page_title: Demographics of Somalia
section_title: Somalis
hierarchical_section_title: Demographics of Somalia / Ethnic groups / Somalis
caption_attribution_description: English: Young Somali women at a community event in Hargeisa, Somalia.
context_page_description: The demographics of Somalia encompass the demographic features of Somalia's inhabitants, including ethnicity, languages, population density, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
context_section_description: Somalis constitute the largest ethnic group in Somalia, at approximately 85% of the nation's inhabitants. They are organized into clan groupings, which are important social units; clan membership plays a central part in Somali culture and politics. Clans are patrilineal and are typically divided into sub-clans, sometimes with many sub-divisions. Through the xeer system (customary law), the advanced clan structure has served governmental roles in many rural Somali communities.
  Somali society is traditionally ethnically endogamous. So to extend ties of alliance, marriage is often to another ethnic Somali from a different clan. Thus, for example, a recent study observed that in 89 marriages contracted by men of the Dhulbahante clan, 55 (62%) were with women of Dhulbahante sub-clans other than those of their husbands; 30 (33.7%) were with women of surrounding clans of other clan families (Isaaq, 28; Gedabursi, 3); and 3 (4.3%) were with women of other clans of the Darod clan family (Marehan 2, Ogaden 1).
caption: Young Somali women at a community event in Hargeisa.
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