,200 sq km
land: 273,800 sq km
water: 400 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than Colorado

Land boundaries:
total: 3,193 km
border countries: Benin 306 km, Cote d'Ivoire 584 km, Ghana 549 km,
Mali 1,000 km, Niger 628 km, Togo 126 km

Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)

Climate:
tropical; warm, dry winters; hot, wet summers

Terrain:
mostly flat to dissected, undulating plains; hills in west and
southeast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Mouhoun (Black Volta) River 200 m
highest point: Tena Kourou 749 m

Natural resources:
manganese, limestone, marble; small deposits of gold, phosphates,
pumice, salt

Land use:
arable land: 14.43%
permanent crops: 0.19%
other: 85.38% (2001)

Irrigated land:
250 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
recurring droughts

Environment - current issues:
recent droughts and desertification severely affecting agricultural
activities, population distribution, and the economy; overgrazing;
soil degradation; deforestation

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation,
Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
landlocked savanna cut by the three principal rivers of the Black,
Red, and White Voltas

People Burkina Faso

Population:
13,925,313
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 (July
2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 46% (male 3,213,436/female 3,193,253)
15-64 years: 51.2% (male 3,487,201/female 3,635,673)
65 years and over: 2.8% (male 164,418/female 231,332) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 16.82 years
male: 16.43 years
female: 17.22 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.53% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
44.17 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
18.86 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)