Republic of Senegal

World Factbook as of November 2014: "Senegal's economy is driven by agriculture and that sector is the primary source of employment for the rural areas. The country's key export industries are phosphate mining, fertilizer production, and commercial fishing. The country is also working on iron ore and oil exploration projects. senegal relies heavily on donor assistance and foreign direct investment. President Macky SALL, who was elected in March 2012 under a reformist policy agenda, inherited an economy with a weak infrastructure, challenging business environment, and a culture of overspending that still plagued the country in 2013. The IMF completed a non-dispersing, Policy Support Initiative program in December 2010 and approved a new three-year policy support instrument to assist with economic reforms. The economy continues to suffer from unreliable power supplies and rising costs of living, which has led to public protests and high unemployment and has prompted migrants to flee Senegal in search of better job opportunities in Europe."

Economic growth rate
2011: 4%
2010: 4.2%
2009: 2.2%

Labor force in agricuture
2007: 77.5%

Unemployment
2007: 48%

Export commodities
Fish, groundnuts (peanuts), petroleum products, phosphates, cotton

Export partners
2009: Mali 21.6%, India 9.6%, France 4.5%, Gambia

Export/Import ratio
2011: exports $2.515 billion, imports $5.366 billion

Education expenditures
2009: 5.8% of GDP (Note its poor corruption index compared to countries like Singapore and Japan. Corruption might prevent more from being invested in education. Senagal's corruption figure, however, is not unusual for countries of its wealth level.)

Income Distribution – GINI index
Ranks 54th among 140 countries (lower rank number is less equal). Less equal than Britain, which ranks 94th, more equal than the US, which ranks 45th.

Health expenditures
2009: 5.7% of GDP (Health expenditures in Japan are 9.3% of GDP)

People

Living in an urban area:
2010: 42%

Literacy, Age 15 and Older
2002: males 50.1%, females 29.2%

Net migration rate
2011: A net loss of 1.82 persons per 1,000 population per year.

Religion
Muslin 94%.Christian 5% (mostly Roman Catholic). Indigenous beliefs 1%

Ethnic groups
Wolof 43.3%, Pular 23.8%, Serer 14.7%, Jola 3.7%, Mandinka 3%, Soninke 1.1%, European and Lebanese 1%, other 9.4%

Women
Women have been described as doing most of the farming but little power politically. This increase in births and in the deaths of infants before the age of one for 2007 compared to 2005 remains unexplained.

Geography

Western Africa, south of Mauritania. 531 kilometers of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. Tropical. Capital: Dakar

Government

Independent from France in 1960. Multi-party democratic rule. As recent as June 2007 the BBC writes of Senegal as having been one of Africa's model democracies. The country enjoys a free press, trade unions flourish and no political prisoners are reported. Local administrators are appointed by and responsible to the president.