ion growth rate: 3.06% (1997 est.)

Birth rate: 40.54 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 11.16 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.28 male(s)/female
total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 74.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 55.54 years
male: 54.6 years
female: 56.53 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.79 children born/woman (1997 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Sudanese (singular and plural)
adjective: Sudanese

Ethnic groups: black 52%, Arab 39%, Beja 6%, foreigners 2%, other 1%

Religions: Sunni Muslim 70% (in north), indigenous beliefs 25%,
Christian 5% (mostly in south and Khartoum)

Languages: Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of
Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
note: program of Arabization in process

Literacy:
definition : age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 46.1%
male: 57.7%
female: 34.6% (1995 est.)

@Sudan:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of the Sudan
conventional short form: Sudan
local long form: Jumhuriyat as-Sudan
local short form: As-Sudan
former : Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Data code: SU

Government type: transitional - previously ruling military junta;
presidential and National Assembly elections held in March 1996; new
constitution to be drafted by the National Assembly

National capital: Khartoum

Administrative divisions: 26 states (wilayat, singular - wilayat or
wilayah*); A'ali an Nil, Al Bahr al Ahmar, Al Buhayrat, Al Jazirah, Al
Khartum, Al Qadarif, Al Wahdah, An Nil al Abyad, An Nil al Azraq, Ash
Shamaliyah*, Bahr al Jabal, Gharb al Istiwa'iyah, Gharb Bahr al
Ghazal, Gharb Darfur, Gharb Kurdufan, Janub Darfur, Janub Kurdufan,
Junqali, Kassala, Nahr an Nil, Shamal Bahr al Ghazal, Shamal Darfur,
Shamal Kurdufan, Sharq al Istiwa'iyah, Sinnar, Warab

Independence: 1 January 1956 (from Egypt and UK)

National holiday: Independence Day, 1 January (1956)

Constitution: 12 April 1973, suspended following coup of 6 April 1985;
interim constitution of 10 October 1985 suspended following coup of 30
June 1989; new constitution to be drafted following national elections
held in March 1996

Legal system: