Map of Senegal | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

top of page


Background: Independent from France in 1960 Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation of Senegambia in 1982. However the envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out and the union was dissolved in 1989. Despite peace talks a southern separatist group sporadically has clashed with government forces since 1982. Senegal has a long history of participating in international peacekeeping.


top of page


Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area

Land boundaries: 2,640 km total; The Gambia 740 km, Guinea 330 km, Guinea-Bissau 338 km, Mali 419 km, Mauritania 813 km

Coastline: 531 km

Maritime claims
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm;

Climate: tropical; hot, humid; rainy season (December to April) has strong southeast winds; dry season (May to November) dominated by hot, dry harmattan wind

Terrain: generally low, rolling, plains rising to foothills in southeast

Elevation

Natural resources: fish, phosphates, iron ore

Land use: 27% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 30% meadows and pastures; 31% forest and woodland; 12% other; includes 1% irrigated

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography
Note: The Gambia is almost an enclave


top of page


Population: 7,713,851 (July 1990), growth rate 3.0% (1990)

Nationality: noun--Senegalese (sing. and pl.; adjective--Senegalese

Ethnic groups: 36% Wolof, 17% Fulani, 17% Serer, 9% Toucouleur, 9% Diola, 9% Mandingo, 1% European and Lebanese, 2% other

Languages: French (official; Wolof, Pulaar, Diola, Mandingo

Religions: 92% Muslim, 6% indigenous beliefs, 2% Christian (mostly Roman Catholic)

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 44 births/1000 population (1990)

Death rate: 14 deaths/1000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 population (1990)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: lowlands seasonally flooded; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 87 deaths/1000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 53 years male, 56 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 6.3 children born/woman (1990)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 28.1%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


top of page


Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Senegal

Government type: republic under multiparty democratic rule

Capital: Dakar

Administrative divisions: 10 regions (regions, singular--region; Dakar, Diourbel, Fatick, Kaolack, Kolda, Louga, Saint-Louis, Tambacounda, Thies, Ziguinchor

Dependent areas

Independence: 4 April 1960 (from France; The Gambia and Senegal signed an agreement on 12 December 1981 (effective 1 February 1982) that called for the creation of a loose confederation to be known as Senegambia, but the agreement was dissolved on 30 September 1989

National holiday: Independence Day, 4 April (1960)

Constitution: 3 March 1963, last revised in 1984

Legal system: based on French civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts in Supreme Court, which also audits the government's accounting office; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal at age 21

Executive branch: Chief of State and Head of Government--President Abdou DIOUF (since 1 January 1981)

Legislative branch: Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary Gendarmerie

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Cour Supreme)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, APC, CCC, CEAO, EAMA, ECA, ECOWAS, EIB (associate), FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ITU, NAM, OAU, OCAM, OIC, OMVS (Organization for the Development of the Senegal River Valley), UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us: Ambassador Ibra Deguene KA; Chancery at 2,112 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington DC 20,008; telephone (202) 234-0540 or 0541; US--Ambassador George E. MOOSE; Embassy on Avenue Jean XXIII at the corner of Avenue Kleber, Dakar (mailing address is B. P. 49, Dakar; telephone p221o 21-42-96

Flag description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), yellow, and red with a small green five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


top of page


Economy overview: The agricultural sector accounts for about 20% of GDP and provides employment for about 75% of the labor force. About 40% of the total cultivated land is used to grow peanuts, an important export crop. The principal economic resource is fishing, which brought in about $200 million or about 25% of total foreign exchange earnings in 1987. Mining is dominated by the extraction of phosphate, but production has faltered because of reduced worldwide demand for fertilizers in recent years. Over the past 10 years tourism has become increasingly more important to the economy.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: including fishing, accounts for 20% of GDP and 75% of labor force; major products--peanuts (cash crop), millet, corn, sorghum, rice, cotton, tomatoes, green vegetables; estimated two-thirds self-sufficient in food; fish catch of 299,000 metric tons in 1987

Industries: fishing, agricultural processing, phosphate mining, petroleum refining, building materials

Industrial production growth rate: 4.9% (1986)

Labor force: 2,509,000; 77% subsistence agricultural workers; 175,000 wage earners--40% private sector, 60% government and parapublic; 52% of population of working age (1985)

Unemployment rate: 3.5% (1987)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $921 million; expenditures $1,024 million; including capital expenditures of $14 million (FY89 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $761 million (f.o.b., 1988)
Commodities: manufactures 30%, fish products 27%, peanuts 11%, petroleum products 11%, phosphates 10%
Partners: US, France, other EC, Ivory Coast, India

Imports: $1.1 billion (c.i.f., 1988)
Commodities: semimanufactures 30%, food 27%, durable consumer goods 17%, petroleum 12%, capital goods 14%
Partners: US, France, other EC, Nigeria, Algeria, China, Japan

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $3.8 billion (1988)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1--287.99 (January 1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)


top of page


Electricity
Capacity: 210,000 kW capacity; 760 million kWh produced, 100 kWh per capita (1989)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


top of page


Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


top of page


Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: 2% of GDP, or $100 million (1989 est.)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


top of page


National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 25 total, 20 usable; 10 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 15 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Heliports

Pipelines

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 900 km total; 785 km on the Senegal, 115 km on the Saloum

Merchant marine: 3 ships (1,000 GRT and over) totaling 9,263 GRT/15,167 DWT; includes 2 cargo, 1 bulk

Ports and terminals


top of page


Disputes international: short section of the boundary with The Gambia is indefinite; the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rendered its decision on the Guinea-Bissau/Senegal maritime boundary in favor of Senegal--that decision has been rejected by Guinea-Bissau; boundary with Mauritania

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs