southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and
Suez Canal

People
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Population: 9,639,151 (July 1996 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 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 2,143,775; female 2,139,104)
15-64 years: 52% (male 2,609,911; female 2,387,620)
65 years and over: 4% (male 182,991; female 175,750) (July 1996 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.1% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 44.17 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 13.22 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.09 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.04 male(s)/female
all ages: 1.05 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 121.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 55.49 years
male: 55.18 years
female: 55.8 years (1996 est.)

Total fertility rate: 7.01 children born/woman (1996 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Somali(s)
adjective: Somali

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

Religions: Sunni Muslim

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

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

Government
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Name of country:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Somalia
former: Somali Republic

Data code: SO

Type of government: none

Capital: Mogadishu

Administrative divisions: 18 regions (plural - NA, singular -
gobolka); Awdal, Bakool, Banaadir, Bari, Bay, Galguduud, Gedo,
Hiiraan, Jubbada Dhexe, Jubbada Hoose, Mudug, Nugaal, Sanaag,
Shabeellaha Dhexe, Shabeellaha Hoose, Sool, Togdheer, Woqooyi Galbeed

In