Map of Senegal | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide19891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023 | More stats

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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.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 196,190 km²
Land: 192,000 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than South Dakota

Land boundaries:

Coastline: 531 km

Maritime claims
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: short section of the boundary with The Gambia is indefinite; the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 12 November 1991 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

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

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 8,205,058 (July 1992), growth rate 3.1% (1992)

Nationality:

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

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

Religions:

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 44 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 13 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: lowlands seasonally flooded; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
Current issues note: The Gambia is almost an enclave

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 80 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 54 years male, 57 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 6.2 children born/woman (1992)

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: 38% (male 52%, female 25%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Senegal

Government type: republic under multiparty democratic rule

Capital: Dakar

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence: 20 August 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 1991

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 18
President: last held 28 February 1988 (next to be held NA February 1993); results - Abdou DIOUF (PS) 73%, Abdoulaye WADE (PDS) 26%, other 1%
National Assembly:

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Cour Supreme)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:
Diplomatic representation:
US: Ambassador Katherine SHIRLEY; Embassy on Avenue Jean XXIII at the corner of Avenue Kleber, Dakar (mailing address is B. P. 49, Dakar); telephone 221 23-42-96 or 23-34-24; FAX 221 22-29-91

Diplomatic representation

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


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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 important to the economy.
GDP: exchange rate conversion - $5.0 billion, per capita $615; real growth rate 3.6% (1990)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: including fishing, accounts for 20% of GDP and more than 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: agricultural and fish processing, phosphate mining, petroleum refining, building materials

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate 4.7% (1989; accounts for 15% of GDP

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

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.)

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June; note - in January 1993, Senegal will switch to a calendar year

Current account balance

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: $814 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
Commodoties: manufactures 30%, fish products 27%, peanuts 11%, petroleum products 11%, phosphates 10%
Partners: France, other EC members, Mali, Ivory Coast, India

Imports: $1.05 billion (c.i.f., 1990 est.)
Commodoties: semimanufactures 30%, food 27%, durable consumer goods 17%, petroleum 12%, capital goods 14%
Partners: France, other EC, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Algeria, China, Japan

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 269.01 (January 1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987)


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Electricity access

Electricity production: 215,000 kW capacity; 760 million kWh produced, 100 kWh per capita (1991)

Electricity consumption

Electricity exports

Electricity imports

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $100 million, 2% of GDP (1989 est.)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

Airports with paved runways

Airports with unpaved runways

Heliports

Pipelines

Railways

Roadways

Waterways:

Merchant marine:
Civil air: 3 major transport aircraft

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs