West Bank (2001) | Cameroon (2006) | |
Administrative divisions | - | 10 provinces; Adamaoua, Centre, Est, Extreme-Nord, Littoral, Nord, Nord-Ouest, Ouest, Sud, Sud-Ouest |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
44.61% (male 478,232; female 454,439) 15-64 years: 51.8% (male 552,661; female 530,230) 65 years and over: 3.59% (male 32,629; female 42,522) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 41.2% (male 3,614,430/female 3,531,047)
15-64 years: 55.5% (male 4,835,453/female 4,796,276) 65 years and over: 3.2% (male 260,342/female 303,154) (2006 est.) |
Agriculture - products | olives, citrus, vegetables; beef, dairy products | coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber, bananas, oilseed, grains, root starches; livestock; timber |
Airports | 3 (2000 est.) | 47 (2006) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
total: 11
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2006) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | - | total: 36
1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 20 under 914 m: 9 (2006) |
Area | total:
5,860 sq km land: 5,640 sq km water: 220 sq km note: includes West Bank, Latrun Salient, and the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea, but excludes Mt. Scopus; East Jerusalem and Jerusalem No Man's Land are also included only as a means of depicting the entire area occupied by Israel in 1967 |
total: 475,440 sq km
land: 469,440 sq km water: 6,000 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Delaware | slightly larger than California |
Background | The Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements (the DOP), signed in Washington on 13 September 1993, provided for a transitional period not exceeding five years of Palestinian interim self-government in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Under the DOP, Israel agreed to transfer certain powers and responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority, which includes the Palestinian Legislative Council elected in January 1996, as part of interim self-governing arrangements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A transfer of powers and responsibilities for the Gaza Strip and Jericho took place pursuant to the Israel-PLO 4 May 1994 Cairo Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area and in additional areas of the West Bank pursuant to the Israel-PLO 28 September 1995 Interim Agreement, the Israel-PLO 15 January 1997 Protocol Concerning Redeployment in Hebron, the Israel-PLO 23 October 1998 Wye River Memorandum, and the 4 September 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement. The DOP provides that Israel will retain responsibility during the transitional period for external security and for internal security and public order of settlements and Israeli citizens. Permanent status is to be determined through direct negotiations, which resumed in September 1999 after a three-year hiatus. An intifadah broke out in September 2000; the resulting widespread violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel's military response, and instability in the Palestinian Authority are undermining progress toward a permanent settlement. | The former French Cameroon and part of British Cameroon merged in 1961 to form the present country. Cameroon has generally enjoyed stability, which has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, and railways, as well as a petroleum industry. Despite a slow movement toward democratic reform, political power remains firmly in the hands of an ethnic oligarchy headed by President Paul BIYA. |
Birth rate | 35.83 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 33.89 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$1.6 billion expenditures: $1.73 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA note: includes Gaza Strip (1999 est.) |
revenues: $3.263 billion
expenditures: $2.705 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.) |
Capital | - | name: Yaounde
geographic coordinates: 3 52 N, 11 31 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Climate | temperate, temperature and precipitation vary with altitude, warm to hot summers, cool to mild winters | varies with terrain, from tropical along coast to semiarid and hot in north |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 402 km |
Constitution | - | 20 May 1972 approved by referendum, 2 June 1972 formally adopted; revised January 1996 |
Country name | conventional long form:
none conventional short form: West Bank |
conventional long form: Republic of Cameroon
conventional short form: Cameroon local long form: Republique du Cameroun/Republic of Cameroon local short form: Cameroun/Cameroon former: French Cameroon, British Cameroon, Federal Republic of Cameroon, United Republic of Cameroon |
Currency | new Israeli shekel (ILS); Jordanian dinar (JOD) | - |
Death rate | 4.37 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 13.47 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Debt - external | $108 million (includes Gaza Strip) (1997 est.) | $9.168 billion (2005 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | - | chief of mission: Ambassador Niels MARQUARDT
