Country Facts - Gabon

The People

Ethnic Composition

Bantu Tribes ( including Fang, Bapounou, Nzebi, Obamba),	87%
Other	13%

Religious Composition

Christian	55%-75%
Animist/Muslim	less than 1%

Languages Spoken

French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eshira, Bandjabi.

Education and Literacy

Education is compulsory to age 16. Adult literacy stands at 63.2 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 600,000

By occupation:

Services	25%
Industry	15%
Agriculture	60%

Geography

Land Mass Total

103,346 sq mi (267,667 sq km)

Land

99,485 sq mi (257,667 sq km)

Water

3,861 sq mi (10,000 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 1,585 mi (2,551 km)

Border countries: Cameroon 185 mi (298 km), Republic of the Congo 1,182 mi (1,903 km), Equatorial Guinea 217 mi (350 km)

Coastline

549 mi (885 km)

Maritime claim

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

Climate/Weather

Tropical; always hot and humid.

Terrain

Narrow coastal plains with rolling hills toward the interior; savanna in east and south.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Atlantic Ocean 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Mont Iboundji 5,167 ft (1,575 m)

Natural Resources

Petroleum, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore, hydropower.

Land use

Arable land	1%
Permanent crops	1%
Other	98%

(1998)

Environment - current issues

Deforestation; poaching.

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.

Demographics

Population

1,233,353 (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:	33.3%	Male: 205,559	Female: 204,796
15-64 years:	60.6%	Male: 376,103	Female: 371,422
65 years and over:	6.1%	Male: 37,220	Female: 38,253

Growth Rate

0.97% (2002)

Life Expectancy

49.11 years (2002)
female: 50.25 years
male: 48.01 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$5,500 (2001)

Infant Mortality

93.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.97 male(s)/female
Total population:	1.01 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

Gabon enjoys a per capita income four times that of most nations of sub-Saharan Africa. This has supported a sharp decline in extreme poverty; yet 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 oil sector now accounts for 50 percent of GDP. Gabon continues to face fluctuating prices for its oil, timber, and manganese exports. Despite the abundance of natural wealth, the economy is hobbled by poor fiscal management. In 1992, the fiscal deficit widened to 2.4 percent of GDP, and Gabon failed to settle arrears on its bilateral debt, leading to a cancellation of rescheduling agreements with official and private creditors. Devaluation of its Francophone currency by 50 percent on 12 January 1994 sparked a one-time inflationary surge, to 35 percent; the rate dropped to 6 percent in 1996. The IMF provided a one-year standby arrangement in 1994-95, a three-year Enhanced Financing Facility (EFF) at near commercial rates beginning in late 1995, and stand-by credit of $119 million in October 2000. Those agreements mandate progress in privatization and fiscal discipline.
France provided additional financial support in January 1997 after Gabon had met IMF targets for mid-1996. In 1997, an IMF mission to Gabon criticized the government for overspending on off-budget items, over-borrowing from the central bank, and slipping on its schedule for privatization and administrative reform. The rebound of oil prices in 1999-2000 helped growth, but drops in production hampered Gabon from fully realizing potential gains. In December 2000, Gabon signed a new agreement with the Paris Club to reschedule its official debt. A follow-up bilateral repayment agreement with the U.S. was signed in December 2001. Gabon produced a remarkable GDP growth rate of 3.9 percent in 2001, but it failed to reach a new record goal of 4 percent in 2002. A shortfall was posted at 3.2 percent but it was accompanied by a drop in inflation from 19.6 percent to 13.1 percent for the same period.

Unemployment

21% (1997)

Inflation Rate

1.5% (2001)

Industries

Food and beverages; textiles; lumbering and plywood; cement; petroleum extraction and refining; manganese, uranium, and gold mining; chemicals; ship repair.

Exports

US$2.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$921 million (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$6.7 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

US 51%, France 17%, China 8%, Netherlands Antilles 4% (2000)

Top Import Partners

France 62%, Cote d'Ivoire 7%, US 5%, Belgium 3% (2000)

Top Exports

Crude oil 81%, timber, manganese, uranium (2000)

Top Imports

Machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, petroleum products, construction materials.

Debt - external

US$3.6 billion (2001)

Economic aid

US$331 million (1995)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to noon and 3p.m. to 6p.m.	Saturday 8a.m. to noon and 3p.m. to 6p.m.
Retail	8a.m. to noon and 3:30p.m. to 7p.m. The midday break in rural areas expands and contracts based on local custom and weather conditions.	Saturday 8a.m. to noon and 3:30p.m. to 7p.m.
Banks	7:30a.m. to 11:30a.m. and 2:30p.m. to 4:30p.m.	Closed
Government	9:30a.m. to noon, 3:30p.m. to 7p.m. (varies by agency).	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
Renovation Day	March 12	March 12	March 12
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Easter²	April 27	April 11	March 27
Martyr's Day	May 6	May 6	May 6
Whit Monday³	June 9	May 31	May 16
Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Mawlid an Nabi)*¹	May 44	May 2	April 21
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	August 15	August 15	August 15
National Day	August 16	August 16	August 16
All Saints' Day	November 1	November 1	November 1
Start of Ramadan*²	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan	November 26	November 14	November 3

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 Christian feast of Pentecost, Whit Sunday or Whit Monday takes place 50 days after Easter, in observation of the day God came to the disciples through the Holy Ghost.
*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 3 days.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press