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Mauritania

Updated: July 2026

Key Insights
The resources applied by the Mauritanian government to collect, compile, and publish national accounts data are inadequate to deliver consistently comprehensive, high-frequency, and independent macroeconomic statistics, though moderately stronger than some lower-income peers.

The central statistical authority, the Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse Démographique et Économique (ANSADE), along with the Banque Centrale de Mauritanie, operates under several operational, financial, and geographic constraints:
  • Extractive Sector Focus vs. Informal Economy: While formal state mechanisms track major natural resource exports (such as iron ore, gold, and emerging offshore natural gas) through customs and corporate filings, measuring the broader domestic economy-including informal urban commerce, traditional livestock herding, and smallholder agriculture-remains significantly less developed.
  • Vast Geography and Pastoral Movements: Mauritania's expansive desert terrain and dispersed, semi-nomadic pastoral communities present severe logistical hurdles for field data collection, routinely leading to localized survey gaps and timing lags.
  • Fiscal Shortfalls and Infrastructure Capacity: ANSADE faces recurring budgetary limitations, which hamper its ability to maintain up-to-date business registers, deploy modern digital collection systems across remote administrative regions, and retain specialised technical statisticians.
  • Heavy Reliance on External Donors: Benchmark statistical operations-including national population censuses, household living standard surveys, and ongoing efforts to align national accounting frameworks with SNA 2008 standards-depend heavily on technical and financial backing from foreign development partners, such as the World Bank, the IMF, and regional Arab financial institutions.
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Economics:   
GDP DATA QUALITY   /   GDP SIZE   /   GDP GROWTH   /   WEALTH   /   INEQUALITY   /   DEBT
Demographics:   
DATA QUALITY    /    POPULATION PROFILE

E.S.G.:   
ENVIRONMENTAL    /    SOCIAL    /    GOVERNANCE

 
ECONOMICS
DEMOGRAPHICS
E.S.G.
Demographics sections:    DATA QUALITY    /    POPULATION PROFILE

 
POPULATION DATA QUALITY

The Population Data Quality Rating is derived from three factors: a country's latest Census Year; its Capacity for producing statistical data; and its Registration of Births data. Read more...

The three components are weighted to form the Population Data Quality Index.


Population Data Quality Ratings
Index: 0 = Extremely poor quality, 100 = Good as it gets
Ranked by Data Quality Index
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Country
 Rank
Order		 Population
Data Quality
(Index, 0-100)		 Population
Data Quality
(Rating, A-E)		 Census
Years
(Out-of-date)		 Statistical Resources
(Index, 0-100)		 Registration of Births
(% of total)




Ethiopia 133 34.8 E 18 40.6 2.7
Myanmar 134 34.8 E 11 57.1 81.3
Madagascar 135 34.7 E 7 38.2 73.8
Liberia 136 34.6 E 17 43.8 66.3
Guinea 137 33.1 E 11 39.6 62.0
Gabon 138 32.3 E 12 38.4 89.6
Eswatini 139 32.0 E 8 38.3 53.5
Cameroon 140 31.8 E 20 53.3 61.9
Mauritania 141 31.4 E 12 34.6 44.8
Honduras 142 30.0 E 19 43.4 97.0
Chad 143 27.3 E 16 35.8 25.7
Congo, Rep. 144 26.8 E 18 24.2 95.9
Papua New Guinea 145 26.3 E 14 31.1 13.4
Turkmenistan 146 25.9 E 5 7.2 99.9
Guinea-Bissau 147 25.6 E 16 35.1 46.0
Comoros 148 24.9 E 8 67.0 87.3
Haiti 149 24.8 E 11 28.3 84.8

Access full Population Data Quality Ratings table


Data Notes
Population Data Quality Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
         0 = Poor, 100 = Excellent.

Rating definitions:
         A: As good as it gets
         B: Good
         C: Use with caution
         D: Poor
         E: Extremely poor quality

The index calculations and displayed data are derived from the most current and up-to-date source data available.
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Related Data
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Related Insights for Population Data Quality
 
 

 
POPULATION PROFILE

World Economics has collated key demographic data for Mauritania in the table below. The data covers Population size, average age and dependency ratios.


Population Profile
Ranked by Population Size: 2025
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Country
 Population
Size
(Millions, 2025)		 Median
Age
(Years)		 Fertility
Rate
(2025)		 Age
Dependency
(Young)		 Age
Dependency
(Old)		 Age
Dependency
(Total)




Finland 5.6 43.2 1.1% 22.8% 39.9% 62.7%
Liberia 5.8 18.8 3.5% 66.6% 5.8% 72.4%
Norway 5.6 39.8 1.2% 24.2% 29.9% 54.1%
Slovak Republic 5.4 42.3 1.3% 23.6% 29.9% 53.5%
Central African Republic 5.7 14.5 5.6% 97.4% 4.5% 101.9%
Oman 5.6 29.7 2.2% 32.8% 3.7% 36.6%
Ireland 5.3 39.0 1.4% 26.8% 25.1% 51.9%
New Zealand 5.3 37.7 1.4% 27.4% 28.0% 55.5%
Mauritania 5.4 17.4 4.3% 76.9% 6.0% 82.9%
Costa Rica 5.2 35.2 1.1% 25.9% 19.3% 45.2%
Kuwait 5.1 34.8 1.3% 22.5% 4.1% 26.6%
Panama 4.6 30.3 1.8% 36.7% 15.1% 51.8%
Croatia 3.8 45.3 1.2% 21.6% 38.5% 60.1%
Georgia 3.8 37.3 1.5% 31.8% 25.8% 57.6%
Mongolia 3.5 26.9 2.3% 48.7% 9.1% 57.8%
Uruguay 3.4 36.4 1.1% 26.5% 25.1% 51.6%
Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.1 45.7 1.3% 19.9% 36.8% 56.8%


Access full Population table


Data Notes
Data sources:
Fertility rate data is from the United Nations Population Prospect Database, Actual data to 2024, Medium estimate used for 2024-2050.

The displayed data are derived from the most current and up-to-date source data available.
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