century - all grown with plantation slave labor, a form of
which lingered into the 20th century. While independence was
achieved in 1975, democratic reforms were not instituted until the
late 1980s. The country held its first free elections in 1991, but
frequent internal wrangling between the various political parties
precipitated repeated changes in leadership and two failed coup
attempts in 1995 and 2003. The recent discovery of oil in the Gulf
of Guinea promises to attract increased attention to the small
island nation.

Geography
Sao Tome and Principe

Location:

Western Africa, islands in the Gulf of Guinea, straddling the
Equator, west of Gabon

Geographic coordinates:

1 00 N, 7 00 E

Map references:

Africa

Area:

total: 1,001 sq km
land: 1,001 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:

more than five times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

209 km

Maritime claims:

measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:

tropical; hot, humid; one rainy season (October to May)

Terrain:

volcanic, mountainous

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pico de Sao Tome 2,024 m

Natural resources:

fish, hydropower

Land use:

arable land: 8.33%
permanent crops: 48.96%
other: 42.71% (2005)

Irrigated land:

100 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards:

NA

Environment - current issues:

deforestation; soil erosion and exhaustion

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

the smallest country in Africa; the two main islands form part of a
chain of extinct volcanoes and both are mountainous

People
Sao Tome and Principe

Population:

206,178 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 47.1% (male 49,196/female 47,941)
15-64 years: 49.3% (male 49,326/female 52,324)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 3,350/female 4,041) (2008 est.)

Median age:

total: 16.3 years
male: 15.8 years
female: 16.9 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:

3.116% (2008 est.)

Birth rate:

39.12 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:

5.98 deaths/1