embassy: Rue Nachtigal, Yaounde mailing address: P. O. Box 817, Yaounde; pouch: American Embassy, US Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-2520 telephone: [237] 220 15 00; Consular: [237] 220 16 03 FAX: [237] 220 16 20; Consular FAX: [237] 220 17 52 branch office(s): Douala |
Diplomatic representation in the US | - | chief of mission: Ambassador Jerome MENDOUGA
chancery: 2349 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 265-8790 FAX: [1] (202) 387-3826 |
Disputes - international | West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation | ICJ ruled in 2002 on the entire Cameroon-Nigeria land and maritime boundary but the parties formed a Joint Border Commission, which continues to meet regularly to resolve differences bilaterally and have commenced with demarcation in less-contested sections of the boundary, starting in Lake Chad in the north; implementation of the ICJ ruling on the Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea is impeded by imprecisely defined coordinates and a sovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River; Nigeria initially rejected cession of the Bakassi Peninsula, then agreed, but much of the indigenous population opposes cession; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries |
Economic aid - recipient | $121 million disbursed (includes Gaza Strip) (2000) | in January 2001, the Paris Club agreed to reduce Cameroon's debt of $1.3 billion by $900 million; debt relief now totals $1.26 billion |
Economy - overview | Economic output in the West Bank is governed by the Paris Economic Protocol of April 1994 between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Real per capita GDP for the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) declined by 36.1% between 1992 and 1996 owing to the combined effect of falling aggregate incomes and rapid population growth. The downturn in economic activity was largely the result of Israeli closure policies - the imposition of border closures in response to security incidents in Israel - which disrupted established labor and commodity market relationships between Israel and the WBGS. The most serious social effect of this downturn was rising unemployment; unemployment in the WBGS during the 1980s was generally under 5%; by 1995 it had risen to over 20%. Since 1997 Israel's use of comprehensive closures has decreased and, in 1998, Israel implemented new policies to reduce the impact of closures and other security procedures on the movement of Palestinian goods and labor. These changes fueled an almost three-year long economic recovery in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; real GDP grew by 5% in 1998 and 6% in 1999. Recovery was upended in the last quarter of 2000 with the outbreak of Palestinian violence, which triggered tight Israeli closures of Palestinian self-rule areas and a severe disruption of trade and labor movements. | Because of its oil resources and favorable agricultural conditions, Cameroon has one of the best-endowed primary commodity economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Still, it faces many of the serious problems facing other underdeveloped countries, such as a top-heavy civil service and a generally unfavorable climate for business enterprise. Since 1990, the government has embarked on various IMF and World Bank programs designed to spur business investment, increase efficiency in agriculture, improve trade, and recapitalize the nation's banks. In June 2000, the government completed an IMF-sponsored, three-year structural adjustment program; however, the IMF is pressing for more reforms, including increased budget transparency, privatization, and poverty reduction programs. International oil and cocoa prices have considerable impact on the economy. |
Electricity - consumption | NA kWh | 2.779 billion kWh (2003) |
Electricity - exports | - | 0 kWh (2003) |
Electricity - imports | NA kWh | 0 kWh (2003) |
Electricity - production | NA kWh; note - most electricity imported from Israel; East Jerusalem Electric Company buys and distributes electricity to Palestinians in East Jerusalem and its concession in the West Bank; the Israel Electric Company directly supplies electricity to most Jewish residents and military facilities; at the same time, some Palestinian municipalities, such as Nablus and Janin, generate their own electricity from small power plants | 2.988 billion kWh (2003) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
- |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Dead Sea -408 m highest point: Tall Asur 1,022 m |
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Fako 4,095 m (on Mt. Cameroon) |
Environment - current issues | adequacy of fresh water supply; sewage treatment | waterborne diseases are prevalent; deforestation; overgrazing; desertification; poaching; overfishing |
Environment - international agreements | - | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | Palestinian Arab and other 83%, Jewish 17% | Cameroon Highlanders 31%, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, Northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, other African 13%, non-African less than 1% |
