Madagascar was one of the last major habitable landmasses on earth settled by humans. While there is some evidence of human presence on the island in the millennia B.C., large-scale settlement began between A.D. 350 and 550 with settlers from present-day Indonesia. The island attracted Arab and Persian traders as early as the 7th century, and migrants from Africa arrived around A.D. 1000. Madagascar was a pirate stronghold during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and served as a slave trading center into the 19th century. From the 16th to the late 19th century, a native Merina Kingdom dominated much of Madagascar. The island was conquered by the French in 1896 who made it a colony; independence was regained in 1960.
During 1992-93, free presidential and National Assembly elections were held ending 17 years of single-party rule. In 1997, in the second presidential race, Didier RATSIRAKA, the leader during the 1970s and 1980s, returned to the presidency. The 2001 presidential election was contested between the followers of Didier RATSIRAKA and Marc RAVALOMANANA, nearly causing secession of half of the country. In 2002, the High Constitutional Court announced RAVALOMANANA the winner. RAVALOMANANA won a second term in 2006 but, following protests in 2009, handed over power to the military, which then conferred the presidency on the mayor of Antananarivo, Andry RAJOELINA, in what amounted to a coup d’etat. Following a lengthy mediation process led by the Southern African Development Community, Madagascar held UN-supported presidential and parliamentary elections in 2013. Former de facto finance minister Hery RAJAONARIMAMPIANINA won a runoff election in December 2013 and was inaugurated in January 2014. In January 2019, RAJOELINA was declared the winner of a runoff election against RAVALOMANANA; both RATSIRAKA and RAJAONARIMAMPIANINA also ran in the first round of the election, which took place in November 2018.
land: 581,540 sq km
water: 5,501 sq km
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or 100 nm from the 2,500-m isobath
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
mean elevation: 615 m
arable land: 6% (2018 est.)
permanent crops: 1% (2018 est.)
permanent pasture: 64.1% (2018 est.)
forest: 21.5% (2018 est.)
other: 7.4% (2018 est.)
28,812,195 (2023 est.)
noun: Malagasy (singular and plural)
adjective: Malagasy
Malayo-Indonesian (Merina and related Betsileo), Cotiers (mixed African, Malayo-Indonesian, and Arab ancestry - Betsimisaraka, Tsimihety, Antaisaka, Sakalava), French, Indian, Creole, Comoran
Malagasy (official) 99.9%, French (official) 23.6%, English 8.2%, other 0.6% (2018 est.)
note: shares sum to more than 100% because some respondents gave more than one answer on the census
Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar/Malagasy Lutheran Church/Anglican Church 34%, Roman Catholic 32.3%, other Christian 8.1%, traditional/Animist 1.7%, Muslim 1.4%, other 0.6%, none 21.9% (2021 est.)
Madagascar’s youthful population – nearly 60% are under the age of 25 as of 2020 – and moderately high total fertility rate of more than 3.6 children per woman ensures that the Malagasy population will continue its rapid growth trajectory for the foreseeable future. The population is predominantly rural and poor; chronic malnutrition is prevalent, and large families are the norm. Many young Malagasy girls are withdrawn from school, marry early (often pressured to do so by their parents), and soon begin having children. Early childbearing, coupled with Madagascar’s widespread poverty and lack of access to skilled health care providers during delivery, increases the risk of death and serious health problems for young mothers and their babies.Child marriage perpetuates gender inequality and is prevalent among the poor, the uneducated, and rural households – as of 2018, 40% of Malagasy women aged 20 to 24 were married. Although the legal age for marriage is 18, parental consent is often given for earlier marriages or the law is flouted, especially in rural areas that make up approximately 60% of the country. Forms of arranged marriage whereby young girls are married to older men in exchange for oxen or money are traditional. If a union does not work out, a girl can be placed in another marriage, but the dowry paid to her family diminishes with each unsuccessful marriage.Madagascar’s population consists of 18 main ethnic groups, all of whom speak the same Malagasy language. Most Malagasy are multi-ethnic, however, reflecting the island’s diversity of settlers and historical contacts (see Background). Madagascar’s legacy of hierarchical societies practicing domestic slavery (most notably the Merina Kingdom of the 16th to the 19th century) is evident today in persistent class tension, with some ethnic groups maintaining a caste system. Slave descendants are vulnerable to unequal access to education and jobs, despite Madagascar’s constitutional guarantee of free compulsory primary education and its being party to several international conventions on human rights. Historical distinctions also remain between central highlanders and coastal people.
