Senegal has a population of about 18 million, of whom about 42 percent live in rural areas. Density in these areas varies from about in the west-central region to in the arid eastern section.
Gender Senegal ratified the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the additional protocol. Senegal is also a signatory to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted at the 2003 African Union Summit. However, feminists have been critical of the government's lack of action in enforcing the protocols, conventions, and other texts that have been signed as a means of protecting women's rights, and have stated that everyday practices and customs typically maintain a
patriarchal character. Similarly,
Afrobarometer found that Senegalese women often remain in a disadvantaged position.
Ethnic groups Senegal has a wide variety of
ethnic groups and, as in most West African countries, several languages are widely spoken. According to "
CIA World Factbook: Senegal" (2019 estimates), the ethnic groups are
Wolof (39%);
Fula (probably including the
Halpulaar speaking
Toucouleur) (27.5%);
Serer group (probably including the
Serer Cangin peoples) (16%);
Mandinka (4.9%);
Jola (4.2%);
Soninke (2.4%); other 5.4% (includes
Europeans and persons of
Lebanese descent), and other minor ethnic groups like the
Bassari,
Maures or (Naarkajors). There are also tens of thousands of Mauritanian refugees in Senegal, primarily in the country's north. According to the
World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Senegal has a population of
refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 23,800 in 2007. The majority of this population (20,200) is from Mauritania. Refugees live in N'dioum, Dodel, and small settlements along the
Senegal River valley.
Languages French is the
official language, spoken by all those who have spent several years in the educational system, where French is used as the medium of instruction (Koranic schools are also popular, but Arabic is less widely spoken outside the context of recitation). Overall, French speakers were estimated to make up 26% of the population in 2022. During the 15th century, many European territories started to engage in trade in Senegal. In the 19th century, France increased its colonial influence in Senegal, and the number of French-speaking people grew steadily. French was ratified as the official language of Senegal in 1960 when the country achieved independence. Most people also speak their own ethnic language, while, especially in Dakar,
Wolof is the
lingua franca.
Pulaar is spoken by the Fulas and Toucouleur. The
Serer language is widely spoken by both Serers and non-Serers (including President Sall, whose wife is Serer); so are the
Cangin languages, whose speakers are ethnically Serers.
Jola languages are widely spoken in the
Casamance. Overall, Senegal is home to around 39 distinct languages. Several have the legal status of "
national languages":
Balanta-Ganja,
Arabic,
Jola-Fonyi,
Mandinka,
Mandjak,
Mankanya,
Noon (Serer-Noon),
Pulaar, Serer,
Soninke, and Wolof. English is taught as a
foreign language in secondary schools and many graduate school programs. It is the only subject matter that has a special office in the Ministry of Education. Dakar is home to a few bilingual schools which offer half of their curriculum in English. The Senegalese American Bilingual School (SABS), Yavuz Selim, and The West African College of the Atlantic (WACA) train thousands of fluent English speakers in four-year programs. English is widely used by the scientific community and in business, including by the
Modou-Modou (illiterate, self-taught businessmen). A variety of immigrant languages are spoken, such as
Bambara (70,000),
Mooré (37,000),
Kabuverdiano (34,000),
Krio (6,100), Vietnamese (2,500), and Portuguese (1,700), mostly in Dakar. Senegalese regions of Dakar, Diourbel, Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack, Kedougou, Kolda, Louga, Matam, Saint-Louis, Sedhiou, Tambacounda, Thies, and Ziguinchor are members of the International Association of Francophone regions.
