Central African Republic Ethnic Groups

There are over eighty (80) ethnic groups in the CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, which may not be surprising considering that fellow African countries have even more — for instance, Nigeria boasts over 250! There are a few majority ethnic groups representing most of Central African Republic's population. They include the Baya people (one-third of the country), Banda (about one-fourth), Mandjia (about 13%), and Sara (10%). Minority groups include the Mboum people (7%) as well as the M'Baka and Yakoma tribes, both comprising approximately 4% of Central African Republic's population. These groups of people usually communicate in Sangho or their particular tribal language. Nationally spoken but not designated an official language like French is, Sangho is currently classified and known as a Ngbandi-related Creole language.