3,144,304
3,798,633
Kano
1
92,394
458,733
882,365
1,130,421
1,448,211
1,855,340
2,262,469
2,669,598
Kaduna
1
27,739
148,524
322,225
474,650
699,178
1,029,918
1,360,658
1,691,397
Benin City
1
49,081
77,670
136,510
250,959
461,361
848,162
1,234,963
1,621,764
Port Harcourt
1
78,061
145,388
237,975
368,546
570,758
883,919
1,197,080
1,510,241
Jos
1
101,862
193,416
293,364
404,112
556,671
766,821
976,974
1,187,124
Ilorin
1
31,604
116,127
221,779
319,972
461,640
666,031
870,422
1,074,813
Uyo
1
3,928
41,677
117,884
189,342
304,150
488,318
672,485
856,793
Maiduguri
1
45,128
110,708
183,629
257,548
361,223
506,632
652,041
797,450
REFERENCES
1991. Population Census of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Analytical Report at the National Level. National Population Commission, n.d.
Legal notice on publication of the details of the breakdown of the national and state provisional totals 2006 Census. Federal Republic of Nigeria Official
Gazette Lagos, vol 94, 15th May 2007.
Training Reference Manual for Census 2005. National Population Commission, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abuja, July 2004.
AKINYELE R. T. (1996). « States Creation in Nigeria: The Willink Report in Retrospect»
In African Studies Review. Vol. 39, No. 2 (Sep., 1996), pp. 71-94.
The Population Association of Nigeria (1990). Everybody’s Guide to the Nigerian Census. Ibadan, Nigeria, 117 p.
84
REPUBLIC OF SENEGAL
Table SEN1. National Demographic Indicators (1976-2020)
2002 Population
9,456,220
2020S Population 14,933,227 1950-2000 Multiplication
47
X 4.7
Demographic Data
National data are available based on the 1976 PHC. For the period before the country’s independence in 1960, demographic sources come
from administrative counts carried out regularly between 1878 and 1945, administrative (1936) and urban surveys, such as the one of Dakar in
1955, then those carried out in the agricultural areas, which the colonial Government was interested in (1951 -1953, towns in the groundnut
basin and 1957-1959). Senegal also carried out national demographic surveys in 1960-61, 1986 and 1992, as well as an administrative survey
in 1964 and a repeated survey in 1970-71 presenting data on population.
April 16 1976
May 27 1988
Third Population and Housing Census
December 19 2002
85
1976
8 Regions
Departments
Arrondissements
Rural Communities
Villages
Table SEN2. PC Territorial Divisions
1988
1996
10 Regions
10 Regions
30 Departments
30 Departments
Arrondissements or Urban
91 Arrondissements
Area
Rural Community; no
terminology for the
Rural
smallest grid of urban
Communities/Municipality
areas except for the name
of the locality
Villages
2002*
11 Regions
34 Departments
92 Arrondissements
Villages
* Eleven regions, the administrative centers of which are the main towns: Dakar, Diourbel, Fatick, Kaolack, Kolda,
Louga, Matam, Saint Louis, Tambacounda, Thiès and Ziguinchor.
Successive territorial partitionings have gradually brought the administrative categories together with those resulting from the decentralization
policy initiated in 1966. In 1962, the new Government created arrondissements and, in 1964, the circles (‘Cercles’) inherited from the colonial
administrative grid became departments. About ten years later, soon after the 1976 PC, Law No. 76-61 of June 26, 1976 completely
reorganized the administrative hierarchy into regions, departments and arrondissements. Without altering the categories or the terminology, the
government of Senegal then divided a certain number of departments, before deciding in 1984 (Law No 84-22 of March 24, 1984) to limit the
number of departments to three per region. Four new regions were thus created (Kolda, Ziguinchor, Fatick and Kaolack). Finally, in 2002,
Matan, a former department of the St. Louis region, was given the status of region.
Senegal already had about thirty Communes with full municipal status in 1960. Indeed, a decree of 1957 granted traditional territorial chiefs the
power to create rural communities (‘Communautés Rurales’) with a degree of financial independence and representing a corporate body. As an
experiment, decentralization was initiated with Law No. 72-02 of February 1, 1972 relative to the organization of territorial government in the
region of Thies. It was extended to the whole territory over the years. Finally, in 1996, Law 96-06 of March 22, 1996 transformed the regions
into Local Governements. From then on, Senegal has had three kinds of Local Governments: regions, Rural Communities (‘Communautés
Rurales) and Communes (arrondissement Communes and town Communes). This law, finalized by Law No. 96-10 dealing with the organization
of territorial government, divided Senegal into 10 regions, 30 departments, 91 arrondissements, 60 Communes, 43 arrondissements
Communes and 320 Rural Communities.
