People:
Population growth rate: 2.52% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 44.46 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 14.59 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -4.65 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 78.22 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 49.99 years
male: 46.95 years
female: 53.11 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.41 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Mauritanian(s)
adjective: Mauritanian

Ethnic groups: mixed Maur/black 40%, Maur 30%, black 30%

Religions: Muslim 100%

Languages: Hasaniya Arabic (official), Pular, Soninke, Wolof (official), French

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 37.7%
male: 49.6%
female: 26.3% (1995 est.) People

Eighty percent of the population are Moors - of Arab-Berber descent and speaking dialects of Hassaniya Arabic. Much social status is determined by derivations from either the region's Arab-Berber conquerors or the caucasoid-negroid peoples they enslaved. An aristocratic-servile status continues to define Maure (Moor) society as "white" and "black." White Moor aristocrats (bidan) tend to be more purely Arab; commoner whites tend to be more distinctly Berber in appearance and speech. Traditionally, the enslaved indigenous class came to be called black Moors. Even though slavery is officially proscribed, a servile status lingers among the lower rungs in the black social structure. Non-Moor, non-Arab or Berber-speaking black Africans, including the Toucouleur, Fulbe, Wolof, Bembara people comprise the remaining 20% of the population and tend to live in the south. Most of these groups also have hierarchical social structures, with a servile class at the bottom. Although taken together, black Moors and black Africans outnumber white Moors, black Moors identify in many ways with white Moors. All Mauritanians are Muslims.

As a result of recent endemic drought, large numbers of former nomads and oasis dwellers have migrated to urban areas (Nouakchott, Nouadhibou, Kaedi, Rosso), swelling the population of the cities and surrounding shanty towns.