0-14 years: 37.47% (male 5,451,018/female 5,343,865)
15-64 years: 58.72% (male 8,481,873/female 8,437,644)
65 years and over: 3.81% (2023 est.) (male 506,495/female 591,300)
total dependency ratio: 74.5
youth dependency ratio: 68.8
elderly dependency ratio: 5.8
potential support ratio: 17.4 (2021 est.)
total: 21 years (2023 est.)
male: 20.9 years
female: 21.2 years
2.22% (2023 est.)
28.1 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
5.9 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
most of population lives on the eastern half of the island; significant clustering is found in the central highlands and eastern coastline as shown in this
urban population: 40.6% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 4.26% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
3.872 million ANTANANARIVO (capital) (2023)
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
19.5 years (2021 est.)
note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-29
392 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
total: 38.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
male: 41.6 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 34.8 deaths/1,000 live births
total population: 68.5 years (2023 est.)
male: 67.1 years
female: 69.9 years
3.55 children born/woman (2023 est.)
1.75 (2023 est.)
49.7% (2020)
improved: urban: 85% of population
rural: 38% of population
total: 56.1% of population
unimproved: urban: 15% of population
rural: 62% of population
total: 43.9% of population (2020 est.)
3.9% of GDP (2020)
0.2 physicians/1,000 population (2018)
0.2 beds/1,000 population
improved: urban: 49.2% of population
rural: 22.1% of population
total: 32.6% of population
unimproved: urban: 50.8% of population
rural: 77.9% of population
total: 67.4% of population (2020 est.)
degree of risk: very high (2023)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
note: on 31 August 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Madagascar is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine
5.3% (2016)
total: 0.89 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0.5 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.07 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.32 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
total: 27.8% (2020 est.)
male: 42.7% (2020 est.)
female: 12.8% (2020 est.)
22.6% (2021)
60.1% (2023 est.)
women married by age 15: 12.7%
women married by age 18: 38.8%
men married by age 18: 11.2% (2021 est.)
3.1% of GDP (2020 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77.3%
male: 78.8%
female: 75.8% (2021)
total: 10 years
male: 10 years
female: 10 years (2018)
erosion and soil degredation results from deforestation and overgrazing; desertification; agricultural fires; surface water contaminated with raw sewage and other organic wastes; wildlife preservation (endangered species of flora and fauna unique to the island)
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
tropical along coast, temperate inland, arid in south
agricultural land: 71.1% (2018 est.)
arable land: 6% (2018 est.)
permanent crops: 1% (2018 est.)
permanent pasture: 64.1% (2018 est.)
forest: 21.5% (2018 est.)
other: 7.4% (2018 est.)
urban population: 40.6% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 4.26% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
severe localized food insecurity: due to the effects of extreme weather events and slow economic recovery - according to the latest May 2022 analysis, the prevalence of food insecurity in the southern regions is projected to peak at 2.1 million people by December 2022 until at least March 2023; overall, the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance by the end of 2022 is expected to be about 30 percent higher compared to the peak number in 2021; the poor food security situation is mainly the consequence of six consecutive poor agricultural seasons that culminated in very tight food supplies for rural households and curbed incomes from crop sales; high rates of poverty and increased prices of essential food commodities, combined with a high reliance on market supplies due to low harvests for own consumption, are also contributing to the high rates of food insecurity across the southern regions (2022)
4.34% of GDP (2018 est.)
0% of GDP (2018 est.)
particulate matter emissions: 16.02 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)
carbon dioxide emissions: 3.91 megatons (2016 est.)
methane emissions: 10.14 megatons (2020 est.)
municipal solid waste generated annually: 3,768,759 tons (2016 est.)
municipal: 400 million cubic meters (2020 est.)
industrial: 160 million cubic meters (2020 est.)
agricultural: 13 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
337 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
low-income East African island economy; natural resource rich; extreme poverty; return of political stability has helped growth; sharp tax revenue drop due to COVID-19; leading vanilla producer; environmentally fragile
$42.322 billion (2021 est.)
$40.537 billion (2020 est.)
$43.653 billion (2019 est.)
note: data are in 2017 dollars
4.4% (2021 est.)
-7.14% (2020 est.)
4.41% (2019 est.)
$1,500 (2021 est.)
$1,400 (2020 est.)
$1,600 (2019 est.)
note: data are in 2017 dollars
$13.964 billion (2019 est.)
5.81% (2021 est.)
4.2% (2020 est.)
