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Botswana - People

The population of Botswana was just over 2 million according to the preliminary results of the 2011 Census, making the country, alongside Mongolia, Australia and Namibia, one of the least densely populated in the world, with less than four inhabitants per square kilometre on average. The population is concentrated in the eastern part of the country where arable farming is possible on account of better and more favourable climatic and soil conditions.

Citizens of Botswana are known as Batswana. The Tswana-speaking population is made up of various ethnic groups including Bakgatla, Bakwena, Balete, Bangwato, Barolong, Batawana, Batlokwa and Bangwaketse. There are other ethnic groups such as Babirwa, Bakalaka, Bakgalagadi, Basarwa, Basubia, Batswapong, Bayeyi, Hambukushu, Ovabenderu, OvaHerero. In addition there are significant minorities of people of European, Asian and people of mixed ancestry.

A variety of Bantu languages and dialects are spoken in Botswana today. The largest sub-grouping of these languages is Sotho-Tswana, which includes the national language Setswana and such other closely related, mutually intelligible, dialects as Shekgalagari, Setswapong and Sebirwa. Other prominent Bantu languages spoken in Botswana include Chiyeyi, Chikiuhane, Ikalanga and Otjiherero.

Ethnically, Botswana is reasonably homogeneous. While ethnic origin of the population is formerly recorded, the census does record first language. This shows that 78 percent of the population are Setswana speaking, 8 percent speak Kalanga, 3 percent speak Sekgalagadi and English, and Sumbukushu and Serarwa are spoken by 2 percent each. The remaining 7 percent speak a range of other languages. There are concerns that some minority communities (such as Bakgalaagadi, Bayei, Bambukushu, Bararwa/San-Baherero etc.), particularly those living in the more remote areas of western Botswana, experience higher poverty rates and less favourable human development (health, education etc).

The government’s continued narrow interpretation of a 2006 High Court ruling resulted in a few hundred indigenous Basarwa people (also called the San) being prohibited from living or hunting in their tribal homeland, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Government officials maintained the resettlement program was voluntary and necessary to facilitate the delivery of public services, provide socioeconomic development opportunities to the Basarwa, and minimize human impact on wildlife. In 2012 the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues approved a set of nine draft recommendations addressing the impact of land seizures and disenfranchisement of indigenous people. In 2013 attorneys for the Basarwa filed a High Court case in which the original complainants from the 2006 CKGR case appealed to the government for unrestricted access to the CKGR for their children and relatives (i.e., without permits).

The 2001 census yielded a population count of 1,680,863 (approximately 1.7 million) compared to 1,326,796 in 1991. This marked an increase of 354,067 over the ten-year period. The population of Botswana grew at an average annual rate of 2.4 percent during the inter-census period. The growth rate has been declining over the years. Annual growth rates between 1971 and 1981 as well as between 1981 and 1991 were 4.5 and 3.5 percent respectively. While the AIDS pandemic might have contributed somewhat to the decline in recent years, it must be noted that there was a decline during the pre-HIV/AIDS era. Indeed, factors such as declining fertility rates, increased women participation in economic activities, increased literacy rates, access to better health care, etc,...

Approximately 80 percent of the population lives in the three major urban areas: Gaborone, Francistown, and Selebi Phikwe. The most developed area in the country is a strip of land along the eastern edge of the country, running north and south between Ramokgwebore and Ramatlabama. Villages outside the major towns have a walled compound containing several rondavets (round, thatched houses) surrounded by the fields and pastures of the village’s inhabitants.

The seat of government was moved from Mafikeng, in South Africa, to newly-established Gaborone in 1965. The capital, Gaborone, has a population of 170,000 people and experiences the growing pains usually associated with a rapid rise in population. It is considered drab and lacking in an overall plan, a paradox for a planned new town. The site for the capital was chosen in 1962 due to its proximity to a site on the nearby Notwane River that was suitable for a dam to provide water for the expected influx of people. Gaborone is on the main rail line between Mafeking, South Africa, and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Gaborone (with the G pronounced like the CH in "loch" and "chutzpah") has undergone great change, as the capital city of Africa's fastest growing economy. There wasn't a single solid wall around a house twenty years ago: now they're everywhere. Single-storey houses less than thirty years old (the main city was built after 1964) have been re-modeled with an extra floor, or have been replaced by town houses. There are traffic jams during rush-hours, and everyone seems to have a cell-phone. The old lifestyle, with chickens freely ranging over a beaten-earth yard, has been driven out of the city into these sprawling "tribal" village areas of Tlokweng and Mogoditshane, on the eastern and western edges of Gaborone. The city itself, including valuable recreational space, is being rapidly eaten up by new buildings and roads, with "over-speeding" cars that have banished the bicycle.

