Praia, July 31, 2026 (Lusa) - Women account for 49.6% of the resident population of Cabo Verde, totalling 254,939 people, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) revealed on Friday in a publication marking African Women's Day.

According to data released by the INE, the literacy rate for women aged 15 years or over is 85.7%, whilst 8.5% have never attended school.

Among the resident female population aged four or more, 37.1% have completed primary education, 42.9% have completed secondary education and 13.6% have completed upper secondary or higher education, whilst 4.5% have no formal education.

In the labour market, 50.5% of women aged 15 or more are in employment. The indicators also highlight the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), with 79.2% of women aged 10 or over owning a mobile phone and 77.7% having used the internet in the three months prior to the survey.

The data also show a high level of female participation in unpaid work, with a participation rate of 78.1%. Women devote, on average, 22 hours and 42 minutes per week to these activities, compared with 18 hours and 55 minutes for the population as a whole.

The indicators form part of the Continuous Multi-purpose Survey (IMC) 2025 and the Survey on Unpaid Work (MUT 2024) conducted by INE.

Official data indicate that the Cabo Verdean diaspora comprises around 1.5 million people, including Cabo Verdeans and their descendants, almost three times the size of the resident population of the archipelago, which stands at around 500,000 inhabitants.

RS/AYLS // AYLS

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