5.61% (2019 est.)
agriculture: 24% (2017 est.)
industry: 19.5% (2017 est.)
services: 56.4% (2017 est.)comparison rankings:
household consumption: 67.1% (2017 est.)
government consumption: 11.2% (2017 est.)
investment in fixed capital: 15.1% (2017 est.)
investment in inventories: 8.8% (2017 est.)
exports of goods and services: 31.5% (2017 est.)
imports of goods and services: -33.7% (2017 est.)
rice, sugar cane, cassava, sweet potatoes, milk, vegetables, bananas, mangoes/guavas, tropical fruit, potatoes
meat processing, seafood, soap, beer, leather, sugar, textiles, glassware, cement, automobile assembly plant, paper, petroleum, tourism, mining
-21.56% (2020 est.)
14.813 million (2021 est.)
2.59% (2021 est.)
2.47% (2020 est.)
1.86% (2019 est.)
total: 4.8% (2021 est.)
male: 5.2%
female: 4.4%
70.7% (2012 est.)
42.6 (2012 est.)
lowest 10%: 2.2%
highest 10%: 34.7% (2010 est.)
revenues: $1.51 billion (2020 est.)
expenditures: $2.09 billion (2020 est.)
-2.7% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
36% of GDP (2017 est.)
38.4% of GDP (2016 est.)
9.52% (of GDP) (2020 est.)
calendar year
-$732.252 million (2021 est.)
-$623.149 million (2020 est.)
-$302.357 million (2019 est.)
$3.341 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$2.589 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$4.082 billion (2019 est.)
United States 19%, France 18%, United Arab Emirates 7%, China 6%, Japan 6%, Germany 5%, India 5% (2019)
vanilla, nickel, clothing and apparel, titanium, gold, cloves (2021)
$4.768 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$3.718 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$4.685 billion (2019 est.)
China 24%, France 11%, United Arab Emirates 9%, India 7%, South Africa 5% (2019)
refined petroleum, rice, cars, packaged medicines, clothing and apparel (2019)
$2.335 billion (31 December 2021 est.)
$1.981 billion (31 December 2020 est.)
$1.693 billion (31 December 2019 est.)
$3.085 billion (2019 est.)
$4.107 billion (2018 est.)
Malagasy ariary (MGA) per US dollar -
Exchange rates:
3,829.978 (2021 est.)
3,787.754 (2020 est.)
3,618.322 (2019 est.)
3,334.752 (2018 est.)
3,116.11 (2017 est.)
population without electricity: 20 million (2020)
electrification - total population: 35.1% (2021)
electrification - urban areas: 72.6% (2021)
electrification - rural areas: 10.9% (2021)
installed generating capacity: 587,000 kW (2020 est.)
consumption: 1,720,140,000 kWh (2019 est.)
exports: 0 kWh (2020 est.)
imports: 0 kWh (2020 est.)
transmission/distribution losses: 131 million kWh (2019 est.)comparison rankings:
fossil fuels: 59.8% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
solar: 1.1% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
wind: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
hydroelectricity: 38.2% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
tide and wave: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
geothermal: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
biomass and waste: 1% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
production: 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
consumption: 107,000 metric tons (2020 est.)
exports: 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
imports: 115,000 metric tons (2020 est.)
proven reserves: 0 metric tons (2019 est.)
total petroleum production: 0 bbl/day (2021 est.)
refined petroleum consumption: 21,100 bbl/day (2019 est.)
crude oil and lease condensate exports: 0 bbl/day (2018 est.)
crude oil and lease condensate imports: 0 bbl/day (2018 est.)
crude oil estimated reserves: 0 barrels (2021 est.)
0 bbl/day (2015 est.)
0 bbl/day (2015 est.)
18,880 bbl/day (2015 est.)
production: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
consumption: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
exports: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
imports: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
proven reserves: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
4.218 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from coal and metallurgical coke: 1.044 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from petroleum and other liquids: 3.175 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
from consumed natural gas: 0 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
2.307 million Btu/person (2019 est.)
number of registered air carriers: 4 (2020)
inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 18
annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 541,290 (2018)
annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 16.25 million (2018) mt-km
5R
83 (2021)
26
note: paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)
57
note: unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control
total: 836 km (2018)
narrow gauge: 836 km (2018) 1.000-m gauge
total: 31,640 km (2018)
600 km (2011) (432 km navigable)
total: 28 (2022)
by type: general cargo 15, oil tanker 2, other 11
major seaport(s): Antsiranana (Diego Suarez), Mahajanga, Toamasina, Toliara (Tulear)
manyapis