86
For Dakar, a decree of October 29, 1983 created a Metropolitan Municipality, a coordination institution, in the Dakar area divided into three
Communes. Then in 1997, the Communes of Dakar were divided into arrondissement, Communes, with the exception of the two Rural
Communities of Yen and Sangalkam.
The agglomerations were defined based on data from village directories published by the Bureau National du Recensement de la Direction de
la Prévision et de la Statistique (National Census Bureau of the Forecast and Statistics Department) and the results of the 1988 and 2002
censuses. A numerical file of the 2002 data was provided by the Direction de la Prévision et de la Statistique. A directory of villages for 1976
exists, but does not seem available; no copy has yet been located. The 1988 directory shows, on its first page, the number of compounds,
households, the distribution of population by sex, and the total population. The smallest unit was the locality: it was made up of hamlets and
villages dependent on the Rural Community. The subdivisions of urban areas were treated as villages.
Several official definitions of urban are used in Senegal. For town planning services, a locality of more than 5,000 inhabitants is urban, whereas
for the DAT (Direction de l’Aménagement du Territoire) [Land Use Department], 2,500 habitants confer the status of urban. Comparisons made
between the urban population according to official definitions and the population of agglomerations defined according to Geopolis criteria are
confined to the definition used in the published volumes of census results for the corresponding years7.
In 2002, the definition of urban implicitly referred to the Commune. “Thus, the urban environment is constituted by all the localities made into,
Communes whatever the number of inhabitants” (2002 and 2006 PHCs, p. 42). However, the definition had an automatic demographic criterion
since, according to the 1996 Code for Local Governments (Article 79), “only localities developed enough to have their own resources for
balancing the budget can be constituted as Communes. No Communes can be constituted if it does not have an agglomerated population of at
least 1,000 inhabitants” (quoted by THIAM, 2008, p. 132)8. As a result of this definition of urban, the country’s second agglomeration (Touba
with 450,000 inhabitants in 2002), which morphed out of a cluster of villages, is therefore officially considered rural.
7
The Direction de la Statistique sometimes also uses a higher demographic threshold (10,000 inhabitants) than the one quoted in the census reports.
Territorial definition of Communes: “In 1964, the State enacted Law No. 64-46 of June 17, 1964 relative to the creation and the functions of the Rural
Communities, but without specifying their geographical boundaries. As of 1969, the first experimental phase relative to the boundaries of the Rural
Communities took place at the level of certain ‘terroirs’.”
8
87
Table SEN3. Urban Population of Senegal according to the Official Definition
1976
1988
2002
Number of
Urban Centers
58
58
-
Urbanization Rate
36%
39%
41%
Urbanization in Senegal according to the Geopolis Definition
The application of the Geopolis definition to the definition of urban reveals that some of the largest Senegalese agglomerations are in reality
formed out of a group of localities. In this sense, Touba is exemplary. The Touba agglomeration had more than 300,000 residents in 2000,
spread over 26 villages and the urban center of MBaké. Dakar-Rufisque, with more than 2 million inhabitants stretches over 5 localities and
Thies, the country’s third largest agglomeration with more than 200,000 inhabitants, over 4. This extensive morphology can also be seen in the
case of much smaller agglomerations such as Darou Musty, whose 20,000 inhabitants are spread over 12 localities.
88
Map SN1. Agglomerations of Senegal in 2000
89
Table SEN4. Urbanization Indicators (1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
26.1
38.8
45.8
43.9
Primacy Index
6.9
9.4
6.7
4.5
16.1
22.6
24.2
21.7
8
31,338
10
23
39,215
16.1
42
48,067
21.6
59
56,256
22.3
metropolitan area of Dakar
and above
Number
Average Size
Table SEN5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Dakar
5
253,306
403,557
730,766
1,265,384
1,767,531
2,257,317
2,747,104
3,236,889
Touba
26
7,000
14,355
27,681
79,682
157,395
343,401
530,132
716,930
Thiès
4
32,417
55,720
90,134
134,973
184,438
223,693
262,948
302,205
Mbour
2
0
12,267
24,560
48,251
86,098
138,749
191,401
244,052
Kaolack
2
37,290
58,234
86,257
120,505
156,168
171,102
186,036
200,970
Ziguinchor
1
0
26,298
46,655
87,651
128,422
150,106
171,789
193,472
Saint-Louis
1
34,531
44,273
65,785
96,606
117,204
134,203
151,202
168,202
Diourbel
1
0
24,719
38,079
58,494
78,766
90,245
101,724
113,202
Tambacounda
2
0
7,346
16,267
30,060
44,965
62,684
80,404
98,123
Louga
2
0
14,841
23,919
40,246
54,956
69,198
83,442
97,684
90
REFERENCES
RGPH 2002. Rapport national de présentation des résultats. [PHC, 2002. National Results Presentation Report] ANSD, December 2006.
