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Sizable ethnic groups in the country include Bantu agricultural workers, several thousand Arabs and some hundreds of Indians and Pakistanis. Nearly all inhabitants speak the Somali language, which remained unwritten until October 1973, when the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) proclaimed it the nation's official language and decreed an orthography using Latin letters. Somali is now the language of instruction in schools, although Arabic, English, and Italian also are used extensively.
Sizable ethnic groups in the country include Bantu agricultural workers, several thousand Arabs and some hundreds of Indians and Pakistanis. Nearly all inhabitants speak the Somali language, which remained unwritten until October 1973, when the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) proclaimed it the nation's official language and decreed an orthography using Latin letters. Somali is now the language of instruction in schools, although Arabic, English, and Italian also are used extensively.
*Population (2006 est., no census exists): 8.8 million (of which an estimated 2 million in Somaliland).
*Population (2006 est., no census exists): 8.8 million (of which an estimated 2 million in Somaliland). Population figures are difficult to estimate since the last census was completed in the 1970s and the instability of the country makes it impossible to collect this data.
*Annual growth rate (2006 est.): 2.85%.
*Annual growth rate (2006 est.): 2.85%.
*Ethnic groups: Somali, with a small non-Somali minority (mostly Bantu and Arabs).
*Ethnic groups: Somali, with a small non-Somali minority (mostly Bantu and Arabs).
*Education: Literacy--total population that can read and write, 37.8%: male 49.7%; female 25.8%.
*Education: Literacy--total population that can read and write, 37.8%: male 49.7%; female 25.8%.
*Health: Infant mortality rate--114.9/1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth--total population: 48.7 yrs.
*Health: Infant mortality rate--114.9/1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth--total population: 48.7 yrs.
*Work force (3.7 million; very few are skilled workers): Pastoral nomad--60%. Agriculture, government, trading, fishing, industry, handicrafts, and other--40%.
*Work force (3.7 million; very few are skilled workers): Pastoral nomad--60%. Agriculture, government, trading, fishing, industry, handicrafts, and other--40%.
===Religion===
Citizens are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims of a Sufi tradition. There also is a very small, extremely low-profile Christian community, and small numbers of followers of other religions. The number of adherents to strains of conservative Islam and the number of Islamic schools supported by religiously conservative sources continued to grow.
==Government==
==Government==