Page last modified 21 August 2023

Sudan�

Community

Area

Pre-2011; 2,505,813 square kilometres (including South Sudan)

Post-2011; 1,861,484 square kilometres

Population,

8,100,000 (1850)

10,262,674 (1956)

11,600,000 (1963)

14,171,732 (1973)

20,564,364 (1983)

24,940,683 (1993)

31,080,000 (2000)

41.340,000 (2010)

41,800,000 (2018*

*Reduction in population after secession of South Sudan in 2011.

Refugee population,

1,160,000 (including 448,000 from Ethiopia) (1986)

Religion, The Muslim population is mainly in the north; Animists and Christians are mainly in the south (now South Sudan).

	Animist	Christian	Muslim Sunni
1958		20.0	54.3
1980			70.0
1990	22.0		70.0
2000	12.0	17.0	70.0
2010			71.3
2013*	1.5	1.5	97.0

*Large increase in % Muslim following secession of South Sudan; corresponding large decrease in other religions.

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1950		47.0 (+20.0)	185.0	27.0	43.8	3.3	6.3
1960	6.7	47.0 (+29.5)	110.0	17.5	45.0	3.3	10.7
1970	6.9	47.0 (+32.3)	95.0	14.7	46.3	3.0	16.5
1980	6.8	45.0 (+31.8)	90.0	13.2	47.1	2.9	20.0
1990	6.2	41.8 (+29.8)	82.0	12.0	45.5	2.9	28.6
2000	5.5	39.5 (+29.2)	67.0	10.3	43.8	3.1	32.5
2010	4.9	35.5 (+27.3)	51.3	8.2	43.0	3.3	33.1
2015	4.6	33.3 (+25.8)	45.4	7.5	41.5	3.5	33.8
2016			44.4		41.2	3.5	34.0
2017	4.4	32.5 (+25.1)	43.3	7.4
2018			42.1		40.5	3.6

Life expectancy,

37.0 (1950); 36.0 (M), 38.0 (F)

48.2 (1960); 46.8 (M), 49.6 (F)

52.2 (1970); 50.8 (M), 53.7 (F)

54.2 (1980); 52.8 (M), 55.7 (F)

55.5 (1990); 54.0 (M), 57.0 (F)

58.4 (2000); 56.6 (M), 60.3 (F)

62.6 (2010); 61.0 (M), 64.2 (F)

65.4 (2020); 63.6 (M), 67.3 (F)

Population of principal cities, A � K

	Al Obeid	Kassala	KHARTOUM^1	Khartoum North
1850			40,000
1910			70,000
1938	27,390	35,000		18,449
1956	52,372	40,612	93,103
1973	90,060	98,751	333,921	150,991
1983	140,024		1,334,000	341,146
1993	228,096	243,270		700,887
1999			2,628,000
2009		425,000	5,021,000	2,000,000
2012	418,280
2014			5,185,000

Population of principal cities, O - W �

	Omdurman	Port Sudan	Wad Medani
1909	42,779	4,500
1938	110,959	21,773	40,000
1956	113,551	47,562	47,677
1966	198,000	59,000
1973	299,401	123,631	106,776
1983	526,287	206,727	141,065
1993		305,385	218,714
2008	2,395,159	490,000	345,290

¹Khartoum grew around an Egyptian military camp established in 1824.� In 1834 it was chosen as capital of Sudan. The city�s name derives from the Arabic Ras-al-hartum, meaning �end of the elephant�s trunk�, from Khartoum�s position on a trunk-shaped piece of land between the Blue and White Nile rivers.

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values), Since Sudan became an oil producer in 1999, GDP has greatly increased.

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1960	1,300	0.24	125	4.16
1965	1,700	0.23	140	3.66
1970	2,437	0.23	175	3.34
1975	5,600	0.34	345	4.41
1980	7,500	0.27	388	3.08
1985	12,400	0.29	550	3.01
1990	12,400	0.21	480	2.00
1995	13,800	0.19	470	1.56
2000	11,520	0.12	360	0.99
2005	27,700	0.21	680	1.53
2010	65,600	0.44	1,475	3.05
2015	97,150	0.54	2,510	4.47
2016	95,600	0.51	2,415	4.20

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1960		86.0		6.0		8.0
1980	34.0	78.0	6.4	9.0	60.0	13.0
1990	34.0	72.0	14.0	3.9	48.0	23.0
2000	39.0	70.0	17.0	6.0	44.0	24.0
2007	28.3		29.2		40.8

Communications

Language Official; Arabic, English.�

Arabic, 51.0% (1980)

Darfurian, 6.0% (1980)

Literacy

13.0% (1960)

31.0% (1980); 45.0% (M), 18.0% (F)

40.0% (1985)

46.1% (1995); 57.7% (M), 34.6% (F)

58.8% (2000); 70.0% (M), 47.7% (F)

60.9% (2010); 71.1% (M), 51.8% (F)

75.9% (2015); 83.3% (M), 68.6% (F)

Physical communications � roads

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles
1944			3,399
1950			3,500		14,500
1954			17,000	7,000
1962				11,500
1964			39,500
1970		550
1972				29,000	21,500
1980				34,600	38,000
1986	6,599	3,900	163,700	109,000
1996					53,000
2002	11,900	4,320	87,400		57,400
2010			94,000
2013			107,000

Railways; First railway opened 1875, from Wadi Halfa, 50 km towards Khartoum. In 1897 it reached Kerma, a total distance of 273 km, but the entire line was closed in 1905. A military railway, 927 km from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum, had been constructed 1897-99 by Lord Kitchener was handed to the Khartoum Government in 1900; this line was the origin of the present day Sudanese railway system.

Length, kilometres

928 (1900)

2,046 (1910)

2,415 (1920)

3,067 (1930)

3,207 (1940)

3,249 (1950)

3,986 (1958)

4,786 (1982)

4,874 (1992)

4,578 (2002)

5,500 (2007)

5,978 (2010)

Electronic communications, TV broadcasting began 1963

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1939	2,252		1,474
1945	3,546		3,227
1951	8,500
1960			11,000
1962	26,548
1971			1,400,000
1975	42,300
1978				95,000
1980	45,300			1,000,000
1985			5,400,000	1,100,000
1990	62,000		6,280,000	1,800,000
1994					5,000
1995					10,000
1996		2,200	7,800,000	2,300,000
1998						300
2000	387,000	23,000	16,300,000		100,000	30,000
2005		1,828,000			3,250,000	3,000,000
2010	374,700	17,654,000				4,200,000
2016	136,472	27,810,000				10,284,000
2017						11,806,000

Tourism: Visitors to Sudan,

24,000 (1980)

33,000 (1990)

29,000 (1995)

38,000 (2000)

246,000 (2005)

495,000 (2010)

741,000 (2015)