BOUTINOT Laurence (2007). «La décentralisation de la gestion des ressources forestières au Sénégal : un processus contraint par le marché ?» in Le
bulletin de l'APAD, n° 26, Gestion des ressources naturelles. Partici pations et mediations [“The Decentralization of Forest Resources Management in
Senegal: a process constrained by the market?” in the APAD’s Le bulletin, No. 26, Natural Resources Management. Participations and Meditations], [On line],
put on line on December 15, 2007. URL : http://apad.revues.org/document65.html.
Ministère de l’urbanisme et de l’aménagement du territoire du Sénégal. Organisation administrative et territoriale du Sénégal de 1960 à nos jours.
[Senegalese Ministry for Town Planning and Land Use. Administrative and Territorial Organizaiton of Senegal from 1960 to the present] URL :
http://www.muat.gouv.sn/1960.htm
SYLL Ousmane (oct 2005). La décentralisation en Afrique de l’Ouest – Sénégal. [Decentalization in West Africa] Master’s Thesis, Université de FrancheComté, within the framework of a Cercoop internship. www.cercoop.org/fiches/Fiche_decentr_Sénégal.pdf
THIAM Ousmane (2008). L'axe Dakar-Touba (Sénégal) : analyse spatiale d'un corridor urbain émergent. [The Dakar-Touba axis (Senegal): a spatial analysis
of an emerging urban corridor.] Doctorate Thesis, Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse.
91
REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE
Sierra Leone became a British colony in 1792 and gained independence in 1961. The main objective of the civil war that raged throughout the
ten years between 1992 and 2002 was control over the diamond areas.
Table SLE1. National Demographic Indicators (1963-2020)
1985 Population
3,515,812
64
2.4
Sources: 1975 and 1998 PCs, Geopolis Database.
Demographic Data
Demographic counts were carried out at the beginning of the 19th Century, but these colonial era censuses were sometimes done by sample,
were spread out over several months, or were too incomplete to provide reliable statistical sources. The first census was carried out under UN
directives in 1963.
Population Census
April 1 1963
Population Census
December 8 1974
Population Census
December 15 1985
Population Census
December 4 2004
92
Table SLE2. PC Territorial Divisions (1963-2004)
1963 PC
3 Provinces (Southern
Province, Eastern Province,
Northern province) +
Western Area
1974 PC
3 Provinces + Western Area
12 Districts
150 Chiefdoms
257 Census Enumeration
Areas
1985 PC
4 Provinces
15 Provincial Districts
149 Chiefdoms
2004 PC
4 Provinces
14 Districts
161 Chiefdoms
The administrative hierarchy has remained stable since 1961, but the grid saw some changes in 1974 because of the changes in the
geographical boundaries of districts and fusions or divisions of chiefdoms. The size of provinces is very uneven; thus, in 1985, the Northern
Province covered almost half the area of Sierra Leone. The chiefdoms were administrative entities under customary law practiced by the old
families in power by electing one of their own to administer the chiefdom.
The settlement is the basic spatial unit for censuses in Sierra Leone. The concept, as explained in the census report of 1985, refers to
morphological criteria: the settlement can be compact, dispersed or on a grid. But it also refers to the notion of community for, although it can
be used to describe an isolated house, the term usually refers to a group of houses and buildings, corresponding to a hamlet as well as a group
of adjoining urban centers. In Sierra Leone, most of the settlements consist of a large village and satellite hamlets. The Africapolis database is
based on the settlements of more than 2,500 inhabitants for 1963, 1974 and 1985.
