sion of cattle grazing,
and slash-and-burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and soil
exhaustion; civil war depleting natural resources; overfishing

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Law of the
Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Desertification, Environmental Modification

@Sierra Leone:People

Population: 4,891,546 (July 1997 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 45% (male 1,084,736; female 1,119,802)
15-64 years: 52% (male 1,216,111; female 1,320,847)
65 years and over: 3% (male 76,371; female 73,679) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.54% (1997 est.)

Birth rate: 46.67 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 17.75 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: 6.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.04 male(s)/female
total population : 0.94 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 132.5 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 48.02 years
male: 45.06 years
female: 51.07 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.29 children born/woman (1997 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Sierra Leonean(s)
adjective: Sierra Leonean

Ethnic groups: 13 native African tribes 99% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%,
other 39%), Creole, European, Lebanese, and Asian 1%

Religions: Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%

Languages: English (official, regular use limited to literate
minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal
vernacular in the north), Krio (the language of the re-settled
ex-slave population of the Freetown area and is lingua franca)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write in English, Mende,
Temne, or Arabic
total population: 31.4%
male: 45.4%
female: 18.2% (1995 est.)

@Sierra Leone:Government

Country name:
conventional long form : Republic of Sierra Leone
conventional short form: Sierra Leone

Data code: SL

Government type: constitutional democracy

National capital: Freetown

Administrative divisions: 3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern, Northern,
Southern, Western*

Independence: 27 April 1961 (from UK)

National holiday: Republic Day, 27 April (1961)

Constitution: 1 October 1991; subsequently amended several tim