ACOG - Gabon  - IBM

Geography

Location: Western Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean at the Equator, between Congo and Equatorial Guinea

Area:
total area: 267,670 sq km
land area: 257,670 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Colorado

Land boundaries: total 2,551 km, Cameroon 298 km, Congo 1,903 km, Equatorial Guinea350 km

Coastline: 885 km


People

Population: 1,155,749 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34% (female 193,859; male 194,761)
15-64 years: 61% (female 347,839; male 359,997)
65 years and over: 5% (female 30,218; male 29,075)

Population growth rate: 1.46% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 28.34 births/1,000 population

Death rate: 13.72 deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 92.4 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 55.14 years
male: 52.31 years
female: 58.06 years

Total fertility rate: 3.93 children born/woman

Ethnic divisions: Bantu tribes including four major tribal groupings (Fang, Eshira, Bapounou, Bateke), other Africans and Europeans 100,000, including 27,000 French

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

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

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population: 61%
male: 74%
female: 48%


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Gabonese Republic
conventional short form: Gabon

Type: republic; multiparty presidential regime (opposition parties legalized 1990)

Capital: Libreville

Independence: 17 August 1960 (from France)

Constitution: adopted 14 March 1991


Economy

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $5.6 billion

National product real growth rate: 1.9%

National product per capita: $4,900

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 35%

Unemployment rate:

Electricity:
capacity: 315,000 kW
production: 910 million kWh
consumption per capita: 757 kWh



Olympic Factoid
Pin trading was one of the most popular Olympic sports, with more than 1.2 million pins changing hands during the Games in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Centennial Olympic Park.