Religious Composition
The city also show a blend of people with different beliefs since most of the inhabitants practice Islam and Christianity.
- Islam: A good number of people in Mombasa are Muslims, this is more so due to deposits of Arabs and Persians in the city. Mosques are apparent in the city and Fridays are a regular day of prayer among the people. Festivals such as Ramadan & Eid supported the multicultural programme in the city.
- Christianity: Another religion that is dominant in Mombasa is the Christianity and this is evident through the various churches that are found within the region ranging from the roman catholic churches, the Anglican, the pentecostal among others. The Christian religious fests like the Christmas and Easter are widely celebrated and are comprised of meetings and events.
- Other Religions: Other religions include Hinduism, Sikhism and traditional followers of African religion as mentioned above making the environment of Mombasa multi-religious.
Languages
The official language used in mombasa is Swahili which is mostly used as language of communication that brings together the different ethnic groups. English is also used widely and perhaps in a wider extent than Arabic in the business, educational and government organizations. It is important to note that there exist residents who are very fluent in more than one language since Dar es Salaam is a cosmopolitan city and therefore most of them speak in Swahili or English depending on their mother tongue.
Of the two factors that are considered in this report which are age distribution and household structures, only household structures have an impact on insurance premium costs.
Mombasa also has a young population, in the region of 30% of the inhabitants of this city are under the age of 30 years. This segment is characterized by young people as result of high birth rates and mobility to search employment. The population density of Mombasa households and size differs from that of the typical nuclear family, many households live in the large family houses especially area of cultural background.
Education and Employment
The literacy level however is diverse in Mombasa; there are many primary and secondary schools in the city, college and universities such as technical University of Mombasa and other vocational colleges. However there are factors such as overcrowding and inadequate resource mobilization especially in the public schools.
Approximately 80% of the population of Mombasa gets engaged in the employment sector and the most will be affiliated to service sector especially trading, tourism and porteries. Manufacturing; transport and communication and real estate sector also contribute a lot to the economy of the city. However, areas like unemployment and underemployment are remained an issue especially for youths, this shows that government should continuously work on job creations and training.
Conclusion
The demography of Mombasa is therefore characteristic of its historical background, advantageous location on the Coast as well as its multicultural nature. This means that the city has a diverse population comprising of different ethnic groups, religion and cultural background. It is therefore a valuable endeavor to gain knowledge about the demography of Mombasa today in order to appreciate and comprehend the social structure of this up and coming coastal city with a rich blend of tradition and modernity and demography as a strength.