Background: El Hadj Omar BONGO Ondimba - one of the longest-serving heads of state in the world - dominated the country's political scene for four decades (1967-2009) following independence from France in 1960. President BONGO introduced a nominal multiparty system and a new constitution in the early 1990s. However allegations of electoral fraud during local elections in December 2002 and the presidential election in 2005 exposed the weaknesses of formal political structures in Gabon. Following President BONGO's death in 2009 a new election brought Ali BONGO Ondimba son of the former president to power. Despite constrained political conditions Gabon's small population abundant natural resources and considerable foreign support have helped make it one of the more stable African countries.

Geographic coordinates: 1 00 S 11 45 E

Map reference: Africa

Area
Total: 267,667 km²
Land: 257,667 km²
Water: 10,000 km²
Rank: 77
Comparative: slightly smaller than Colorado

Land boundaries
Total: 3,261 km
Border countries: (3) Cameroon 349 km; Republic of the Congo 2,567 km; Equatorial Guinea 345 km

Coastline: 885 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate: tropical; always hot humid

Terrain: narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and south

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
Extremes highest point: Mont Iboundji 1575 m

Natural resources: petroleum natural gas diamond niobium manganese uranium gold timber iron ore hydropower

Land use
Agricultural land: 18.1%
Forest: 81%
Other: 0%

Irrigated land: 44.5 km² (2003)

Total renewable water resources: 164 km³ (2011)

Natural hazards: NA

Geography
Note: a small population and oil and mineral reserves have helped Gabon become one of Africa's wealthier countries; in general these circumstances have allowed the country to maintain and conserve its pristine rain forest and rich biodiversity

Population: 1,705,336
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 higher death rates lower population growth rates and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
Rank: 154
Growth rate: 1.93% (2015 est.)
Growth rate rank: 53
Below poverty line: NA%

Nationality
Noun: Gabonese
Adjective: Gabonese

Ethnic groups: Bantu tribes including four major tribal groupings (Fang Bapounou Nzebi Obamba); other Africans and Europeans 154,000 including 10,700 French and 11,000 persons of dual nationality

Languages: French (official) Fang Myene Nzebi Bapounou/Eschira Bandjabi

Religions: Christian 55%-75% animist Muslim less than 1%

Age structure
0-14 years: 42.06%
15-24 years: 20.29%
25-54 years: 29.66%
55-64 years: 4.2%
65 years and over: 3.79% (2015 est.)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 73.1%
Youth dependency ratio: 64.3%
Elderly dependency ratio: 8.8%
Potential support ratio: 11.3%

Median age
Total: 18.6 years
Male: 18.4 years
Female: 18.8 years

Population growth rate: 1.93% (2015 est.)
Rank: 53

Birth rate: 34.49 births/1000 population (2015 est.)
Rank: 25

Death rate: 13.12 deaths/1000 population (2015 est.)
Rank: 17

Net migration rate: -2.03 migrant(s)/1000 population (2015 est.)
Rank: 168

Urbanization
Urban population: 87.2% of total population
Rate of urbanization: 2.7% annual rate of change

Major urban areas
Population: LIBREVILLE (capital) 707,000 (2015)

Environment
Current issues: deforestation; poaching
International agreements party to: Biodiversity Climate Change Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol Desertification Endangered Species Hazardous Wastes Law of the Sea Marine Dumping Ozone Layer Protection Ship Pollution Tropical Timber 83 Tropical Timber 94 Wetlands Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.03 male/female
0-14 years: 1.01 male/female
15-24 years: 1 male/female
25-54 years: 1 male/female
55-64 years: 0.93 male/female
65 years and over: 0.75 male/female
Total population: 0.99 male/female

Infant mortality rate
Total: 46.07 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 53.11 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 38.81 deaths/1000 live births
Rank: 43

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 52.04 years
Male: 51.56 years
Female: 52.53 years
Rank: 217

Total fertility rate: 4.46 children born/woman (2015 est.)
Rank: 29

Contraceptive prevalence rate: 31.1% (2012)

Drinking water source:

Hospital bed density: 6.3 beds/1000 population (2010)

Sanitation facility access:

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: 3.91% (2014 est.)
Adult prevalence rate rank: 16
People living with hivaids: 47,500 (2014 est.)
People living with hivaids rank: 57
Deaths: 1500 (2014 est.)
Deaths rank: 61

Major infectious diseases
Degree of risk: very high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea hepatitis A and typhoid fever
Vectorborne disease: malaria and dengue fever
Water contact disease: schistosomiasis
Animal contact disease: rabies

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 15.8% (2014)
Rank: 124

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 6.5% (2012)
Rank: 79

Education expenditures: NA

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 83.2%
Male: 85.3%
Female: 81%

Country name
Conventional long form: Gabonese Republic
Conventional short form: Gabon
Local long form: Republique Gabonaise
Local short form: Gabon

Government type: republic; multiparty presidential regime

Capital
Name: Libreville
Geographic coordinates: 0 23 N 9 27 E
Time difference: UTC+1

Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Estuaire Haut-Ogooue Moyen-Ogooue Ngounie Nyanga Ogooue-Ivindo Ogooue-Lolo Ogooue-Maritime Woleu-Ntem