From 1963 onwards, the Sierra Leonean Government opted for a definition of urban based on a demographic criterion alone. The urban
threshold was 1,000 inhabitants. The 1963 PC counted 29,000 settlements, and distinguished 160 agglomerations that included large villages
and developed towns (Clarke, 1966, p.20). The formation of already large agglomerations at this time can be explained principally by the
93
development of mechanized rice cultivation and road construction. Indeed, a large number of these towns are located in the South Eastern part
of the country.
The demographic threshold rose to 2,000 inhabitants in 19859. This reassessment of urban complicates any long term perspective and
comparisons in time. In 1963, only 60 towns had more than 2,000 inhabitants. When considering the urban threshold at 2,000 inhabitants, the
urbanization rate increased by 5 points between 1974 and 1985. The census analysts highlighted the increase in the number of urban centers
of less than 20,000 inhabitants and especially 21 new settlements into the 2,000-5,000 inhabitants category. In contrast, only one town was in
the 20,000-50,000 inhabitant category as opposed to 3 in 1974 (1985 PC, p.14). However, an implicit threshold of 20,000 inhabitants for the
“truly” urban was expressed by the analysts when they noted that “Urbanization is still low in the country. By 1974, only 5 towns had 20,000 or
more inhabitants. These urban centers constituted the center of social, economic and administrative activities. The situation was not different in
1985” (KANDEH & RAMACHANDRAN, n.d).
Table SLE3. Urban Population of Sierra Leone according to the Official Definition
Number of
Urban
Urbanization
Average Size
Urban Centers
Population
Rate
1963
2/3 between
160
1,000 and 2,000
524,694
25.3%
inhabitants
1974*
75
10,082
756,126
27.6%
1985
98
11,569
1,133,773
32.2%
2004
Source: PCs of corresponding years, Kandeh and Ramachandran (n.d)
* according to the urban threshold of 2,000 inhabitants used by Kandeh and Ramachandran
9
According to Kandeh and Ramachandran (n.d), the usual urban threshold was always 2,000 inhabitants, in 1985 as in 1974. The authors present the
number of towns and the urbanization rate of 1974 taking this into account and these are presented here.
94
Urbanization in Sierra Leone according to the Geopolis Definition
Apart from Freetown, there are about ten agglomerations of 10,000 inhabitants corresponding to the country’s regional administrative centers,
although they vary in size. The primacy index remains stable. A significant part of the growth in urban population is absorbed by the second and
third ranked towns, the size of which will exceed the 100,000 and 200,000 inhabitant marks in 2020.
Table SLE4. Urbanization Indicators in Sierra Leone (1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
7
18.7
24.7
27.6
Primacy Index
4.7
4.6
5.3
4.3
% of the population residing in metropolitan
areas (Freetown)
5.3
11.8
15.5
16.7
2
7
11
17
17,661
30,963
38,285
40,811
1.7
6.9
9.1
10.9
and above
Number
Average Size
95
Map SL1. Agglomerations of Sierra Leone in 2000
96
Table SLE5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
Freetown
3
73,428
114,289
214,538
376,775
552,620
736,045
919,469
1,102,893
Bo
1
17,333
24,106
33,922
48,693
74,569
121,010
167,451
213,891
Makeni
1
8,230
11,215
19,924
36,439
55,303
71,946
88,590
105,233
Koidu-New Sembehun
1
0
7,545
37 263
79,151
82,576
82,800
83,023
83,247
Waterloo
2
3,000
3,100
3,836
6,549
16,118
32,168
48,219
64,270
Mile 91
1
0
0
0
5,794
8,666
12,961
20,127
27,294
Port Loko
1
4,290
5,416
8,383
12,696
16,646
20,170
23,694
27,218
Daru
1
0
0
3,123
3,241
5,550
12,494
19,438
26,383
Kamakwie
1
0
3,326
4,310
5,528
7,857
12,798
17,738
22,679
Magburaka
1
4,803
5,969
8,604
10,677
12,099
14,883
17,667
20,451
REFERENCES
CLARKE J.I. Sierra Leone in Maps. University of London Press LTD, 1966.
1985. Census of Population and Housing. Sierra Leone. The Analytical Report, edited by H.B.S.
KANDEH, RAMACHANDRAN K.V (1995). 1985. Population Census Project. Central Statistic Office Tower Hill, Freetown.
97
REPUBLIC OF TOGO
Table TGO1. National Demographic Indicators of Togo
1981 Population
2,719,567
79.8
4
Demographic Data
Comphrehensive data from the national censuses only cover the period from 1960 to 1980. Before 1960, the colonial administration carried out
an administrative census in 1936 for tax purposes. The last PC was carried out in 1981 and, since then, demographic data have come from
estimates done in 1989 and the administrative census of 1992. Political upheaval and changes in regime prevented the PC planned for 1992.
