Republic of Côte d'Ivoire

National name: République de Côte d'lvoire

President: Laurent Gbagbo (2000)

Prime Minister: Charles Konan Banny (transitional) (2005)

Land area: 122,780 sq mi (318,000 sq km); total area: 124,502 sq mi (322,460 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 17,654,843 (growth rate: 2.0%); birth rate: 35.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 89.1/1000; life expectancy: 48.8; density per sq mi: 144

Capital (2003 est.): Yamoussoukro (official), 185,600; Largest city and administrative center: Abidjan, 4,113,600 (metro. area), 3,427,500 (city proper)

Monetary unit: CFA Franc

Languages: French (official) and African languages (Dioula esp.)

Ethnicity/race: Akan 42.1%, Voltaiques (Gur) 17.6%, Northern Mandes 16.5%, Krous 11%, Southern Mandes 10%, other 2.8% (includes 130,000 Lebanese and 14,000 French) (1998)

Religions: indigenous 25%–40%, Islam 35%–40%, Christian 20%–30% (2001)

Literacy rate: 51% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $26.11 billion; per capita $1,500. Real growth rate: 0.8%. Inflation: 2%. Unemployment: 13% in urban areas (1998). Arable land: 10%. Agriculture: coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber; timber. Labor force: 6.95 million. Industries: foodstuffs, beverages; wood products, oil refining, truck and bus assembly, textiles, fertilizer, building materials, electricity, ship construction and repair. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt, bauxite, copper, hydropower. Exports: $6.49 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): cocoa, coffee, timber, petroleum, cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm oil, fish. Imports: $4.759 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): fuel, capital equipment, foodstuffs. Major trading partners: France, Netherlands, U.S., Nigeria, Italy, Thailand (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 328,000 (2003); mobile cellular: 1.236 million (2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 8, shortwave 3 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 14 (1999). Internet hosts: 3,795 (2004). Internet users: 90,000 (2002).

Transportation: Railways: total: 660 km (2004). Highways: total: 50,400 km; paved: 4,889 km; unpaved: 45,511 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 980 km (navigable rivers, canals, and numerous coastal lagoons) (2003). Ports and harbors: Abidjan, Aboisso, Dabou, San-Pedro. Airports: 37 (2004 est.).

International disputes: rebel and ethnic fighting against the central government in 2002 has spilled into neighboring states, driven out foreign cocoa workers from nearby countries, and, in 2004, resulted in 6,000 peacekeepers deployed as part of UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) assisting 4,000 French troops already in-country; the Ivorian Government accuses Burkina Faso and Liberia of supporting Ivorian rebels.

 

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