Independence: 17 August 1960 (from France)

National holiday: Independence Day 17 August (1960)

Constitution: previous 1961; latest drafted May 1990 adopted 15 March 1991 promulgated 26 March 1991; amended several times last in 2011

Legal system: mixed legal system of French civil law and customary law

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

Citizenship
Birthright citizenship: no unless at least one parent is a citizen of Gabon
Dual citizenship recognized: no
Residency requirement for naturalization: 10 years

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Ali BONGO Ondimba
Head of government: Prime Minister Daniel ONA ONDO
Cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the president
Electionsappointments: president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a 7-year term ; election last held on 30 August 2009 (next to be held in 2016); prime minister appointed by the president
Election results: Ali BONGO Ondimba elected president; percent of vote - Ali BONGO Ondimba 41.7% Andre MBA OBAME (independent) 25.9% Pierre MAMBOUNDOU (UPG) 25.2% Zacharie MYBOTO (UGDD) 3.9% other 3.3%; note

Legislative branch
Description: bicameral Parliament or Parlement consists of the Senate or Senat and the National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (120 seats; members elected in single-seat constituencies by absolute majority vote in two rounds if needed; members serve 5-year terms)
Elections: Senate - last held on 18 January 2009 ; National Assembly - last held on 17 December 2011 (next to be held in December 2016)
Election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PDG 75 RPG 6 UGDD 3 CLR 2 PGCI 2 PSD 2 UPG 2 ADERE 1 independent 9; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PDG 114 RPG 3 other 3

Judicial branch
Highest court: Supreme Court ; Constitutional Court (consists of 9 judges)
Judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court judges appointment and tenure NA; Constitutional Court judges appointed - 3 by the national president 3 by the president of the Senate and 3 by the president of the National Assembly; judges serve 7-year single renewable terms
Subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal; Court of State Security; county courts; military courts

Political parties and leaders:

International organization participation: ACP AfDB AU BDEAC CEMAC FAO FZ G-24 G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICCt ICRM IDA IDB IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF IMO IMSO Interpol IOC IOM IPU ISO ITSO ITU ITUC (NGOs) MIGA NAM OIC OIF OPCW UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UNWTO UPU WCO WHO WIPO WMO WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong ELLA
In the us chancery: 2,034 20th Street NW Suite 200 Washington DC 20,009
In the us telephone: [1] 797-1000
In the us FAX: [1] 332-0668
In the us consulate: New York
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Cythia Akuetteh ; note - also accredited to Sao Tome and Principe
From the us embassy: Boulevard du Bord de Mer Libreville
From the us mailing address: Centre Ville B. P. 4,000 Libreville; pouch: 2,270 Libreville Place Washington DC 20,521-2,270
From the us telephone: [241] 01-45-71-00 after hours - 7,380,171
From the us FAX: [241] 74 55 07

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of green (top) yellow and blue; green represents the country's forests and natural resources gold represents the equator (which transects Gabon) as well as the sun blue represents the sea

National symbols: black panther; national colors: green yellow blue

National anthem
Name: 'La Concorde'
Lyrics and music: Georges Aleka DAMAS
Note: adopted 1960

Economy overview: Gabon enjoys a per capita income four times that of most sub-Saharan African nations but because of high income inequality a large proportion of the population remains poor. Gabon depended on timber and manganese until oil was discovered offshore in the early 1970s. The economy was reliant on oil for about 50% of its GDP about 70% of revenues and 87% of goods exports for 2010 although some fields have passed their peak production. A rebound of oil prices from 1999 to 2013 helped growth but declining production has hampered Gabon from fully realizing potential gains. Gabon signed a 14-month Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF in May 2007 and later that year issued a $1 billion sovereign bond to buy back a sizable portion of its Paris Club debt. Gabon continues to face fluctuating prices for its oil timber and manganese exports. Despite the abundance of natural wealth poor fiscal management has stifled the economy. However President BONGO has made efforts to increase transparency and is taking steps to make Gabon a more attractive investment destination to diversify the economy. BONGO has attempted to boost growth by increasing government investment in human resources and infrastructure. GDP grew nearly 6% per year over the 2010-14 period.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Note: data are in 2014 US dollars
Rank: 123

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 71

Real gdp per capita:
Note: data are in 2014 US dollars
Rank: 84

Gross national saving:
Rank: 13

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 36.4%
Government consumption: 17.3%
Investment in fixed capital: 28%
Investment in inventories: 2.6%
Exports of goods and services: 51%
Imports of goods and services: -35.3%: (2014 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 3.6%
Industry: 42.9%
Services: 53.5%

Agriculture products: cocoa coffee sugar palm oil rubber; cattle; okoume (a tropical softwood); fish

Industries: petroleum extraction and refining; manganese gold; chemicals ship repair food and beverages textiles lumbering and plywood cement

Industrial production growth rate: -0.3% (2014 est.)
Rank: 162

Labor force: 640,300 (2014 est.)
Rank: 153
By occupation agriculture: 60%
By occupation industry: 15%
By occupation services: 25%