Francistown has 66,000 inhabitants and lies in the northeast near the border with Zimbabwe. It is connected to Gaborone by railroad and a paved road. Originally a gold-mining center, it is the location of the first mine in southern Africa, but industry and commerce have become the major economic activities of the city.

Selebi-Phikwe is in central Botswana, 250 miles northeast of Gaborone. It is connected to the capital by a paved road. It is the third largest city in Botswana and has grown in 30 years from a small village to a city of 50,000 because of the copper and nickel mining nearby. The towns of Maun and Ghanzi are on the western side of the Kalahari. They are connected to the east by paved roads and airplane flights.

Family plays an important role in the lives of Botswanans. Different tasks are assigned to different members of the family (usually based on gender). Elders in the family are respected for their wisdom. Men are the decisionmakers in Botswanan society. Villages are led by a chief, who appoints head men to run the neighborhoods, known as wards. Only adult males are allowed to vote in ward council sessions; women may voice an opinion.

The male is the head of the household, and women are seen as inferior to men. The man is in control of all decisionmaking and legal aspects of the household. Women raise the children, cook, and clean. Women are always under the control of a man, starting with the father, and then changing hands to the husband after marriage. Some women among society are seen as healers and are viewed as being highly spiritual. Women usually marry while still teenagers, and the marriages are arranged by parents.

The main features of Botswana population are declining fertility rate and life expectancy, and increasing mortality rate. Crude death rate rose between 1981 and 1991 mainly due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Life expectancy at birth also decreased from 65.3 years in 1991 to 55.7 years in 2001. Regarding fertility rate, there has been a notable decline in all fertility indicators.

Overall, population density increased by one person per square kilometres between 1999 and 2001 from 2 to 3 persons per square kilometre. For Gaborone and Francistown, it rose to well over 1 000 persons per square kilometres between 1991 and 2001. Most district densities increased between the two censuses with the exception of sparsely inhabited districts.

Population trends point to increasing urbanisation over the years. The growing concentration of the population around towns and cities reported during the 1991 has somehow intensified. Some villages around Gaborone and Francistown have witnessed phenomenal growth over the period 1991 to 2001, with some recording annual rates of over 10 percent.

Urbanisation has been rapid with the number of people living in urban areas increasing from 9.5% in 1971 to 15.9% in 1981 and 45.7% in 1991. In 1999 the government estimated the urban population at 50% and the UN Population Division reported a 28% urbanisation rate in 1997. This growth is due, in part, to substantial population growth in traditional urban areas like Gaborone and Francistown and the re-classification of many large villages to urban areas. Some 50% of the total population lives within 100 km of the capital city, Gaborone.

In recent years, much of this social progress has been threatened as a result of HIV/AIDS, which is very widespread in Botswana. For many years Botswana had the highest rate of HIV prevalence in the world, with more than 35% of pregnant women testing HIV positive, which equates to an estimated adult HIV prevalence rate of around 28% and a population prevalence rate of around 17% (although figures are often mis-reported, even by supposedly reputable sources, as a 35% population prevalence rate).

The spread of HIV/AIDS has had a dramatic effect on life expectancy. Following the widespread social invest- ment that took place after independence, life expectancy had risen to around 67 years at the time of the 1991 national census. By 2001, life expectancy had fallen sharply, although with a very wide range of estimates of what it had fallen to. The United Nations, for instance, quoted life expectancy of 36 years as at 2003 in its 2004 Human Development Report, while Botswana’s Central Statistics Office quoted life expectancy of 57 years on the basis of the 2001 census. More recent demographic estimates suggest that life expectancy fell to a low of 46 years in 2001, and has since risen to 52 years.