The average population density for the country is 68 people per square kilometer (180 people/sq mi).

[4] Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[5][6] Fertility data by region (DHS Program):[7] French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Hassaniya Arabic, Serer, Jola, Mandinka, Soninke, Arabic[a] The religious beliefs of the 2016 population of Senegal are: Muslim 96.1% (mostly Sunni), Christian 3.6% (mostly Roman Catholic), animist 0.3%.

[9] Senegal was historically a destination country for neighboring economic migrants, but in recent decades West African migrants more often use Senegal as a transit point to North Africa, or as a stop before continuing illegally onward to Europe.

[9] The country also has been host to several thousand black Mauritanian refugees since they were expelled from Mauritania during the 1989 border conflict with Senegal.

Destinations shifted from neighboring countries to Libya and Mauritania, because of their booming oil industries, and to France, Italy and Spain.