Togo (2004) | World (2001) | |
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Administrative divisions | 5 regions (regions, singular - region); Kara, Plateaux, Savanes, Centrale, Maritime | 267 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 43.9% (male 1,222,622; female 1,214,443)
15-64 years: 53.6% (male 1,455,373; female 1,522,456) 65 years and over: 2.6% (male 59,165; female 82,753) (2004 est.) |
0-14 years:
29.6% (male 933,647,850; female 886,681,514) 15-64 years: 63.4% (male 1,975,418,386; female 1,931,021,694) 65 years and over: 7% (male 188,760,223; female 241,449,691) (2001 est.) |
Agriculture - products | coffee, cocoa, cotton, yams, cassava (tapioca), corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; livestock; fish | - |
Airports | 9 (2003 est.) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 (2004 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 5 under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.) |
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Area | total: 56,785 sq km
land: 54,385 sq km water: 2,400 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 West Virginia | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | French Togoland became Togo in 1960. Gen. Gnassingbe EYADEMA, installed as military ruler in 1967, is Africa's longest-serving head of state. Despite the facade of multiparty elections instituted in the early 1990s, the government continues to be dominated by President EYADEMA, whose Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) party has maintained power almost continually since 1967. In addition, Togo has come under fire from international organizations for human rights abuses and is plagued by political unrest. While most bilateral and multilateral aid to Togo remains frozen, the European Union initiated a partial resumption of cooperation and development aid to Togo in late 2004. | 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 drop 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 | 34.36 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 21.37 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $214.5 million
expenditures: $296.4 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2003 est.) |
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Capital | Lome | - |
Climate | tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 56 km | 356,000 km |
Constitution | multiparty draft constitution approved by High Council of the Republic 1 July 1992; adopted by public referendum 27 September 1992 | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Togolese Republic
conventional short form: Togo local long form: Republique Togolaise local short form: none former: French Togoland |
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Currency | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States | - |
Death rate | 11.64 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Debt - external | $1.4 billion (2000) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2000 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Gregory ENGLE
embassy: Angle Rue Kouenou and Rue 15 Beniglato, Lome mailing address: B. P. 852, Lome telephone: [228] 221 29 91 through 221 29 94 FAX: [228] 221 79 52 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Akoussoulelou BODJONA
chancery: 2208 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 234-4212 FAX: [1] (202) 232-3190 |
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Disputes - international | in 2001 Benin claimed Togo moved boundary monuments - joint commission continues to resurvey the boundary | - |
Economic aid - recipient | ODA $80 million (2000 est.) | traditional worldwide foreign aid $50 billion (1997 est.) |
Economy - overview | This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be imported. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate about 40% of export earnings, with cotton being the most important cash crop. Togo is the world's fourth-largest producer of phosphate, but production fell an estimated 22% in 2002 due to power shortages and the cost of developing new deposits. The government's decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with expenditures has moved slowly. Progress depends on following through on privatization, increased openness in government financial operations, progress toward legislative elections, and continued support from foreign donors. | Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) rose to 4.8% in 2000 from 3.5% in 1999, despite continued low growth in Japan, severe financial difficulties in other East Asian countries, and widespread dislocations in several transition economies. The US economy continued its remarkable sustained prosperity, growing at 5% in 2000, although growth slowed in fourth quarter 2000; the US accounted for 23% of GWP. The EU economies grew at 3.3% and produced 20% of GWP. China, the second largest economy in the world, continued its strong growth and accounted for 10% of GWP. Japan grew at only 1.3% in 2000; its share in GWP is 7%. As usual, the 15 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations experienced widely different rates 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, 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. Continued financial difficulties in East Asia, Russia, and many African nations, as well as the slowdown in US economic growth, cast a shadow over short-term global economic prospects; GWP probably will grow at 3-4% in 2001. 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 serious economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2000, see the individual country entries.) |
Electricity - consumption | 614.5 million kWh (2001) | - |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2001) | - |
Electricity - imports | 520 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by Ghana (2001) | - |
Electricity - production | 101.6 million kWh (2001) | - |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel:
NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mont Agou 986 m |
lowest point:
Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
Environment - current issues | deforestation attributable to slash-and-burn agriculture and the use of wood for fuel; water pollution presents health hazards and hinders the fishing industry; air pollution increasing in urban areas | 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, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Ethnic groups | native African (37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre) 99%, European and Syrian-Lebanese less than 1% | - |
Exchange rates | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 581.2 (2003), 696.988 (2002), 733.039 (2001), 711.976 (2000), 615.699 (1999) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Faure GNASSINGBE (since 6 February 2005); note - Gnassingbe EYADEMA died on 5 February 2005 and was succeeded by his son, Faure GNASSINGBE, who will be allowed to complete his father's term
head of government: Prime Minister Koffi SAMA (since 29 June 2002) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president and the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 1 June 2003 (next to be held NA June 2008); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Gnassingbe EYADEMA reelected president; percent of vote - Gnassingbe EYADEMA 57.2%, Emmanuel Akitani BOB 34.1%, Yawovi AGBOYIBO 5.2%, Maurice Dahuku PERE 2.3%, Edem KODJO 1.0% |
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Exports | NA (2001) | $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Exports - commodities | reexports, cotton, phosphates, coffee, cocoa | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | Burkina Faso 16.6%, Ghana 15.4%, Netherlands 13%, Benin 9.6%, Mali 7.7% (2003) | in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | five equal horizontal bands of green (top and bottom) alternating with yellow; there is a white five-pointed star on a red square in the upper hoist-side corner; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia | - |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $8.257 billion (2003 est.) | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $43.6 trillion (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 39.5%
industry: 20.4% services: 40.1% (2003 est.) |
agriculture:
4% industry: 32% services: 64% (1999 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $1,500 (2003 est.) | purchasing power parity - $7,200 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 3.3% (2003 est.) | 4.8% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 8 00 N, 1 10 E | - |
Geography - note | the country's length allows it to stretch through six distinct geographic regions; climate varies from tropical to savanna | - |
Highways | total: 7,520 km
paved: 2,376 km unpaved: 5,144 km (1999 est.) |
total:
NA km paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
Illicit drugs | transit hub for Nigerian heroin and cocaine traffickers; money laundering not a significant problem | - |
Imports | NA (2001) | $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Imports - commodities | machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | France 21.1%, Netherlands 12.1%, Cote d'Ivoire 5.9%, Germany 4.6%, Italy 4.4%, South Africa 4.3%, China 4.1% (2003) | in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries |
Independence | 27 April 1960 (from French-administered UN trusteeship) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | NA | 6% (2000 est.) |
Industries | phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement; handicrafts, textiles, beverages | 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: 67.66 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 75.4 deaths/1,000 live births female: 59.69 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
52.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | -1% (2003 est.) | all countries 25%; developed countries 1% to 3% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2000 est.)
