ues: famine; use of contaminated water
contributes to human health problems; deforestation; overgrazing; soil
erosion; desertification

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Endangered Species, Law of the Sea
signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban

Geography - note: strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern
approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal

@Somalia:People

Population: 6,590,325 (July 1997 est.)
note: this estimate was derived from an official census taken in 1987
by the Somali Government with the cooperation of the UN and the US
Bureau of the Census; population estimates are updated year by year
between census years by factoring growth rates into them and by taking
account of refugee movements and of losses due to famine; lower
estimates of Somalia's population in mid-1996 (on the order of 6.0
million to 6.5 million) have been made by aid and relief agencies,
based on the number of persons being fed; population counting in
Somalia is complicated by the large numbers of nomads and by refugee
movements in response to famine and clan warfare

Age structure:
0-14 years: 44% (male 1,449,037; female 1,452,171)
15-64 years: 53% (male 1,777,131; female 1,718,389)
65 years and over: 3% (male 89,346; female 104,251) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.03% (1997 est.) (1997 est.)

Birth rate: 45.49 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 18.34 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.) (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: 3.12 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female (1997 est.)
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female
total population : 1.01 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 125.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population : 46.23 years
male: 44.66 years
female: 47.85 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.76 children born/woman (1997 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Somali(s)
adjective : Somali

Ethnic groups: Somali 85%, Bantu, Arabs 30,000

Religions: Sunni Muslim

Languages: Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 24%
male: 36%
female: 14% (1990 est.)

@Somalia:Government

Country name:
conventional long form : none
conventional short form: Somalia
former: Somali Republic