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

Background


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Location: Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean between Guinea and Liberia

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total area total: 71,740 km²
Land: 71,620 km²

Land boundaries: total 958 km, Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km

Coastline: 402 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea:200 nm

Climate: tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December; winter dry season (December to April)

Terrain: coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east

Elevation

Natural resources: diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite

Land use
Arable land: 25%
Permanent crops: 2%
Meadows and pastures: 31%
Forest and woodland: 29%
Other: 13%

Irrigated land: 340 km² (1989 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (November to May)

Geography


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Population: 4,630,037 (July 1994 est.)
Growth rate: 2.62% (1994 est.)

Nationality: noun:Sierra Leonean(s)

Ethnic groups: 13 native African tribes 99% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 39%), Creole, European, Lebanese, and Asian 1%

Languages: English (official; regular use limited to literate minority), Mende principal vernacular in the south, Temne principal vernacular in the north, Krio the language of the re-settled ex-slave population of the Freetown area and is lingua franca

Religions: Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 2.62% (1994 est.)

Birth rate: 45.06 births/1000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate: 18.87 deaths/1000 population (1994 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (1994 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

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 depleting natural resources

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 141.9 deaths/1000 live births (1994 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 46.4 years
Male: 43.58 years
Female: 49.3 years (1994 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.96 children born/woman (1994 est.)

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: age 15 and over can read and write English, Merde, Temne, or Arabic (1990 est.)
Total population: 21%
Male: 31%
Female: 11%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form:

Government type: military government

Capital: Freetown

Administrative divisions: 3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western*

Dependent areas

Independence: 27 April 1961 (from UK)

National holiday: Republic Day, 27 April (1961)

Constitution: 1 October 1991; suspended following 19 April 1992 coup

Legal system: based on English law and customary laws indigenous to local tribes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state and head of government:Chairman of the Supreme Council of State Capt. Valentine E. M. STRASSER (since 29 April 1992)

Legislative branch: Army, Navy, Police, Security Forces

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (suspended after coup of 29 April 1992)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAU, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Lauralee M. PETERS
From the us chancery: 1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20,009
From the us telephone: [232] (22) 226-481
From the us embassy: Walpole and Siaka Stevens Street, Freetown
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address
From the us FAX: [232] (22) 225-471

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of light green (top), white, and light blue

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: The economic and social infrastructure is not well developed. Subsistence agriculture dominates the economy, generating about one-third of GDP and employing about two-thirds of the working population. Manufacturing, which accounts for roughly 10% of GDP, consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Diamond mining provides an important source of hard currency. In 1990-93, the government, with the support of the IMF and the World Bank, has made substantial progress toward structural reform and better fiscal management. The government readily met all IMF/WB targets in December 1993. The budget deficit had been dramatically reduced; the government workforce had been cut by 25%; large amounts of domestic debt had been retired; arrears to the IMF, World Bank, and other creditors had been reduced. On the negative side, continued incursions by the Liberian rebels, bandits, and army deserters in southern and eastern Sierra Leone have severely strained the economy and threaten economically critical regions of the country.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: NA

Real gdp per capita: $1,000 (1993 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for over 30% of GDP and two-thirds of the labor force; largely subsistence farming; cash crops - coffee, cocoa, palm kernels; harvests of food staple rice meets 80% of domestic needs; annual fish catch averages 53,000 metric tons

Industries: mining (diamonds, bauxite, rutile), small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear), petroleum refinery

Industrial production growth rate: -1.2% (FY91; accounts for 11% of GDP

Labor force: 1.369 million (1981 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 65%
By occupation industry: 19%
By occupation services: 16% (1981est.)
By occupation note: only about 65,000 wage earners (1985); 55% of population of working age

Unemployment rate: NA%

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues:$68 million

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: $149 million (f.o.b., FY92)
Commodities: rutile 51%, bauxite 19%, diamonds 15%, coffee 5%
Partners: US, UK, Belgium, Germany, other Western Europe

Imports: $131 million (c.i.f., FY92)
Commodities: foodstuffs 33%, machinery and equipment 19%, fuels 16%
Partners: US, EC countries, Japan, China, Nigeria

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $633 million (FY92 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: leones (Le) per US$1 - 578.17 (January 1994), 567.46 (1993), 499.44 (1992), 295.34 (1991), 144.9275 (1990), 58.1395 (1989)


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Electricity
Capacity: 85,000 kW
Production: 185 million kWh
Consumption per capita: 45 kWh (1991)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: exchange rate conversion - $6 million, 0.7% of GDP (1988 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: 11
Usable: 7
With permanentsurface runways: 3
With runways over 3659 m: 0
With runways 2440-3659 m: 1
With runways 1220-2439 m: 3

Heliports

Pipelines

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 800 km; 600 km navigable year round

Merchant marine: 1 cargo ship (over 1,000 GRT) totaling 5,592 GRT/9,107 DWT

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs