Mozambique

Women

Mozambique ranks 127 out of 162 countries in the Gender Inequality Index, where a high rank equals high equality. Women should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though.

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Children

Mozambique has a Workplace Index score of 5.1, a Marketplace Index score of 5.7 and a Community and Environment Index score of 5.2 in the Children’s Rights and Business Atlas, where countries receive scores between 0 and 10. A score closer to 0 reflects a need for basic children’s rights due diligence, while a higher score reflects a need for enhanced or heightened due diligence. Children should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though. 

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Persons with Disabilities

Due to differences in data collection and definitions it is difficult to compare countries on disability prevalence rates. Persons with disabilities should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though.

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Minorities and Indigenous Peoples

According to the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, minority groups in Mozambique include Macua, Lómuè, Sena, Chuabo, Marendje, Nyanja and Ndau. Macua are the largest ethnic group in the north, Sena and Shona (Ndau) in the populous north-central province of Zambezia, and the Tsonga (Shangaan) in the south. Mozambique had a sizeable Portuguese population of around 250,000 in colonial times, but with independence in 1975, most Portuguese left the country following a government order. Small populations of South Asians, Arabs and Chinese remain. Minority issues are not sharply drawn in the usual sense. However, the effects of uneven colonial development and post-colonial policies led many northerners to resent a southern-dominated political class. About two-thirds of Mozambique’s population inhabits the seven provinces north of the River Save. Portuguese colonial rulers paid little attention to ethnicity apart from limited categorization of some groups as ‘loyal’ and others as ‘warriors’. Rather, the accent rested on ethno-cultural hierarchy, with whites on top, mestiços (people of mixed race) and assimilados (Africans certified as Westernized) in subordinate positions, and the undifferentiated mass of the indígenas at the bottom – a system formally rejected by the post-colonial FRELIMO government. 

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Migrant Workers​

According to the ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers, migrant workers as a proportion of all workers is 3 % in the subregion Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Persons in Armed Conflict

Mozambique ranks 22 out of 179 countries in the Fragile States Index, where a high rank equals high fragility. For monthly crisis updates, check out CrisisWatch.