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Comoros Population
The most recent official census by the Comoran
government,
conducted in 1991, put the islands' population, exclusive
of
Mahoré, at 446,817. Official counts put the population of
Mahoré
at 67,167 in 1985 and 94,410 in 1991--a 40 percent
increase in
just six years.
Average population density in Comoros was 183 persons
per
square kilometer in 1980. This figure concealed a great
disparity
between the republic's most crowded island, Nzwani, which
had a
density of 470 persons per square kilometer in 1991;
Njazidja,
which had a density of 250 persons per square kilometer in
1991;
and Mwali, where the 1991 population density figure was
120
persons per square kilometer. Overall population density
increased to about 285 persons per square kilometer by
1994.
Mahoré's population density went from 179 persons per
square
kilometer in 1985 to 251 per square kilometer in 1991.
By comparison, estimates of the population density per
square
kilometer of the Indian Ocean's other island microstates
ranged
from 241 (Seychelles) to 690 (Maldives) in 1993. Given the
rugged
terrain of Njazidja and Nzwani, and the dedication of
extensive
tracts to agriculture on all three islands, population
pressures
on Comoros are becoming increasingly critical. A similar
situation obtains on Mahoré.
The age structure of the population of Comoros is
similar to
that of many developing countries, in that the republic
has a
very large proportion of young people. In 1989, 46.4
percent of
the population was under fifteen years of age, an
above-average
proportion even for sub-Saharan Africa. The population's
rate of
growth was a relatively high 3.5 percent per annum in the
mid1980s , up substantially from 2.0 percent in the mid-1970s
and 2.1
percent in the mid-1960s.
In 1983 the Abdallah regime borrowed US$2.85 million
from the
IDA to devise a national family planning program. However,
Islamic reservations about contraception made forthright
advocacy
and implementation of birth control programs politically
hazardous, and consequently little was done in the way of
public
policy
(see Status of Women
, this ch.).
The Comoran population has become increasingly
urbanized in
recent years. In 1991 the percentage of Comorans residing
in
cities and towns of more than 5,000 persons was about 30
percent,
up from 25 percent in 1985 and 23 percent in 1980.
Comoros'
largest cities were the capital, Moroni, with about 30,000
people, and the port city of Mutsamudu, on the island of
Nzwani,
with about 20,000 people. Mahoré's capital, Dzaoudzi, had
a
population of 5,865 according to the 1985 census; the
island's
largest town, Mamoudzou, had 12,026 people.
Migration among the various islands is relatively
small.
Natives of Njazidja often settle in less crowded Mwali,
and
before independence people from Nzwani commonly moved to
Mahoré.
In 1977 Mahoré expelled peasants from Njazidja and Nzwani
who had
recently settled in large numbers on the island. Some were
allowed to reenter starting in 1981 but solely as migrant
labor.
The number of Comorans living abroad has been estimated
at
between 80,000 and 100,000; most of them lived in
Tanzania,
Madagascar, and other parts of East Africa. The number of
Comorans residing in Madagascar was drastically reduced
after
anti-Comoran rioting in December 1976 in Mahajanga, in
which at
least 1,400 Comorans were killed. As many as 17,000
Comorans left
Madagascar to seek refuge in their native land in 1977
alone.
About 40,000 Comorans live in France; many of them had
gone there
for a university education and never returned. Small
numbers of
Indians, Malagasy, South Africans, and Europeans live on
the
islands and play an important role in the economy.
Data as of August 1994
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