Angola Census 2014

Current Angolan population stands at 24.4 million

Preliminary results from the Census 2014 showed that the number of people living in Angola stands at 24.4 million. This figure compares with 5.6 million estimated in the Census 1970. This means that the number of people living in the country is now 4.3 times higher than the population living 44 years ago. Census data also showed that there are (1) more women (51.6%) than men (48.4%) residing in Angola, (2) more people living in urban (62.3%) areas than in rural (37.7%) parts of the country and (3) 19 people for every squared km in Angola.

Province of Luanda has (by far) the largest population

The census showed that the number of residents in the province of Luanda increased nearly 12 times in the last 44 years from 561,145 in the Census 1970 to 6.5 million today. There are more women (51%) than men (49%) living in this province. Its three largest municipalities (Luanda, Viana and Belas) each have more than one million inhabitants (or a total of 4.7 million people). These municipalities have a combined population that exceeds the sum of the residents in the second (Huila) and third (Benguela) largest provinces of the country.   

President dos Santos delivers State of the Union Address

In his annual State of the Union Address to Parliament, the president spoke about several topics including (1) the need to diversify away from the oil sector, (2) several structural projects aimed at improving the competitiveness levels of the country and (3) the importance of attracting domestic and foreign investment to increase local production. He also mentioned that the lower than expected oil production this year would mean that real GDP growth would stand slightly below the initial forecast of 6.7%, despite a stronger expansion in non-oil GDP. However, Mr. dos Santos sees economic growth picking up with the recovery in oil production from 2015 onwards.

Angola nominated for UN's Security Council

President dos Santos stated that Angola has taken the necessary measures to prevent and control the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic. He also spoke about the increased role that the country has played in promoting dialogue and peace in Central Africa and the Great Lakes region. The president believes that it is therefore no surprise that the country has received the backing of the international community when it was recently nominated as a non-permanent member of the UN's Security Council for the period 2015-16.