Sierra Leone (2008) | World (2002) | |
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Administrative divisions | 3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western* | 268 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 44.8% (male 1,349,878/female 1,400,297)
15-64 years: 52% (male 1,531,763/female 1,664,996) 65 years and over: 3.2% (male 92,360/female 105,268) (2007 est.) |
0-14 years: 29.2% (male 932,581,592; female 885,688,851)
15-64 years: 63.7% (male 2,009,997,089; female 1,964,938,201) 65 years and over: 7.1% (male 193,549,180; female 247,067,032) (2002 est.) |
Agriculture - products | rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish | - |
Airports | 10 (2007) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 1
over 3,047 m: 1 (2007) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 9
914 to 1,523 m: 7 under 914 m: 2 (2007) |
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Area | total: 71,740 sq km
land: 71,620 sq km water: 120 sq km |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than South Carolina | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one-third of the population). The military, which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country's stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 presidential election, but still look to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) - a civilian UN mission - to support efforts to consolidate peace. The new government's priorities include furthering development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 45.41 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 21.16 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $96 million
expenditures: $351 million (2000 est.) |
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Capital | name: Freetown
geographic coordinates: 8 30 N, 13 15 W time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
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Climate | tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April) | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 402 km | 356,000 km |
Constitution | 1 October 1991; subsequently amended several times | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Sierra Leone
conventional short form: Sierra Leone local long form: Republic of Sierra Leone local short form: Sierra Leone |
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Death rate | 22.64 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $1.61 billion (2003 est.) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2001 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas N. HULL
embassy: Corner of Walpole and Siaka Stevens Streets, Freetown mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [232] (22) 515 000 or [232] (76) 515 000 FAX: [232] (22) 225471 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Hassan M. CONTECH
chancery: 1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 939-9261 through 9263 FAX: [1] (202) 483-1793 |
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Disputes - international | as domestic fighting among disparate ethnic groups, rebel groups, warlords, and youth gangs in Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone gradually abate, the number of refugees in border areas has begun to slowly dwindle; UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has maintained over 4,000 peacekeepers in Sierra Leone since 1999; Sierra Leone considers excessive Guinea's definition of the flood plain limits to define the left bank boundary of the Makona and Moa rivers and protests Guinea's continued occupation of these lands including the hamlet of Yenga occupied since 1998 | - |
Economic aid - recipient | $343.4 million (2005 est.) | official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion (2001 est.) |
Economy - overview | Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone's exports. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation. A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining. | Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) fell from 4.8% in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001. The causes: slowdowns in the US economy (21% of GWP) and in the 15 EU economies (20% of GWP); continued stagnation in the Japanese economy (7.3% of GWP); and spillover effects in the less developed regions of the world. China, the second largest economy in the world (12% of GWP), proved an exception, continuing its rapid annual growth, officially announced as 7.3% but estimated by many observers as perhaps two percentage points lower. Russia (2.6% of GWP), with 5.2% growth, continued to make uneven progress, its GDP per capita still only one-third that of the leading industrial nations. The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations were strong performers, in the 5% range of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Indonesia, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2001, see the individual country entries.) |
Electricity - consumption | 227.9 million kWh (2005) | - |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2005) | - |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2005) | - |
Electricity - production | 245 million kWh (2005) | - |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Loma Mansa (Bintimani) 1,948 m |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
Environment - current issues | rapid population growth pressuring the environment; overharvesting of timber, expansion of cattle grazing, and slash-and-burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and soil exhaustion; civil war depleted natural resources; overfishing | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification |
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Ethnic groups | 20 African ethnic groups 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole (Krio) 10% (descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-18th century), refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians | - |
Exchange rates | leones per US dollar - NA (2007), 2,961.7 (2006), 2,889.6 (2005), 2,701.3 (2004), 2,347.9 (2003) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Ernest Bai KOROMA (since 17 September 2007); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Ernest Bai KOROMA (since 17 September 2007) cabinet: Ministers of State appointed by the president with the approval of the House of Representatives; the cabinet is responsible to the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 11 August 2007 and 8 September 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election results: second round results; percent of vote - Ernest Bai KOROMA 54.6%, Solomon BEREWA 45.4% |
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Exports | 431.1 bbl/day (2004) | $6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | Belgium 52.1%, US 19.1%, Netherlands 6.8% (2006) | in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of light green (top), white, and light blue | - |
GDP | - | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $47 trillion (2001 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 49%
