Antananarivo
Demographics

Antananarivo has been the largest city on the island since at least the late 18th century, when its population was estimated at 15,000. By 1810, the population had grown to 80,000, before declining dramatically between 1829 and 1842 during the reigns of Radama I and especially Ranavalona I. Because of a combination of war, forced labor, disease and harsh measures of justice, the population of Imerina fell from 750,000 to 130,000 during this period. In the final years of the Kingdom of Imerina, the population of Antananarivo had recovered to between 50,000 and 75,000; most of the population were slaves who were largely captured in provincial military campaigns. In 1950, Antananarivo's population was around 175,000. By the late 1990s the population of the metropolitan area had reached 1.4 million, and – while the city itself now has a population of 1,275,207 (at the 2018 Census) – with suburbs lying outside the city limits it had grown to almost 2.3 million in 2018. The metropolitan area is thus home to nearly 10 percent of the island's 25.68 million residents. Rural migration to the capital propels this growth; the city's population exceeds that of the other five provincial capitals combined.

As the historic capital of Imerina, Antananarivo is centrally located in the homeland of the Merina people, who comprise about 24 percent of the population and are the largest Malagasy ethnic group. The city's history as the island's major center for politics, culture, and trade has ensured a cosmopolitan mix of ethnic groups from across the island and overseas. Most Antananarivo residents have strong ties to their tanindrazana (ancestral village), where the extended family and typically a family tomb or burial place is located; many older residents leave the city upon retirement to return to their rural area of origin.
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