Population Census
Population Census
Population Census
1959-1960 (census of urban centers from November
1958 to July 1959 and of rural centers from
November 1959 to December 1960)
March 1 to April 30 1970
November 9 to 22 1981
98
Table TGO2. PC Territorial Divisions
1958-60
1970
1981
4 Regions
17 Administrative Districts
bearing the name of their
administrative center
7 Urban Municipalities (Lomé,
Ameche, Tsévié, Atakpamé,
Palimé, Bassari and Sokodé)
5 "Economic Regions”
19 Canton Districts (grouping
several villages or population
centers)
7 Municipalities (including
Lomé) in the eponymous
districts
5 Regions
21 Communes including Lomé
divided into boroughs
21 Préfectures
Cantons
Villages
Hamlets and Farms
Note: The 1981 PC distinguished equally between urban and rural centers without defining them explicitly.
The administrative divisions were changed between 1958-1960 and 1981. In February 1960, the colonial administrative hierarchy was
abolished and, at this time, districts replaced the circles (‘Cercles’). Five regions were created over the following years with their capitals acting
as the seat of ministerial regional departments. The changes made during the 1960s and 1970s were limited to the creation of new entities.
In July 1981, préfectures replaced the districts. Administrative posts became sous-préfectures. This new terminology was accompanied by a
change of name for some entities, even a change of status as there was an attempt to reorganize the territory, particularly by reallocating
administrative functions. Thus, the sous-préfecture of Tchamba became a préfecture; the former district of Akposso was divided to create the
préfectures of Amou and Wawa; the préfectures of Assoli and Bassar were no longer attached to the Central Region but to that of Kara. The
number of préfectures went from 19 to 21 (PHC, October 1985, page II). The 1981 reforms also involved the local municipalities. In 1970, there
were only 7 Communes. The decentralization policy was launched with a decree of June 1982. By an ordinance of September 1984, the
country’s 30 administrative centers (‘Chefs-lieux’) became Communes, without restriction, and neither the criterion of demographic size nor
functional criteria were taken into consideration. The final list of Communes also included three centers which were not administrative centers at
the time.
99
The agglomerations database was composed from the village directories associated to the 1959-1960, 1970 and 1981 PCs. In 1970, the
village, also called “population center”, was the smallest geographical unit of the census; it designated “a territorial entity inhabited by
households usually dependent on the same traditional authority commonly called the head of the village” (1970 PC, June 1974, p. 4).
From 1960, the editors of the census highlighted the problems of measurement linked to the definition of the village proposed in Togo; this led
to confusion on the ground between a “village-agglomeration” and a “village-customary”. According to the “village-customary” approach in use
during the previous administrative censuses, people were registered in their village even though they did not live there. Those in charge of
running the census therefore introduced the concept of the “village agglomeration” and tried to draw up a list of villages and their satellite
hamlets on a geographical basis and no longer on a customary one. The editors’ conclusion was to prefer the term “population center” to that of
“village” (1958-1960 PC, n.d. p. 2). According to the 1958-1960 census, half the population centers (3,216 villages) had fewer than 200
inhabitants, more than 8/10 of the whole population lived in centers, the size of which varied between 200 to 5,000 inhabitants, and only 15
“localities” (an undefined term) had more than 5,000 inhabitants (1958-1960 PC, not dated, p. 11 and 21-24).
In 1981, the central census bureau of Togo maintained this concept and stressed this time the distortions resulting from the difficulties inherent
in applying a single definition of the village/population center. In 1970, a certain number of hamlets and boroughs were counted as villages. In
contrast, villages were recorded as hamlets dependent on a parent village. The corrections carried out in 1981 led necessarily to consider
trends that could not make sense within a changing perspective between 1960 and 1981 (Bureau Central du Recensement, 1986, page II).
In 1958-1959, the first phase of the PC was only carried out in the urban centers, of which there were then 8 (Lomé, Tokoin, Anécho, Akakpé,
Sokodé, Tsévié, Palimé and Bassari). The census documents did not provide a formal definition of urban center, but it appears that all the
urban Communes, as well as Tokoin, were on the list.
