The Somalis are a culturally, linguistically, and religiously homogeneous people, who are separated along clan lines and sparsely scattered over a harsh, dry land. There are remarkable distinctions among sectors of the population, related in part to variations in means of livelihood. In the early 1990s, roughly 60 % of an around population of more than 8.4 million were still nomadic pastoralists or seminomadic herders, subject to the vicissitudes of an arid climate. Twenty to 25 % of the people were cultivators, most living in the southern half of the nation, on or between Somalia's two major rivers, the Jubba and the Shabeelle. The remainder were town dwellers, the large majority of whom resided in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

The workings of the lineage system were predicated on the solidarity of the portions of the same order with one another and the relative equality of the members of each portion. The growth of the state and the development of different degrees of wealth and access to other private-sector resources caused an incipient stratification that had the potential to override lineage solidarity as it diminished equality.