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Western Africa, northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and southeast of Gabon, with 169 kilometers of coastline along the South Atlantic Ocean. Slightly smaller than Montana (342,000 square kilometers). Tropical. Capital: Brazzaville.
Independence from France in 1960. Marxist led until 1990. Democratically elected government in 1992. Civil War in 1997. Constitution approved by referendum in 2002. Peace accord in 2003.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Factbook: "The economy is a mixture of subsistence agriculture, an industrial sector based largely on oil, and support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, providing a major share of government revenues and exports."
Estimated per capita GDP:
2008 $4,000
2007 $3,800
2006 $4,000
GDP annual growth rate:
2008: 8.1%
2007: -1.6%
2006: 6.2%
Oil production: 227,000 barrels per day (2004), compared to 9 million for Saudi Arabia.
Exports 33.6 percent larger than imports in cash value. (2004) Exports "petroleum, lumber, plywood, sugar, cocoa, coffee, diamonds."
Military expenditures as a percentage of GDP: 3.1 (estimated for 2006).
Deaths: 12.28, down from 14.82 in 2005. Births: 41.76, down from 42.16 in 2007
Estimate for July 2008: 3.9 million, up from 3.0 million in 2005. Growth rate estimated for 2008: 2.696 percent per year.
More leaving than arriving, a net loss of 2.52 persons per 1,000 population.
Infant mortality estimated for 2008: 81.29, down from 92.41 in 2005 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births.
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008: 53.74, up from 48.97 in 2005
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 4.9 percent. (2003)
Males 89.6 percent
Females 78.4 percent
Christian 50 percent. Animist 48 percent. Muslim 2 percent.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook>
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.