Map of Sierra Leone | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

Background


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

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Africa

Area
Total area total: 71,740 km²
Land: 71,620 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than South Carolina

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

Coastline: 402 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 200 nm
Continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

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

Geography


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Population: 4,753,120 (July 1995 est.)
Growth rate: 2.63% (1995 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Sierra Leonean(s)
Adjective: Sierra Leonean

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
0-14 years: 44% (female 1,054,826; male 1,020,943)
15-64 years: 53% (female 1,310,506; male 1,216,510)
65 years and over: 3% (female 72,982; male 77,353) (July 1995 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 2.63% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 44.65 births/1000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 18.38 deaths/1000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: NA migrant(s)/1000 population (1995 est.)
Note: thousands of refugees, fleeing the civil strife in Sierra Leone, are taking refuge in Guinea

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; overfishing
Current issues natural hazards: dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (November to May); sandstorms, dust storms
Current issues international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban; signed, but not ratified - Climate Change, Environmental Modification

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 138.8 deaths/1000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 46.94 years
Male: 44.07 years
Female: 49.89 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.9 children born/woman (1995 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, Mende, 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: Republic of Sierra Leone
Conventional short form: Sierra Leone

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)
Cabinet: Council of Secretaries; responsible to the Supreme Council of State (SCS)

Legislative branch: unicameral House of Representatives (suspended after coup of 29 April 1992; Chairman STRASSER promises multi-party elections sometime in 1995

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, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas Kahota KARGBO
In the us chancery: 1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20,009
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 939-9,261
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Lauralee M. PETERS
From the us embassy: Corner of Walpole and Siaka Stevens Streets, Freetown
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address
From the us telephone: [232] (22) 226,481 trough 226,485
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: Sierra Leone has substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, but the economic and social infrastructure is not well developed. Agriculture generates about 40% of GDP and employs about two-thirds of the working population, with subsistence agriculture dominating the sector. 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. Since 1990, the government has been able to meet its IMF- and World Bank-mandated stabilization targets, holding down fiscal deficits, increasing foreign exchange reserves, and retiring much of its domestic debt - but at a steep cost in terms of capital investments and social spending. Moreover, the economic infrastructure has nearly collapsed due to neglect and war-related disruptions in the mining and agricultural export sectors. The continuing civil war in Liberia has led to a large influx of refugees, who place additional burdens on Sierra Leon's fragile economy.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 0.7% (1993 est.)

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

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: 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: -1.5% (FY91/92; 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.)
Note: only about 65,000 wage earners (1985)

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
Expenditures: $118 million, including capital expenditures of $28 million (1992 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: $149 million (f.o.b., 1993)
Commodoties: rutile 48%, bauxite 25%, diamonds 16%, coffee, cocoa, fish
Partners: US, UK, Belgium, Germany, other Western Europe

Imports: $149 million (c.i.f., 1993)
Commodoties: foodstuffs 48%, machinery and equipment 32%, fuels 9%
Partners: US, EC countries, Japan, China, Nigeria

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $1.15 billion (yearend 1993)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: leones (Le) per US$1 - 617.67 (January 1995), 586.74 (1994), 567.46 (1993), 499.44 (1992), 295.34 (1991), 144.9275 (1990)


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Electricity
Capacity: 130,000 kW
Production: 220 million kWh
Production consumption per capita: 44 kWh (1993)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system: 23,650 telephones; telephone density - 5 telephones/1000 persons; marginal telephone and telegraph service
Local: NA
Intercity: national microwave radio relay system made unserviceable by military activities
International: 1 INTELSAT (Atlantic Ocean) earth station

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $14 million, 2.6% of GDP (FY92/93)

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
With paved runways over 3047 m: 1
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 3
With paved runways under 914 m: 3
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 4

Heliports

Pipelines

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 800 km; 600 km navigable year round

Merchant marine: none

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs