International Journal of Social Sciences and Management Review

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILING OF SOCIO-POLITICAL CRISIS INDUCED INTERNAL DISPLACED PERSONS IN THE BAMENDA URBANSCAPE, CAMEROON

Authors: Ngueya Mbeutcha Anmik Josiane*, Clarkson Mvo Wanie & Sop Sop Maturin Desire

ABSTRACT

Globally, reports indicate an increasing number of internally displaced persons particularly in Sub-Sahara Africa due to frequent conflicts. Despite these contributions, there has been limited research on the demographic profiling of IDPs in several parts of Cameroon especially in Bamenda characterized by the on-going socio-political crisis since 2016. Therefore, this study identifies the educational levels, age groups and employment status of IDPs in the Bamenda urbanscape. To achieve this aim, the study randomly sampled 400 IDPs in the Bamenda I, II and III municipalities. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tools and content analysis.  The findings reveal that amongst IDPs youths (39.39%) and young adults (39.39%) are the most dominant, followed by adults (18.19%), indicating that the IDP population in Bamenda is predominantly youthful. Some 40% of IDPs have attained undergraduate or graduate-level education, while over 50% remain unemployed across the three sub-divisions. This demographic structure suggests a high dependency burden and increased vulnerability of IDPs to poverty and social challenges in Bamenda. The study recommends that decision makers should put in place strategies to absorb this youthful and learned population by creating training centers and job opportunities both for the educated and the uneducated IDPs population.

Keywords: Demography, Displaced persons, Socio-political crisis, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Bamenda.

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