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

Background: Autonomy for the Swazis of southern Africa was guaranteed by the British in the late 19th century; independence was granted in 1968. Student and labor unrest during the 1990s pressured the monarchy (one of the oldest on the continent) to grudgingly allow political reform and greater democracy. Swaziland recently surpassed Botswana as the country with the world's highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection


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Location: Southern Africa between Mozambique and South Africa

Geographic coordinates: 26 30 S 31 30 E

Map reference: Africa

Area
Total: 17,363 km²
Land: 17,203 km²
Water: 160 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than New Jersey

Land boundaries
Total: 535 km
Border countries: (2) Mozambique 105 km; , South Africa 430 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: varies from tropical to near temperate

Terrain: mostly mountains and hills; some moderately sloping plains

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Great Usutu River 21 m
Extremes highest point: Emlembe 1,862 m

Natural resources: asbestos coal clay cassiterite hydropower forests small gold and diamond deposits quarry stone and talc

Land use
Arable land: 10.35%
Permanent crops: 0.7%
Other: 88.95% (2001)

Irrigated land: 690 km² (1998 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: drought

Geography
Note: landlocked; almost completely surrounded by South Africa


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Population
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 2005 est.)
Growth rate: 0.25% (2005 est.)
Below poverty line: 40% (1995)

Nationality
Noun: Swazi
Adjective: Swazi

Ethnic groups: African 97% European 3%

Languages: English (official government business conducted in English) siSwati (official)

Religions: Zionist (a blend of Christianity and indigenous ancestral worship) 40% Roman Catholic 20% Muslim 10% Anglican Bahai Methodist Mormon Jewish and other 30%

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 40.6% (male 240,643/female 235,895)
15-64 years: 55.6% (male 327,661/female 325,400)
65 years and over: 3.8% (male 19,273/female 25,028) (2005 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age
Total: 18.72 years
Male: 18.53 years
Female: 18.92 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.25% (2005 est.)

Birth rate: 27.72 births/1000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate: 25.26 deaths/1000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (2005 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: limited supplies of potable water; wildlife populations being depleted because of excessive hunting; overgrazing; soil degradation; soil erosion
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Ozone Layer Protection
International agreements signed but not ratified: Law of the Sea

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.03 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.02 male/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male/female
Total population: 1 male/female (2005 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 69.27 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 72.51 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 65.94 deaths/1000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 33.22 years
Male: 32.49 years
Female: 33.98 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.7 children born/woman (2005 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 38.8% (2003 est.)
People living with hivaids: 220,000 (2003 est.)
Deaths: 17,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 81.6%
Male: 82.6%
Female: 80.8% (2003 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Kingdom of Swaziland
Conventional short form: Swaziland

Government type: monarchy; independent member of Commonwealth

Capital: Mbabane; note - Lobamba is the royal and legislative capital

Administrative divisions: 4 districts; Hhohho Lubombo Manzini Shiselweni

Dependent areas

Independence: 6 September 1968 (from UK)

National holiday: Independence Day 6 September (1968)

Constitution: a constitution was due to be adopted in November 2003 but was delayed and scheduled for early 2005

Legal system: based on South African Roman-Dutch law in statutory courts and Swazi traditional law and custom in traditional courts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age

Executive branch
Chief of state: King MSWATI III (since 25 April 1986)
Head of government: Prime Minister Absolom Themba DLAMINI (since 14 November 2003)
Cabinet: Cabinet recommended by the prime minister and confirmed by the monarch
Elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister appointed by the monarch

Legislative branch
Elections: House of Assembly - last held 18 October 2003 (next to be held October 2008)
Election results: House of Assembly - balloting is done on a nonparty basis; candidates for election are nominated by the local council of each constituency and for each constituency the three candidates with the most votes in the first round of voting are narrowed to a single winner by a second round

Judicial branch: High Court; Court of Appeal; judges for both courts are appointed by the monarch

Political parties and leaders: political parties are banned by the government - the following are considered political associations; Imbokodvo National Movement or INM [leader NA]; Ngwane National Liberatory Congress or NNLC [Obed DLAMINI president]; People's United Democratic Movement or PUDEMO [Mario MASUKU president]

