st wasteland

_#_Note: strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes
and close to Arabian oilfields; terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia

_*_People
_#_Population: 346,311 (July 1991), growth rate 2.6% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 43 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 16 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 117 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 46 years male, 50 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 6.4 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Djiboutian(s); adjective--Djiboutian

_#_Ethnic divisions: Somali (Issa) 60%, Afar 35%, French, Arab,
Ethiopian, and Italian 5%

_#_Religion: Muslim 94%, Christian 6%

_#_Language: French and Arabic (both official); Somali and Afar widely
used

_#_Literacy: 48% (male 63%, female 34%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)

_#_Labor force: NA, but a small number of semiskilled laborers at
the port and 3,000 railway workers; 52% of population of working age
(1983)

_#_Organized labor: 3,000 railway workers

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Republic of Djibouti

_#_Type: republic

_#_Capital: Djibouti

_#_Administrative divisions: 5 districts (cercles, singular--cercle);
Ali Sabih, Dikhil, Djibouti, Obock, Tadjoura

_#_Independence: 27 June 1977 (from France; formerly French Territory
of the Afars and Issas)

_#_Constitution: partial constitution ratified January 1981 by the
National Assembly

_#_Legal system: based on French civil law system, traditional
practices, and Islamic law

_#_National holiday: Independence Day, 27 June (1977)

_#_Executive branch: president, prime minister, Council of Ministers

_#_Legislative branch: National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale)

_#_Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Cour Supreme)

_#_Leaders:

Chief of State--President Hassan GOULED Aptidon (since 24 June
1977);

Head of Government--Prime Minister BARKAT Gourad Hamadou (since 30
September 1978)

_#_Political parties and leaders: only party--People's Progress
Assembly (RPP), Hassan GOULED Aptidon

_#_Suffrage: universal adult at age NA

_#_Elections:

President--last held 24 April 1987 (next to be held April 1993);
results--President Hassan GOULED Aptidon was reelected without
opposition;

National Assembly--last held 24 April 1987 (next to be