Demographics

In Sudan’s 1993 census, the population was calculated at 25 million. No comprehensive census has been carried out since that time due to the continuation of the civil war. Current estimates from the United Nations as of 2006 estimate the population to be about 37 million. The population of metropolitan Khartoum is growing rapidly and is estimated at about 5-6 million, including around 2 million displaced persons from the southern war zone as well as western and eastern drought-affected areas.

Sudan has two distinct major cultures--Arabs with Nubian (Kushite) roots and non-Arab Black Africans--with hundreds of ethnic and tribal divisions and language groups.

The northern states cover most of the Sudan and include most of the urban centers. Most of the 22 million Sudanese who live in this region are Arabic-speaking Muslims, though the majority also use a traditional non-Arabic mother tongue.

The southern region has a population of around 6 million and a predominantly rural, subsistence economy. This region has been affected by war for all but 10 years since independence in 1956, resulting in serious neglect, lack of infrastructure development, and major destruction and displacement. More than 2 million people have died, and more than 4 million are internally displaced or have become refugees as a result of the civil war and war-related impacts. Most Christian Sudanese are located in the southern regions. The south also contains many tribal groups and many more languages are used than in the north. The Dinka, whose population is estimated at more than 1 million, are the largest of the many black African tribes of the Sudan.

The Dinka are a group of tribes of south Sudan, inhabiting the swamplands of the Bahr el Ghazal region of the Nile basin, Jonglei and parts of southern Kordufan and Upper Nile regions. They are mainly pastoral people, relying on cattle herding at riverside camps in the dry season and growing millet (Anyanjang) in fixed settlements during the rainy season.

They number around 2 million people, constituting about 5% of the population of the entire country, and the largest Ethnic tribe in South Sudan. Dinka, or as they refer to themselves, Moinjaang, are one of the branches of the River Lake Nilotes (mainly pastoral peoples of E. Africa who speak Nilotic languages. They are black African people, differing markedly from the Arab tribes inhabiting northern Sudan; they are noted for their height, often reaching more than seven feet.

Information source from Wikipedia.