Unemployment rate: 21% (2006 est.)
Rank: 169

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 2.5%
Highest 10: 32.7%

Budget
Revenues: $5.263 billion
Expenditures: $5.487 billion
Surplus or deficit: -1.2% of GDP (2014 est.)
Surplus or deficit rank: 74

Taxes and other revenues: 28.9% of GDP (2014 est.)
Rank: 94

Public debt:
Rank: 138

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices:
Rank: 162

Central bank discount rate:
Rank: 106

Commercial bank prime lending rate:
Rank: 37

Stock of narrow money:
Rank: 123

Stock of broad money:
Rank: 133

Stock of domestic credit:
Rank: 135

Market value of publicly traded shares: $N/A

Current account balance:
Rank: 42

Exports:
Rank: 101
Commodities: crude oil timber manganese uranium
Partners: China 15.8% Japan 14.6% Australia 11% US 7.9% India 7.8% South Korea 6.3% Trinidad and Tobago 4.6% Spain 4.4% (2014)

Imports:
Rank: 146
Commodities: machinery and equipment foodstuffs chemicals construction materials
Partners: France 20% Cote d'Ivoire 15.3% China 9.6% US 9.3% Algeria 5.1% Belgium 4.5% (2014)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
Rank: 116

Debt external:
Rank: 126

Exchange rates:

Electricity
Production: 2.111 billion kWh (2012 est.)
Production rank: 138
Consumption: 1.68 billion kWh (2012 est.)
Consumption rank: 145
Exports: 0 kWh (2013 est.)
Exports rank: 142
Imports: 0 kWh (2013 est.)
Imports rank: 153
Installed generating capacity: 415,000 kW (2012 est.)
Installed generating capacity rank: 145
Generation sources fossil fuels: 59% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels rank: 137
Generation sources nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources nuclear rank: 96
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 41% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity rank: 58
Generation sources other renewable sources: 0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources rank: 175

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 240,000 bbl/day (2014 est.)
Petroleum total petroleum production rank: 36
Crude oil exports: 226,800 bbl/day (2012 est.)
Crude oil exports rank: 30
Crude oil imports: 0 bbl/day (2012 est.)
Crude oil imports rank: 194
Crude oil proven reserves: 2 billion bbl (1 January 2015 est.)
Crude oil proven reserves rank: 36

Refined petroleum
Products production: 18,750 bbl/day (2012 est.)
Products production rank: 94
Products consumption: 18,000 bbl/day (2013 est.)
Products consumption rank: 132
Products exports: 5,678 bbl/day (2012 est.)
Products exports rank: 91
Products imports: 5,042 bbl/day (2012 est.)
Products imports rank: 161

Natural gas
Production: 384 million m³ (2013 est.)
Production rank: 71
Consumption: 384 million m³ (2013 est.)
Consumption rank: 101
Exports: 0 m³ (2013 est.)
Exports rank: 102
Imports: 0 m³ (2013 est.)
Imports rank: 200
Proven reserves: 28.32 billion m³ (1 January 2014 est.)
Proven reserves rank: 70

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 5.437 million Mt (2012 est.)
From consumption of energy rank: 125

Telephones
Fixed lines total subscriptions: 17,200
Fixed lines subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 1
Fixed lines rank: 190
Mobile cellular total: 3.6 million
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 215
Mobile cellular rank: 128

Telephone system
General assessment: adequate system of cable microwave radio relay tropospheric scatter radiotelephone communication stations and a domestic satellite system with 12 earth stations
Domestic: a growing mobile cellular network with multiple providers is making telephone service more widely available with mobile cellular teledensity exceeding 100 per 100 persons
International: country code - 241; landing point for the SAT-3/WASC fiber-optic submarine cable that provides connectivity to Europe and Asia; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2011)

Broadcast media: state owns and operates 2 TV stations and 2 radio broadcast stations; a few private radio and TV stations; transmissions of at least 2 international broadcasters are accessible; satellite service subscriptions are available (2007)

Internet
Country code: .ga
Users total: 164,800
Users percent of population: 9.9%
Users rank: 161

Military expenditures:
Rank: 76

Military service age and obligation: 20 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2012)

Airports: 44 (2013)
Rank: 99
With paved runways total: 14
With paved runways over 3047 m: 1
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 2
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 9
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 1
With paved runways under 914 m: 1
With unpaved runways total: 30
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 7
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 9
With unpaved runways: 14 (2013)

Pipelines: gas 807 km; oil 1639 km; water 3 km (2013)

Railways
Total: 649 km
Standard gauge: 649 km 1.435-m gauge
Rank: 106

Roadways
Total: 9,170 km
Paved: 1097 km
Unpaved: 8,073 km
Rank: 139

Waterways: 1600 km (310 km on Ogooue River) (2010)
Rank: 49

Merchant marine
Registered in other countries: 2 (2010)
Rank: 140

Ports and terminals
Major seaport: Libreville Owendo Port-Gentil
Oil terminal: Gamba Lucina

Disputes international: UN urges Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve the sovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane Island and lesser islands and to establish a maritime boundary in hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay