63% (1993 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.8%
highest 10%: 35.4% (1995)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
50.5 (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3% (2002 est.)

Labor force:
70,000 receive regular wages or salaries (2002 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 90%, industry and commerce 6%, government 4%

Unemployment rate:
NA (2002 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $320 million - including $134 million from foreign sources
expenditures: $320 million, including capital expenditures of $178
million (2002 est.)

Agriculture - products:
cowpeas, cotton, peanuts, millet, sorghum, cassava (tapioca), rice;
cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses, poultry

Industries:
uranium mining, cement, brick, textiles, food processing,
chemicals, slaughterhouses

Industrial production growth rate:
NA (2001 est.)

Electricity - production:
242 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
325.1 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
100 million kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
5,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Exports:
$280 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Exports - commodities:
uranium ore, livestock, cowpeas, onions

Exports - partners:
France 42.2%, Nigeria 28.9%, Japan 17.2%, Spain 4.4% (2003)

Imports:
$400 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery, vehicles and parts, petroleum, cereals

Imports - partners:
France 16.4%, Cote d'Ivoire 13.8%, China 10.5%, Nigeria 7.7%, US
5.5%, Japan 4.9% (2003)

Debt - external:
$1.6 billion (1999 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$341 million (1997)

Currency:
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible
authority is the Central Bank of the West African States

Currency code:
XOF

Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 581.2
(2003), 696.988 (2002), 733.039 (2001), 711.976 (2000), 615.699
(1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Niger

Telephones - main lines in use:
22,400 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
24,000 (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: small system of wire, radio telephone
communications, and microwave radio relay links concentrated