International organization participation: ACP AfDB AU C FAO G-77 IBRD ICAO ICFTU ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF Interpol IOC ISO (correspondent) ITU MIGA NAM OPCW PCA SACU SADC UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UPU WCO WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Mary Madzandza KANYA
In the us chancery: 1712 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20,009
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 234-5,002
In the us fax: [1] (202) 234-8,254
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Lewis LUCKE
From the us embassy: Central Bank Building, Warner Street, Mbabane
From the us mailing address: P. O. Box 199, Mbabane
From the us telephone: [268] 404-6,441 through 404-6,445
From the us fax: [268] 404-5,959

Flag description: three horizontal bands of blue (top) red (triple width) and blue; the red band is edged in yellow; centered in the red band is a large black and white shield covering two spears and a staff decorated with feather tassels all placed horizontally

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: In this small landlocked economy subsistence agriculture occupies more than 80% of the population. The manufacturing sector has diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange earners. Mining has declined in importance in recent years with only coal and quarry stone mines remaining active. Surrounded by South Africa except for a short border with Mozambique Swaziland is heavily dependent on South Africa from which it receives about nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends nearly three-quarters of its exports. Customs duties from the Southern African Customs Union and worker remittances from South Africa substantially supplement domestically earned income. The government is trying to improve the atmosphere for foreign investment. Overgrazing soil depletion drought and sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2004 because of drought and more than one-third of the adult population was infected by HIV/AIDS.

Real gdp purchasing power parity: $6.018 billion (2004 est.)

Real gdp growth rate: 2.5% (2004 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,100 (2004 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 16.1%
Industry: 43.4%
Services: 40.5% (2004 est.)

Agriculture products: sugarcane cotton corn tobacco rice citrus pineapples sorghum peanuts; cattle goats sheep

Industries: mining (coal raw asbestos) wood pulp sugar soft drink concentrates textile and apparel

Industrial production growth rate: 3.7% (FY95/96)

Labor force: 383,200 (2000)
By occupation: NA

Unemployment rate: 34% (2000 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 40% (1995)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 1%
Highest 10: 50.2% (1995)

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $494.6 million
Expenditures: $552.7 million, including capital expenditures of $147 million (2004 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Inflation rate consumer prices: 5.4% (2004 est.)

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: $-82.4 million (2004 est.)

Exports: $900.1 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Commodities: soft drink concentrates sugar wood pulp cotton yarn refrigerators citrus and canned fruit
Partners: South Africa 59.7% EU 8.8% US 8.8% Mozambique 6.2% (2004)

Imports: $1.14 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Commodities: motor vehicles machinery transport equipment foodstuffs petroleum products chemicals
Partners: South Africa 95.6% EU 0.9% Japan 0.9% Singapore 0.3% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $320.5 million (2004 est.)

Debt external: $320 million (2002 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: emalangeni per US dollar - 6.4597 (2004) 7.5648 (2003) 10.5407 (2002) 8.6092 (2001) 6.9398 (2000)


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Electricity
Production: 402 million kWh (2002)
Consumption: 1.173 billion kWh (2002)
Exports: 0 kWh (2002)
Imports: 799 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2002)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 46,200 (2003)
Mobile cellular: 88,000 (2003)

Telephone system
General assessment: a somewhat modern but not an advanced system
Domestic: system consists of carrier-equipped, open-wire lines and low-capacity, microwave radio relay
International: country code - 268; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Broadcast media

Internet
Country code: .sz
Hosts: 1401 (2003)
Users: 27,000 (2003)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $40.5 million (2004)
Percent of gdp: 1.4% (2004)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; both sexes are eligible for military service (2005)

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 18 (2004 est.)
With paved runways total: 1
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 1 (2004 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 17
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 7
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 10 (2004 est.)

Heliports

Pipelines

Railways
Total: 301 km
Narrow gauge: 301 km 1.067-m gauge (2004)

Roadways

Waterways

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs