Demographics of São Tomé and Príncipe

Of São Tomé and Príncipe's total population, about 137,500 live on São Tomé and 6,000 on Príncipe. All are descended from various ethnic groups that have migrated to the islands since 1485. Seven groups are identifiable:

* Mestiços, or mixed-blood, descendants of Portuguese colonists and African slaves brought to the islands during the early years of settlement from Benin, Gabon, and Congo (these people also are known as filhos da terra or "sons of the land");
* Angolares, reputedly descendants of Angolan slaves who survived a 1540 shipwreck and now earn their livelihood fishing;
* Forros, descendants of freed slaves when slavery was abolished;
* Serviçais, contract laborers from Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde, living temporarily on the islands;
* Tongas, children of serviçais born on the islands;
* Europeans, primarily Portuguese; and
* Asians, mostly Chinese minority, including Macanese people of mixed Portuguese and Chinese ancestry from Macau.

In the 1970s, there were two significant population movements—the exodus of most of the 4,000 Portuguese residents and the influx of several hundred São Toméan refugees from Angola. The islanders have been absorbed largely into a common Luso-African culture. Almost all belong to the Roman Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, or Seventh-day Adventist Churches, with a small but growing Muslim population.

Although a small country, São Tomé and Príncipe has four national languages: Portuguese (the official language, spoken by 95% of the population), and the Portuguese-based creoles Forro (85%), Angolar (3%) and Principense (0.1%). French is also taught in schools, as the country is a member of Francophonie.

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