note: national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from stable prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World countries |
International organization participation | ABEDA, ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, ONUB, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNOCI, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 10,350 (2000 est.) |
Irrigated land | 70 sq km (1998 est.) | 2,481,250 sq km (1993 est.) |
Judicial branch | Court of Appeal or Cour d'Appel; Supreme Court or Cour Supreme | - |
Labor force | 1.74 million (1996) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 65%, industry 5%, services 30% (1998 est.) | agricultue NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total: 1,647 km
border countries: Benin 644 km, Burkina Faso 126 km, Ghana 877 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 251,480.24 km (not counting shared boundaries twice) |
Land use | arable land: 46.15%
permanent crops: 2.21% other: 51.64% (2001) |
arable land:
10% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 26% forests and woodland: 32% other: 31% (1993 est.) |
Languages | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) | - |
Legal system | French-based court system | 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 National Assembly (81 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 27 October 2002 (next NA 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - RPT 72, RSDD 3, UDPS 2, Juvento 2, MOCEP 1, independents 1 note: two opposition parties boycotted the election, the Union of the Forces for Change, and the Action Committee for Renewal |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 53.05 years
male: 51.07 years female: 55.09 years (2004 est.) |
total population:
63.79 years male: 62.15 years female: 65.51 years (2001 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 60.9% male: 75.4% female: 46.9% (2003 est.) |
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Location | Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Benin and Ghana | - |
Map references | Africa | World, Time Zones |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 30 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
contiguous zone:
24 NM claimed by most, but can vary continental shelf: 200-m depth claimed by most or to depth of exploitation; others claim 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary exclusive economic zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary territorial sea: 12 NM claimed by most, but can vary note: 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 |
Merchant marine | total: 2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 3,918 GRT/3,852 DWT
by type: cargo 1, specialized tanker 1 registered in other countries: 1 (2004 est.) |
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Military branches | Army, Navy, Air Force, Gendarmerie | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $32.6 million (2003) | 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 | 1.9% (2003) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49: 1,316,455 (2004 est.) | - |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49: 690,331 (2004 est.) | - |
National holiday | Independence Day, 27 April (1960) | - |
Nationality | noun: Togolese (singular and plural)
adjective: Togolese |
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Natural hazards | hot, dry harmattan wind can reduce visibility in north during winter; periodic droughts | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | phosphates, limestone, marble, arable land | the rapid using up 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 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Juvento [Monsilia DJATO]; Movement of the Believers of Peace and Equality or MOCEP [leader NA]; Rally for the Support for Development and Democracy or RSDD [Harryy OLYMPIO]; Rally of the Togolese People or RPT [President Gnassingbe EYADEMA]; Union for Democracy and Social Progress or UDPS [Gagou KOKOU]
note: Rally of the Togolese People or RPT, led by President EYADEMA, was the only party until the formation of multiple parties was legalized 12 April 1991 |
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Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | - |
Population | 5,556,812
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2004 est.) |
6,157,400,560 (July 2001 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 32% (1989 est.) | - |
Population growth rate | 2.27% (2004 est.) | 1.25% (2001 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Kpeme, Lome | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 4 (1998) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Radios | - | NA |
Railways | total: 568 km
narrow gauge: 568 km 1.000-m gauge (2003) |
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 | indigenous beliefs 51%, Christian 29%, Muslim 20% | - |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2004 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: 1.05 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
Suffrage | NA years of age; universal adult | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: fair system based on a network of microwave radio relay routes supplemented by open-wire lines and a mobile cellular system
domestic: microwave radio relay and open-wire lines for conventional system; cellular system has capacity of 10,000 telephones international: country code - 228; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1 Symphonie |
general assessment:
NA domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 60,600 (2003) | NA |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 220,000 (2003) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 3 (plus two repeaters) (1997) | NA |
Terrain | gently rolling savanna in north; central hills; southern plateau; low coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 4.79 children born/woman (2004 est.) | 2.73 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
Unemployment rate | NA (2003 est.) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2000 est.) |
Waterways | 50 km (seasonally on Mono River depending on rainfall) (2003) | - |