A definition of urban center was given for the 1970 and 1981 PCs, confirming the primacy given to the administrative status criterion. The 21
administrative centers of the préfectures, including the Commune of Lomé, where more than half the total urban population lived in 1981, were
considered urban. When the administrative centers of sous-préfectures became Communes, the population of Communes automatically
became urban. This concept of urban kept those population centers that did not attain the status of Local Government in the village category.
Other distortions linked to the official definition of urban were highlighted by the editors of the 1981 PC results: for example, the Communes’
100
boundaries did not include some of the large towns’ neighborhoods. The agglomeration of Atakpamé did not include the population of Hihéatro,
which was located in the neighboring préfecture; the administrative grid was then questioned (1981 and 1986 PHCs, page 16). In 1981, the size
of urban centers thus varied between 48,000 inhabitants (Sokode in the Central Region) and 3,800 (Amlame in the Plateaux Region).
Table TGO3. Changes in the Official Urban Population
Urban Population Number of Urban Centers Urbanization Rate
PC
1958-1959
145,719
8
9.83%
1970
413,697
21
21.2%
1981
679,766
22
25.2%
Source : 1958-1959, 1970 and 1981 PCs.
Urbanization in Togo according to the Geopolis Definition
Since the 1970s, Togo’s urbanization rate has been one of the highest in West Africa, as has been the share of the population living in the
national metropolitan area. However, in 2020, most of the country’s urban network will be formed by 62 agglomerations of between 10,000 and
50,000 inhabitants (9/10 of the total of all the agglomerations), in which almost a third of the country’s population will live.
Table TGO4. Urbanization Indicators (1960-2020)
1960
1980
2000
2020e
8.8
28.5
42.9
49.8
Primacy Index
5.0
9.0
11.7
11.7
5.4
15.9
22.7
24.6
4
12,462
3.4
19
17,472
12.7
38
24,103
20.2
70
26,125
25.2
metropolitan area of Lomé
Secondary Towns
of
10,000
Number
Average Size
101
Map TG1. Agglomerations of Togo in 2000
Table TGO5. Top 10 Agglomerations 2020
Agglomeration
Lomé/Aflao [Tgo]
NLU
1950 TP
1960 TP
1970 TP
1980 TP
1990 TP
2000 TP
2010 TPe
2020 TPe
2
38,904
80,187
228,179
416,272
652,177
1,030,000
1,407,823
1,785,646
Kara
1
0
3,266
11,674
26,262
46,999
82,000
117,001
152,002
Sokode
1
7,900
15,988
32,356
46,395
64,033
88,000
111,967
135,934
Atakpame
2
6,076
10,554
18,196
27,329
42,826
67,450
92,074
116,698
Kpalime
1
6,857
12,770
23,780
27,291
40,237
61,000
81,763
102,526
Dapaong
1
0
5,196
10,134
16,631
27,064
44,000
60,936
77,872
Notse
2
0
4,069
9,612
12,930
21,840
38,140
54,440
70,740
Tsevie
1
6,926
9,495
13,016
19,450
27,953
40,000
52,047
64,094
Anie
1
0
3,682
5,037
9,535
17,828
24,420
31,012
37,604
Niamtougou
1
0
2,991
12,208
12,533
16,384
22,000
27,616
33,232
REFERENCES
Recensement Général de la Population (mars-avril 1970), volume Méthodologie et premiers résultats. [Population Census (March-April 1970) Methodological
Volume and Initital Results] Direction de la Statistique, Republic of Togo, June4.
Aperçu des résultats d'ensemble du Recensement Général de la Population et de l'Habitat du Togo de novembre 1981 - Caractéristiques de la population.
[Overview of Overall Results of Population and Housing Census of Togo of November 1981 – Population Characteristics] Bureau Central du Recensement,
Republic of Togo, February 1986.
Recensement Général de la Population et de l'Habitat (9-22 novembre 1981), Résultats provisoires. [Population and Housing Census (November 9-22, 1981),
Provisional Results] Direction de la Statistique, Republic of Togo.
th
Recensement Général de Population du Togo 1958-1960. 4ème fascicule, [Population Census of Togo, 1958-1960. 4 Part] Lomé.
GIRAUT Frédéric (1993). « Les petites villes entre émancipation et implosion des pouvoirs (Ghana, Togo, Niger) » [“Small Towns between Emancipation and
Implosion of Power (Ghana, Togo and Niger)” in JAGLIN Sylvie, DUBRESSON Alain (dir.). Pouvoirs et cités en Afrique Noire. Décentralisations en
questions. [Power and Cities in Black Africa. Decentralizations in Question] Karthala, Paris.

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