Exchange rates | new Israeli shekels per US dollar - 4.0810 (December 2000), 4.0773 (2000), 4.1397 (1999), 3.8001 (1998), 3.4494 (1997), 3.1917 (1996); Jordanian dinars per US dollar - fixed rate of 0.7090 (from 1996) | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001) |
Executive branch | - | chief of state: President Paul BIYA (since 6 November 1982)
head of government: Prime Minister Ephraim INONI (since 8 December 2004) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president from proposals submitted by the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 11 October 2004 (next to be held by October 2011); prime minister appointed by the president election results: President Paul BIYA reelected; percent of vote - Paul BIYA 70.9%, John FRU NDI 17.4%, Adamou Ndam NJOYA 4.5%, Garga Haman ADJI 3.7% |
Exports | $682 million (includes Gaza Strip) (f.o.b., 1998 est.) | NA bbl/day |
Exports - commodities | olives, fruit, vegetables, limestone | crude oil and petroleum products, lumber, cocoa beans, aluminum, coffee, cotton |
Exports - partners | Israel, Jordan, Gaza Strip | Spain 17.2%, Italy 13.7%, France 9.4%, South Korea 8.1%, UK 8%, Netherlands 7.8%, Belgium 4.8%, US 4.3% (2005) |
Fiscal year | calendar year (since 1 January 1992) | 1 July - 30 June |
Flag description | - | three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), red, and yellow with a yellow five-pointed star centered in the red band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $3.1 billion (2000 est.) | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
9% industry: 28% services: 63% note: includes Gaza Strip (1999 est.) |
agriculture: 44.8%
industry: 17% services: 38.2% (2005 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $1,500 (2000 est.) | - |
GDP - real growth rate | -7.5% (2000 est.) | 2.4% (2005 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 32 00 N, 35 15 E | 6 00 N, 12 00 E |
Geography - note | landlocked; highlands are main recharge area for Israel's coastal aquifers; there are 231 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the West Bank and 29 in East Jerusalem (August 1999 est.) | sometimes referred to as the hinge of Africa; throughout the country there are areas of thermal springs and indications of current or prior volcanic activity; Mount Cameroon, the highest mountain in Sub-Saharan west Africa, is an active volcano |
Highways | total:
4,500 km paved: 2,700 km unpaved: 1,800 km (1997 est.) note: Israelis have developed many highways to service Jewish settlements |
- |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: 1.9%
highest 10%: 36.6% (1996) |
Imports | $2.5 billion (includes Gaza Strip) (c.i.f., 1998 est.) | NA bbl/day |
Imports - commodities | food, consumer goods, construction materials | machinery, electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, food |
Imports - partners | Israel, Jordan, Gaza Strip | France 25%, Nigeria 12.5%, Belgium 6.6%, China 5.8%, US 5.3%, Thailand 4.7%, Germany 4.4% (2005) |
Independence | - | 1 January 1960 (from French-administered UN trusteeship) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | 4.2% (1999 est.) |
Industries | generally small family businesses that produce cement, textiles, soap, olive-wood carvings, and mother-of-pearl souvenirs; the Israelis have established some small-scale, modern industries in the settlements and industrial centers | petroleum production and refining, aluminum production, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, lumber, ship repair |
Infant mortality rate | 21.78 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | total: 63.52 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 67.38 deaths/1,000 live births female: 59.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 3% (includes Gaza Strip) (2000 est.) | 2% (2005 est.) |
International organization participation | - | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, BDEAC, C, CEMAC, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 8 (1999) | - |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | 260 sq km (2003) |
Judicial branch | - | Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president); High Court of Justice (consists of nine judges and six substitute judges, elected by the National Assembly) |
Labor force | NA | 6.86 million (2005 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | services 66%, industry 21%, agriculture 13% (1996) | agriculture: 70%
industry: 13% services: 17% |
Land boundaries | total:
404 km border countries: Israel 307 km, Jordan 97 km |
total: 4,591 km
border countries: Central African Republic 797 km, Chad 1,094 km, Republic of the Congo 523 km, Equatorial Guinea 189 km, Gabon 298 km, Nigeria 1,690 km |
Land use | arable land:
27% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 32% forests and woodland: 1% other: 40% |
arable land: 12.54%
permanent crops: 2.52% other: 84.94% (2005) |
Languages | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
Legal system | - | based on French civil law system, with common law influence; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | - | unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (180 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve five-year terms); note - the president can either lengthen or shorten the term of the legislature