industry: 31% services: 21% (2001 est.) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2001 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $7,600 (2001 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 6.8% (2007 est.) | 2.2% (2001 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 8 30 N, 11 30 W | - |
Geography - note | rainfall along the coast can reach 495 cm (195 inches) a year, making it one of the wettest places along coastal, western Africa | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
Heliports | 2 (2007) | - |
Highways | - | total: NA km
paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 43.6% (1989) |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
Imports | 8,864 bbl/day (2004) | $6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | Cote d'Ivoire 9.3%, US 7.7%, China 7.7%, Brazil 6.9%, UK 6.7%, Netherlands 5.5%, South Africa 4.5%, India 4.3%, France 4.2% (2006) | in value, about 75% of imports into the developed countries |
Independence | 27 April 1961 (from UK) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | 6% (2000 est.) |
Industries | diamond mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | total: 158.27 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 175.39 deaths/1,000 live births female: 140.65 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
51.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 1% (2002 est.) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2001 est.); national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries |
International organization participation | ACP, AfDB, AU, C, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIT, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 10,350 (2000 est.) |
Irrigated land | 300 sq km (2003) | 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court; Appeals Court; High Court | - |
Labor force | 1.369 million (1981 est.) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: NA%
industry: NA% services: NA% |
agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total: 958 km
border countries: Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice) |
Land use | arable land: 7.95%
permanent crops: 1.05% other: 91% (2005) |
arable land: 10.58%
permanent crops: 1% other: 88.42% (1998 est.) |
Languages | English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) | Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Legal system | based on English law and customary laws indigenous to local tribes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | unicameral Parliament (124 seats; 112 members elected by popular vote, 12 filled by paramount chiefs elected in separate elections; to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held on 11 August 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - APC 59, SLPP 43, PMDC 10 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 40.58 years
male: 38.36 years female: 42.87 years (2007 est.) |
total population: 63.94 years
male: 62.28 years female: 65.67 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic
total population: 35.1% male: 46.9% female: 24.4% (2004 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77% male: 83% female: 71% (1995 est.) |
Location | Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia | - |
Map references | Africa | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm |
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims: contiguous zone - 24 NM; continental shelf - 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation, or 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin; exclusive fishing zone - 200 NM; exclusive economic zone - 200 NM; territorial sea - 12 NM; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
Merchant marine | total: 113 ships (1000 GRT or over) 314,549 GRT/419,409 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 1, cargo 85, chemical tanker 4, combination ore/oil 1, container 4, liquefied gas 1, livestock carrier 1, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 4, petroleum tanker 7, roll on/roll off 4 foreign-owned: 47 (Belgium 1, China 8, Greece 1, Romania 2, Russia 5, Syria 8, Turkey 7, Ukraine 8, UAE 7) (2007) |
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Military branches | Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF): Army (includes Air Wing, Navy (Maritime Wing)) (2007) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.3% (2006) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 27 April (1961) | - |
Nationality | noun: Sierra Leonean(s)
adjective: Sierra Leonean |
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Natural hazards | dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (December to February); sandstorms, dust storms | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | 0.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: refugees currently in surrounding countries are slowly returning (2007 est.) |
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Political parties and leaders | All People's Congress or APC [Ernest Bai KOROMA]; Peace and Liberation Party or PLP [Darlington MORRISON]; People's Movement for Democratic Change or PMDC [Charles MARGAI]; Sierra Leone People's Party or SLPP [Solomon BEREWA]; numerous others | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | trade unions and student unions | - |
Population | 6,144,562 (July 2007 est.) | 6,233,821,945 (July 2002 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 70.2% (2004) | - |
Population growth rate | 2.292% (2007 est.) | 1.23% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 9, shortwave 1 (2001) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Radios | - | NA |
Railways | - | total: 1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line
broad gauge: 251,153 km standard gauge: 710,754 km narrow gauge: 239,430 km |
Religions | Muslim 60%, Christian 10%, indigenous beliefs 30% | Christians 32.88% (of which Roman Catholics 17.39%, Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.54%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.54%, Hindus 13.34%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.6%, non-religious 12.63%, atheists 2.47% (2000 est.) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 0.964 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.877 male(s)/female total population: 0.938 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: marginal telephone service
domestic: the national microwave radio relay trunk system connects Freetown to Bo and Kenema international: country code - 232; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2000) |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 24,000 (2002) | NA |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 113,200 (2003) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 2 (1999) | NA |
Terrain | coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 6.01 children born/woman (2007 est.) | 2.7 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | NA% | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2001 est.) |
Waterways | 800 km (600 km year round) (2005) | - |