Country Facts - Burkina Faso

The People

Nationality Burkinabe (singular and plural)

Ethnic Composition

Mossi	over 40%
Other	Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, and Fulani

Religious Composition

Muslim	50%
Indigenous beliefs	40%
Christian	10%

Languages Spoken

French is the official language of Burkina Faso, but tribal languages belonging to Sudanic family are spoken by 90 percent of the population.

Education and Literacy

Burkina Faso's overall adult literacy is 36 percent. (2001)

Labor Force

Total: 5 million (1999)

By occupation:

Agriculture	90%
Other	10%

(2000)
Note: a large part of the male labor force migrates annually to neighboring countries for seasonal employment

Geography

Land Mass Total

105,869sq mi (274,200 sq km)

Land

105,714sq mi (273,800 sq km)

Water

154 sq mi (400 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 1,983 mi (3,192 km)

Border countries: Benin 190 mi (306 km), C ôte d'Ivoire 362 mi (584 km), Ghana 340 mi (548 km), Mali 621 mi (1,000 km), Niger 390 mi (628 km), Togo 78 mi (126 km).

Coastline

Landlocked

Maritime claim

Landlocked

Climate/Weather

Tropical; warm, dry winters; hot, wet summers.

Terrain

Mostly flat to dissected, undulating plains; hills in west and southeast.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Mouhoun (Black Volta) River 656 ft (200 m)
Highest: Tena Kourou 2,457 ft (749 m)

Natural Resources

Manganese, limestone, marble; small deposits of gold, antimony, copper, nickel, bauxite, lead, phosphates, zinc, silver.

Land use

Arable land	13%
Permanent crops	0%
Other	87%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Drought.

Environment - current issues

Recent droughts and desertification severely affecting agricultural activities, population distribution, and the economy; overgrazing; soil degradation; deforestation.

Geography Note

Landlocked savanna cut by the three principal rivers of the Black, Red, and White Voltas

Demographics

Population

12,603,185 (July 2002)
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.

Age structure

0-14 years:	47.3%	Male: 3,007,675	Female: 2,960,697
15-64 years:	49.8%	Male: 3,000,411	Female: 3,271,594
65 years and over:	2.9%	Male: 151,976	Female: 210,832

(2002)

Growth Rate

2.64% (2002)

Life Expectancy

46.11 years (2002)
female: 46.78 years
male: 45.45 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$1,040 (2001)

Infant Mortality

105.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.92 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.72 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.96 male(s)/female

Net migration rate

-0.84 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has a high population density, few natural resources, and a fragile soil. About 90 percent of the population is engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture, which is highly vulnerable to variations in rainfall. Industry remains dominated by unprofitable government-controlled corporations. Following the African franc currency devaluation in January 1994 the government updated its development program in conjunction with international agencies, and exports and economic growth have increased. Maintenance of macroeconomic progress depends on continued low inflation, reduction in the trade deficit, and reforms designed to encourage private investment. GDP growth hit a phenomenal 5.6 percent in 2001, tapering back to 4 percent in 2002. The country has been able to do very little to correct infrastructure problems or to alleviate the black market activity that keeps tax coffers at low levels.

Unemployment

N/A

Inflation Rate

3.5% (2001)

Industries

Cotton lint, beverages, agricultural processing, soap, cigarettes, textiles, gold.

Exports

US$265 million (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$580 million (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$12.8 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Venezuela 14.7%, Benelux 12.2%, Italy 9.6%, France 7.0% (2000)

Top Import Partners

Cote d'Ivoire 25.1%, Venezuela 23.4%, France 17.0% (2000)

Top Exports

Cotton, animal products, gold.

Top Imports

Machinery, food products, petroleum.

Debt - external

US$1.5 billion (1999)

Economic aid

Recipient: US$484.1 million (1995)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	7a.m. to noon and then 3p.m. to 5:30p.m.	Closed
Retail	7a.m. to noon and then 3p.m. to 5:30p.m.	Closed
Banks	7:30a.m. to 11:30a.m., and 3p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Government	8a.m. to 11:30a.m., and 2p.m. to 4p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
People's Uprising	January 3	January 3	January 3
Festival of Sacrifice (Aid El Kebir, Id al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
International Women's Day	March 8	March 8	March 8
Independence and National Day	March 26	March 26	March 26
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 21	April 10	March 28
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Ascension³	May 29	May 20	May 6
Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Mawlid an Nabi)*¹	May 14	May 2	April 21
Anniversary of the Revolution	August 4	August 4	August 4
Independence Day	August 5	August 5	August 5
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	August 15	August 15	August 15
National Holiday (Anniversary of 1987 coup d'état)	October 15	October 15	October 15
All Saints' Day	November 1	November 1	November 1
Start of Ramadan*²	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan (Eid al Fitr)*³	November 26	November 14	November 3
National Holiday	December 11	December 11	December 11
Christmas Day**¹	December 25	December 25	December 25

¹	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	The feast of Ascension takes place 40 days after Easter in both the Christian and Orthodox faiths and celebrates the ascent of Christ into Heaven.
*¹	The Birthday of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the twelfth day in the month of Rabi'l of the Islamic calendar.
*²	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
*³	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.
**¹	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press