elections: last held 23 June 2002 (next to be held in 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - RDCP 133, SDF 21, UDC 5, other 21 note: the constitution calls for an upper chamber for the legislature, to be called a Senate, but it has yet to be established |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
72.28 years male: 70.58 years female: 74.07 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 51.16 years
male: 50.98 years female: 51.34 years (2006 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
NA total population: NA% male: NA% female: NA% |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 79% male: 84.7% female: 73.4% (2003 est.) |
Location | Middle East, west of Jordan | Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Biafra, between Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria |
Map references | Middle East | Africa |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | territorial sea: 50 nm |
Merchant marine | - | total: 1 ship (1000 GRT or over) 38,613 GRT/68,820 DWT
by type: petroleum tanker 1 foreign-owned: 1 (France 1) (2006) |
Military branches | NA | Cameroon Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes naval infantry), Air Force (Armee de l'Air du Cameroun, AAC) (2006) |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $NA | $230.2 million (2005 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | NA% | 1.5% (2005 est.) |
National holiday | - | Republic Day (National Day), 20 May (1972) |
Nationality | noun:
NA adjective: NA |
noun: Cameroonian(s)
adjective: Cameroonian |
Natural hazards | droughts | volcanic activity with periodic releases of poisonous gases from Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun volcanoes |
Natural resources | arable land | petroleum, bauxite, iron ore, timber, hydropower |
Net migration rate | 3.29 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Pipelines | - | gas 70 km; liquid petroleum gas 9 km; oil 1,107 km (2006) |
Political parties and leaders | - | Cameroonian Democratic Union or UDC [Adamou Ndam NJOYA]; Democratic Rally of the Cameroon People or RDCP [Paul BIYA]; Movement for the Defense of the Republic or MDR [Dakole DAISSALA]; Movement for the Liberation and Development of Cameroon or MLDC [Marcel YONDO]; Movement for the Youth of Cameroon or MYC [Dieudonne TINA]; National Union for Democracy and Progress or UNDP [Maigari BELLO BOUBA]; Social Democratic Front or SDF [John FRU NDI]; Union of Cameroonian Populations or UPC [Augustin Frederic KODOCK] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | - | Southern Cameroon National Council [Ayamba Ette OTUN]; Human Rights Defense Group [Albert MUKONG, president] |
Population | 2,090,713 (July 2001 est.)
note: in addition, there are some 176,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and about 173,000 in East Jerusalem (August 1999 est.) |
17,340,702
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 2006 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | 48% (2000 est.) |
Population growth rate | 3.48% (2001 est.) | 2.04% (2006 est.) |
Ports and harbors | none | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0
note: the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts from an AM station in Ramallah on 675 kHz; numerous local, private stations are reported to be in operation (2000) |
AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 3 (2002) |
Radios | NA; note - most Palestinian households have radios (1999) | - |
Railways | 0 km | total: 987 km
narrow gauge: 987 km 1.000-m gauge (2005) |
Religions | Muslim 75% (predominantly Sunni), Jewish 17%, Christian and other 8% | indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian 40%, Muslim 20% |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2006 est.) |
Suffrage | - | 20 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment:
NA domestic: NA international: NA note: Israeli company BEZEK and the Palestinian company PALTEL are responsible for communication services in the West Bank |
general assessment: available only to business and government
domestic: cable, microwave radio relay, and tropospheric scatter international: country code - 237; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC) provides connectivity to Europe and Asia |
Telephones - main lines in use | 95,729 (total for West Bank and Gaza Strip) (1997) | 99,400 (2004) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | NA | 2.259 million (2005) |
Television broadcast stations | NA | 1 (2002) |
Terrain | mostly rugged dissected upland, some vegetation in west, but barren in east | diverse, with coastal plain in southwest, dissected plateau in center, mountains in west, plains in north |
Total fertility rate | 4.9 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 4.39 children born/woman (2006 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 40% (includes Gaza Strip) (yearend 2000) | 30% (2001 est.) |
Waterways | none | navigation mainly on Benue River; limited during rainy season (2005) |