More women than men in Botswana

This is a slight improvement from the 2001 census, in which there were 100 women to 94 men, and the 100 women to 92 men in the 1991 census. The latest official figures from the 2011 Population and Housing Census have revealed that there are currently 1,035,608 women countrywide, while the nationwide figures for men stand at 989,179. The total national population for people who were within the Botswana borders during the census, has been confirmed at 2,024,787. In an interview with Mmegi yesterday, Dabilani Buthali said the population imbalance between men and women is in keeping with international trends, in which women outnumber men. He said the trend worldwide is that even though there are more male babies than females born, there is a higher mortality rate among male children. "In adults, the trend shows that the mortality rate for men is higher than it is for women," said Buthali. He wouldn't be drawn into discussions around the impact of a higher female population on society, explaining that his role is to provide statistics to policy makers, who can then consider what the numbers mean for society. Buthali said the 2,024,787 figures show a 1.9 percent growth per annum since 2001. The figures confirm what was revealed in the preliminary results in September last year, in which it was shown that villages close to major cities have grown significantly in the last 10 years. Mmopane whose population has grown more than four times in the last 10 years has 17,845 people, while Mogoditshane has 58,079. In the Kweneng East district, the population count in Molepolole stands at 73,119.Tlokweng village has a population of 36,326 people. Meanwhile, towns and cities continue to have high population counts with figures for Gaborone standing at 231 626, and 98 963 in Francistown, 65 693 in Maun and 49 411 in Selebi-Phikwe. Buthali said his office is still working on results from last year's census, to gain more insight into details such as population by age, by locals and residents and employment figures. He said reports with those details will be ready for public consumption by September this year.