Population information for Sudan has been limited, but in 1990 it was clear that the nation was experiencing a high birth rate and a high, but declining, death rate. Infant mortality was high, but Sudan was expected to continue its rapid population growth, with a large %age of its people under fifteen years of age, for some time to come. The trends suggested an overall low population density. with famine affecting much of the nation, internal migration by hundreds of thousands of people was on the increase. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that in early 1991, around 1,800,000 people were displaced in the northern states, of whom it was around that 750,000 were in Al Khartum State, 30,000 each in Kurdufan and Al Awsat states, 300,000 each in Darfur and Ash Sharqi states, and 150,000 in Ash Shamali State. Efforts were underway to offer permanent sites for about 800,000 of these displaced people. The civil war and famine in the south was around to have displaced up to 3.5 million southern Sudanese by early 1990.

The 2001 around population was 36,080,375, giving the nation an overall population density of 14 persons per sq km .The most densely settled area is at the juncture of the White Nile and the Blue Nile. Sudan’s population is growing at a rate of 2.79% (2001) annually.

A major cleavage exists between the northern and the southern parts of the nation. The north is controlled by Muslims, most of whom speak Arabic and identify themselves as “Arabs,” while the people of the south are “Africans” who for the most part follow orthodox African religions, though there are also some Christians among them. Those who identify themselves as Arabs were around at 39 % of the total population in 1956. The largest non-Arab ethnic group is that of the Dinka, who constituted 12 % of the population, followed by the Beja at 7 %.Moreover, ethnic identity may not actually coincide with a particular racial character. Those Sudanese who consider themselves Arabs are, for the most part, racially mixed, and many of them are indistinguishable from black southerners. contempt a common language and religion, the “Arabs” do not constitute a cohesive group: they are highly differentiated in their mode of livelihood and comprise city dwellers, village farmers, and pastoral nomads. The Arabs have historically been separated into tribes based on presumed descent from a common ancestor. The tribal system has largely disintegrated in urban areas and settled villages, and retains its strength only among the nomads of the plains who raise cattle, sheep, and camels.