Largest cities Dakar, the capital, is by far the largest city in Senegal, with over two million residents. According to the Berkley Center, "approximately 95 percent of the population is Muslim and the other five percent is primarily Christian or animist." Marloes Janson, of SOAS, University of London, and other scholars, posit that, in Senegal,
Gambia, and many African countries where Islam is dominant, Muslim communities tend to
syncretise Islam with
Traditional African religions, leading to a distinctive "African Islam". According to a 2012 Pew demographic study, 55% of the Muslims in Senegal are
Sunni of the
Maliki madhhab with
Sufi influences, whilst 27% are
non-denominational Muslims. Islamic communities in Senegal are generally organized around one of several Islamic Sufi orders called
tariqas, headed by a
khalif (
xaliifa in
Wolof, from Arabic
khalīfa), who is usually a direct descendant of the group's founder; the study found that 92% of Senegalese Muslims belonged to a Sufi order. The two most significant and prominent Sufi tariqas in Senegal are the
Tijaniyya, whose largest Senegalese sub-groups are based in the cities of
Tivaouane and
Kaolack, and have a broad following in West Africa outside of Senegal, and the
Murīdiyya (Murid), who are based in the city of
Touba and has a follower base mostly limited to within Senegal. in Senegal As a country with more than 90% Muslims, holidays such as Tabaski, Koriteh, Gamou, and Weri Kor are highly regarded. The spread of formal Quranic schools (called
daara in Wolof) during the colonial period was driven mainly by the Tidjâniyya. In Murid communities, which place greater emphasis on the work ethic than on literary Quranic studies, the term
daara often refers to work groups devoted to serving a religious leader. Today, most Senegalese children study at
daaras for several years, memorizing as much of the Qur'an as they can. Some of them continue their religious studies at councils (
majlis) or at the growing number of private Arabic schools and publicly funded Franco-Arabic schools. Small Catholic communities are mainly found in coastal Serer,
Jola,
Mankanya, and Balant populations, and in eastern Senegal among the Bassari and Coniagui. Immigrants mainly attend Protestant churches, but during the second half of the 20th century, these churches, led by Senegalese leaders from different ethnic groups, have evolved. In Dakar, Catholic and Protestant rites are practiced by the Lebanese, Cape Verdean, European, and American immigrant populations, by certain Africans from other countries, and by the Senegalese themselves. in Senegal leading a prayer
Serer religion encompasses a belief in a supreme deity called
Roog (
Koox among the
Cangin),
Serer cosmogony,
cosmology and
divination ceremonies such as the annual
Xooy (or
Khoy) ceremony presided over by the Serer
Saltigues (high priests and priestesses). They were ancient Serer festivals rooted in Serer religion, not Islam. The
Boukout is one of the Jola's religious ceremonies. A small number of members of the Bani Israel tribe in the Senegalese bush claim Jewish ancestry. However, this is disputed. The
Mahayana branch of
Buddhism in Senegal is followed by a very tiny portion of the
expat Vietnamese community. The
Bahá'í Faith in Senegal was established after
'Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, mentioned Africa as a place that Bahá'ís should more broadly visit. The first Bahá'is to set foot in the territory of
French West Africa that would become Senegal arrived in 1953. The first Bahá'í
Local Spiritual Assembly of Senegal was elected in 1966 in
Dakar. In 1975 the Bahá'í community elected the first
National Spiritual Assembly of Senegal. The most recent estimate, by the
Association of Religion Data Archives in a 2005 report, details the population of Senegalese Bahá'ís at 22,000.
Health Life expectancy at birth was estimated to be 66.8 years in 2016 (64.7 years male, 68.7 years female). Public expenditure on health was at 2.4 percent of the GDP in 2004, whereas private expenditure was at 3.5 percent. Health expenditure was at US$72 (PPP) per capita in 2004. There were six physicians per 100,000 persons in the early 2000s (decade). In the past five years infant mortality rates of malaria have dropped. According to a 2013 UNICEF report, 26% of women in Senegal have undergone
female genital mutilation. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began in Senegal, prompting the imposition of a curfew.
Malaria is
endemic throughout Senegal, and the entire population is at risk. In June 2021, Senegal's Agency for Universal Health launched sunucmu.com (SunuCMU), a website that the agency hopes will streamline health care in the country. The website is a part of the Minister of State Mohammad Abdallah Dionne's plan for digitalization. He aims to make Senegal's health care system effective and sustainable. Using SunuCMU, Senegal hopes to achieve 75 percent coverage within two years of the launch.
Education Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution, adopted in January 2001, guarantee access to education for all children. Education is compulsory and free up to the age of 16. Public expenditure on education was 5.4 percent of the 2002–2005 GDP. Senegal was ranked 89th in the
Global Innovation Index in 2025. == Culture ==