a, north of Ghana

Geographic coordinates:
13 00 N, 2 00 W

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 274,200 sq km
water: 400 sq km
land: 273,800 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, antimony,
copper, nickel, bauxite, lead, phosphates, zinc, silver

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, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer
Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea

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

People Burkina Faso

Population:
13,574,820
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
2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 46% (male 3,135,098; female 3,114,354)
15-64 years: 51.1% (male 3,391,848; female 3,545,115)
65 years and over: 2.9% (male 163,137; female 225,268) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 16.8 years
male: 16.4 years
female: 17.2 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.57% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
44.46 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
18.79 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate: