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More than one-half of the country’s population is Christian, predominantly independent Christian, with some Protestant. Some Batswana adhere to traditional beliefs as their primary religious orientation. Christianity was introduced during the colonial era by missionaries from the south such as David Livingstone and was established as the official religion of the eight Tswana states by the end of the 19th century. Some Indigenous religious and medical practices, notably respect for patriarchal ancestors, were assimilated within popular Christian beliefs.
Allegiance to the old state churches, notably those of the Congregationalists (London Missionary Society), has declined since the 1950s. There are numerous Anglican and United Reformed (Congregational and Methodist) churches; other Christian denominations represented in the country include Dutch Reformed, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran. There are also a small number of Muslim, Quaker, Hindu, and Bahāʿī congregations, which are predominantly expatriate.
Settlement patterns
The human and livestock population of Botswana is concentrated around the hill ranges of the eastern hardveld and along the perennial rivers of the north. About two-fifths of the population is rural and lives in settlements that range from small scattered sites that are sparsely populated to villages of more than 1,000 people to traditional towns with tens of thousands of people.
The typical rural settlement and land use pattern of the eastern hardveld in the past may be characterized as having been concentric circles around a concentrated village nucleus. The family had a home base in the village, where the majority of its members spent most of the year. In the appropriate season they cultivated lands (fields) within one or two days’ walk from the village. The family cattle, on the other hand, were pastured for most of the year at “cattle-posts” a number of days’ walk from the village. Finally, beyond the cattle-posts there were hunting lands.
The villages and traditional towns of Botswana are still basically laid out around the kgotla (courtyard) and cattle kraal (corral) of traditional rulers and are subdivided into wards, each of which mimics the village or town plan with its own central kgotla and kraal. But, especially since the 1970s, traditional settlements have been sliced through by modern roads and facilities such as schools and offices, as well as shopping malls and bars. Traditional architecture of thatch roofing and clay walls has given way to corrugated metal roofing and brick walls.
Two of the seven larger towns of Botswana, Francistown (1897) and Lobatse (1902), originated as small urban centers on the railway for white farming communities. Both began to develop in size and function in the 1950s as employment in nonagricultural services expanded. Gaborone, the capital city, was founded in 1964. Selebi-Phikwe (1971) and Jwaneng (1979) constitute the only substantial mining towns. The smaller diamond town of Orapa (1971) is enclosed by high security fences and is jointly managed by the government of Botswana and De Beers S.A. Another mining town, Sua (1991), is based on the soda ash deposits of the eastern Makgadikgadi Pans.
Demographic trends
After six previous censuses of variable quality, Botswana had its first systematic national census in 1964. Total population was estimated at 550,000, with 35,000 absentees—mostly adult male workers in South Africa. Since 1964 the population has grown, exceeding one million in the early 1980s and approaching two million in the early 21st century. Meanwhile, the rate of labor migration abroad has been reduced by a combination of restrictions by South Africa and increased employment opportunities at home. Botswana has provided a home, and sometimes eventual citizenship, for significant numbers of refugees from South Africa, Angola, and Zimbabwe.
The age and gender composition of the country is weighted by a youthful population: more than one-fourth are younger than 15, and another one-fourth are between the ages of 15 and 29. Life expectancy declined dramatically during the last two decades of the 20th century, in large part because of the spread of HIV/AIDS, which affected about one-fourth of Botswana’s adult population by the early 21st century. The 2001 census showed life expectancy of 49.6 years at birth for females and 51.6 years for males, compared with the 1981 figures of 61.2 and 54.7 years, respectively.
Economy
Botswana has a free market economy with a strong tradition of central government planning to provide infrastructure for private investment. The economy has grown rapidly since the mid-1960s, with the gross domestic product per capita increasing more than a hundredfold.
Relatively few rural households benefit from cattle sales: almost half of them have no cattle, and less than one-tenth own about half of the country’s cattle (averaging 100 head each). Few households produce enough crops to cover even their own subsistence, let alone to sell on the market. Many rural households survive on the income of a family member in town or abroad. That still leaves a significant number of rural households, usually female-headed, with no source of income known to statisticians.
State revenues reaped from mining development have been spent on basic rural infrastructure and welfare services and on schemes to subsidize the development of cattle and crop production, which have in general benefited the richer rural households. Trade unions have had limited success penetrating the paid employment sector in Botswana.
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
Very little of Botswana’s land is suitable for productive cultivation. Agricultural output constitutes less than one-tenth of the gross national product, and most of that is in the form of livestock production for urban and export markets. Grain production (mostly sorghum, millet, and corn [maize]) fell short of national consumption for most of the 20th century, and foodstuffs from South Africa and Zimbabwe are some of Botswana’s major import commodities. Fishing and forestry production are limited and largely confined to the extreme north.
Botswana is traditionally seen as cattle country. Given sufficient water and pasture and controls on the spread of foot-and-mouth disease from wetland buffalo, it is a healthy environment for raising high-bulk, high-quality indigenous beef cattle. The government has invested heavily in disease prevention, modern slaughterhouses, and support services for cattle producers. Various schemes—so far unsuccessful—have been attempted to improve range management. Meanwhile, access to Botswana’s main export market for beef, the European Union, improved with the reduction of levies and tariffs in the early 21st century.