A young and urban population
With a very low population density, Gabon belongs to the "underpopulated zone" of the Gabon-Congo area. This is partly due to its wild territory, but also to its fertility rate, which is below the African average. In 2021, the fertility rate was 3.49 children per woman, compared with 4.3 children per woman in sub-Saharan Africa. This low fertility rate, particularly in the east of the country, was one of the reasons for the creation of the Franceville International Medical Research Centre in 1979. Added to this is a fairly high mortality rate of around 8.5%, of which over 35% is among children. In addition to being a sparsely populated country, the population is unevenly dispersed across the territory. Over 85% of Gabon's population lives in cities, making it one of the most urbanized countries on the continent. Although Port-Gentil and Franceville rank second and third, their population density is significantly lower (around 10 inhabitants/km²) than that of overcrowded Libreville (around 1,800 inhabitants/km²), and drops sharply in the rest of the country to less than 1 inhabitant/km² in some regions. The vast forests are sparsely populated, and the savannah zones are home to a few villages, while the rest of the population continues to live along the main roads and river routes. With almost 60% of the population under the age of 25, the increasingly young population represents a challenge for the country's future.
A demographic dynamic
Demographics have changed dramatically since 1960. The population has more than tripled since independence, thanks in part to an improved sanitation system, whereas it had been in decline since the arrival of Europeans: the slave trade and excess mortality due to forced labor during the colonial era contributed to a decline in demographic growth. However, there are a number of reasons for this sudden increase in population. Migratory factors and internal movements were linked by a common vector: the economic success of mining. The exploitation of oil and manganese in the 1960s triggered two concomitant phenomena: a massive influx of foreigners and a revolutionary urbanization, but, as we saw with uranium in Mounana, sometimes ephemeral, around the mining fields. Today, depending on world market supply, oil production is attracting an influx of migrants from China. In the 1970s, Gabon also welcomed a large number of immigrants, initially from neighboring countries, although the trend is now reversing in favor of migrants from West Africa. Considered the African Eldorado in an unstable and impoverished sub-region, Gabon, despite its declining economic growth, has since independence offered tempting job prospects for many other countries. Foreigners of all origins now account for more than 20% of the population, most of them from Black Africa (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and the Sahel countries). There are also some 10,000 European nationals, mainly French, who have settled here as part of the French cooperation program, as well as an increasingly large Chinese community. Finally, the internal demographic trend followed the oil boom of the 1950s. This led to a major rural exodus towards the major logging sites and the capital, as young people became less and less willing to accept the precariousness of traditional lifestyles in a difficult context. Revenues from black gold triggered a surge in public and private investment in the areas affected by this sudden, massive urbanization, bringing all the features and attractions of modernity into the exclusive setting of the cities, thus bringing about social and cultural change.
A plurality of ethnicities
Made up of some 50 ethnic groups, Gabon is a richly multicultural country, with a plethora of spoken languages and diverse traditions, all equally astonishing. The vast majority of ethnic groups share a common linguistic base in the Bantu language. From the 13th to the 19th century, the successive movements of populations migrating from outside the country, sometimes mixing with other groups, partly explain the similarities in language and social organization. The first ethnic mixing took place around 1880, when Savorgnan de Brazza travelled up the Ogooué, which rapidly became a confluence axis for the Gabonese peoples. The second demographic melting pot occurred when logging camps were set up in the early 20th century. In the meantime, the newly-created groups crystallized into ethnic or "speaking" groups. However, these different groups are not attached to defined territories as in most African countries, which helps to limit ethnic quarrels. There are no majority ethnic groups in Gabon, but the most numerous are the Fang, who account for over 30% of the population. Made up of several sub-groups, they are present in five of the country's nine regions, notably in Libreville and Woleu-Ntem. They are followed by the Mpongwè, sub-group of the Myéné, and the Obamba, sub-group of the Mbédé, who together account for almost 30% of the population. The former are mainly found in the Estuaire province, the latter in the eastern part of the country, in the Ogooué province. The Punus, who belong to the Shira-Punu cultural group like the Eshira, Lumbu and Vili, make up 12% of Gabon's population. They live in southern Gabon, in the regions of Tchibanga, Mouila and Ndendé, as well as in the capital. In addition to these majority peoples, Gabon is inhabited by other ethnic groups with smaller populations, such as the Tsogo, Bapoumou, Nzebi and Bakota. In addition to these various ethnic groups, there are of course the Pygmies, whose traces can be traced back to the earliest times in Gabon.
