Mozambique

Mozambique: population and cities

Population

Population and social situation

According to Countryaah website, Mozambique has around 30 million residents. Life expectancy in the country is still relatively low. It averages 44 years for women and 42 years for men. The 43% of the population who are under 15 years old are compared to just 3% who are older than 65 years. On average and statistically every Mozambican woman has 5.4 children in the course of her life. This high number is partly due to the fact that 88% of married women have no modern contraceptive methods available.

The high infant mortality rate is a result of the fact that only about 50% of births can be cared for at all. Many mothers still die in childbirth. The supply of clean drinking water, a UN human right since 2010, is also worrying. Not even every second person in Mozambique has access to it.

HIV/AIDS is a big problem in Mozambique. According to official figures, 12.5% of the population are HIV positive. The disease spreads further through unprotected sexual contacts and poor hygiene. Of the approximately 1.5 million orphaned children in the country, around 470,000 are AIDS orphans.

Child labor, which many families cannot do without, is associated with the great poverty in the country. State protection is only available for children who have a birth certificate. The remaining 94% of those under five without a certificate are exposed to child labor, abuse, forced marriage and/or armed service as child soldiers.

Education is also bad in the country. About 50% of adults can neither read nor write. 66% of the women are illiterate. However, since the civil war, the country has made significant efforts to ensure primary education and to improve educational opportunities.

Ethnic composition

About 98% of the population of Mozambique are members of Bantu tribes, of which about 40% are Makua, 20% Tsonga, 12% Yao, 11% Makonde, 7% Swahili and 4% Chewa. Furthermore, about 1.7% Chinese and numerous Indians live in the country as well as a minority of Europeans and mixed race.

Religious

affiliation The percentages of religious affiliation differ greatly from one another in various sources. A large part of the population practices natural religions. The proportion of Christians in the country is estimated at around 40% and that of Muslims at around 18%.

National language

The official language of Mozambique is Portuguese. Makua, Nyanja and other Bantu languages are used as slang languages. A minority in the north speaks Swahil.

Capital and other cities

Maputo Maputo, the largest and capital of Mozambique with around 2 million residents, extends on the western side of the bay of the same name and up to 95 kilometers long. Maputo - the seat of a Catholic and an Anglican bishop as well as two universities - is one of the most interesting cities in Mozambique for tourism. In addition to the majestic Portuguese fortress from 1787, the Museum of Mozambique, the Teatro Avenida and the very interesting train station by Gustave Eiffel, Maputo attracts thousands of tourists every year with its fine sandy beaches. Other interesting and/larger cities are:

Beira

The second largest city in Mozambique with 560,000 residents also functions as the capital of the Sofala province. Alongside Maputo and Nacala, the modern city is the third major seaport for international shipping.

Nampula

Around 185,600 people live in northern Mozambique's economic center, a bustling administrative, banking and commercial city. Nampula is the commercial epicenter for the entire region. The two-towered cathedral De Nosa Senhora da Conceicao, which rises imposingly over the roofs of the surrounding area, is likely to be more interesting for tourists. In addition, the privately run Universidade Católica de Moçambique settled in Nampula in 1996.

Pemba

The capital of the Cabo Delgado province is in the north of the country. It is a port city that hugs the south side of the third largest natural bay on earth. As an important center of northern Mozambique, numerous banks, supermarkets and restaurants have settled in Pemba, but the streets that are held together by potholes give one a rather shabby feeling. Still, there are some pretty colonial buildings on display, and the city is popular with wealthy Mozambicans and South Africans alike for its good water sports.

Mozambique: Geography and Map

Defined by DigoPaul, Mozambique covers a total area of 799,380 km². Thereof:

• Forest

  Around 18% of the country are forest and scrubland.

• Meadow and pasture land

  Around 56% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.

• Fields and fields

  Around 5.4% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing cashew nuts, tea, sugar cane and cotton, as well as sisal, maize, copra, oil plants and citrus fruits.

• Water

  Around 1.4% of the country's surface is covered by lakes.

National borders

Mozambique shares a border with the following six countries:

- Malawi with a length of 1,569 km,

- Zambia with a length of 419 km,

- Zimbabwe with a length of 1,231 km,

- South Africa with a length of 491 km,

- Swaziland with a length of 105 km and

- Tanzania with a length of 756 km.

Tidal range in Mozambique

On the coast of Mozambique, the tidal range is between 1.3 and 3.8 m. For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.

Compare

The world's highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 m, with spring tide even over 20 m. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax. On the German North Sea coast it varies between 1 m and 3 m. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 m, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

Mozambique extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

For Mozambique, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without summer time) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

Highest level of the sun in Maputo

Maputo lies at a southern latitude of around φ = 26 °. If the sun is at the tropic, i.e. at δ = -23.5 °, it is the beginning of summer in Maputo, this is December 21st. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

-26 ° = (90 ° - h) + -23.5 °

so:

At 87.5 °, the sun is at its highest level of the entire year above the horizon (precisely: above the horizon).

Caution

The image point of the sun and thus its declination are located north of the latitude of Maputo all year round. Therefore the sun is not there at noon in the south, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.

mountains

Monte Binga

The highest mountain in the country is Monte Binga with a height of 2,436 m.

Other high mountains are:

• Serra Namúliwith a height of 2,419 m
• Serra Jéciwith a height of 1,836 m

Rivers

Zambezi

The longest river in the country is the Zambezi with a length of around 2,660 km.

Other rivers are:

• Limpopoin the south of the country with a length of around 1,600 km
• Lio Rovumaon the border with Tanzania with a length of around 1,100 km
• Saveinland with a length of around 600 km
• Rio Lúrioin the northeast of the country

Lakes

Lake Malawi

The country includes several smaller and larger lakes. The largest lake is Lake Malawi (Lago Nyassa) with an area of 29,604 km², it is the fourth deepest lake in the world and the third largest lake in Africa. Another large lake is the Cahora Bassa reservoir with an area of around 2,800 km².

Islands

Bazaruto Archipelago

The Bazaruto Archipelago is in front of the land. It consists of the Ilha da Bazaruto with an area of about 260 km², the Ilha Benguerra with an area of 55 km² and the islands of Magaruque and Santa Carolina. Particularly noteworthy is the only 1.5 km² large island, which has been part of the UNESCO world.

Straits of Madagascar, Indian Ocean

Mozambique borders the Indian Ocean - but over a length of around 1,500 km between the country and Madagascar on the Strait of Madagascar - a tributary of the Indian Ocean. You can find a detailed description of these seas at Goruma under the following links:

- Indian Ocean

- Strait of Madagascar