ooding is possible

Environment--current issues: deforestation (most of the country's
forests--once the largest in West Africa--have been cleared by the
timber industry); water pollution from sewage and industrial and
agricultural effluents

Environment--international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber
83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

People

Population: 15,818,068 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 47% (male 3,702,051; female 3,664,672)
15-64 years: 51% (male 4,154,440; female 3,952,999)
65 years and over: 2% (male 174,065; female 169,841) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.35% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 41.76 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 16.17 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)
note: after Liberia's civil war started in 1990, more than 350,000
refugees fled to Cote d'Ivoire and, by September 1998, according to
the UNHCR, about 85,000 remain

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.02 male(s)/female
total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 94.17 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 46.05 years
male: 44.48 years
female: 47.67 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.89 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Ivorian(s)
adjective: Ivorian

Ethnic groups: Baoule 23%, Bete 18%, Senoufou 15%, Malinke 11%,
Agni, Africans from other countries (mostly Burkinabe and Malians,
about 3 million), non-Africans 130,000 to 330,000 (French 30,000 and
Lebanese 100,000 to 300,000)

Religions: Muslim 60%, Christian 22%, indigenous 18% (some of
these are also numbered among the Christians and Muslims)

Languages: French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the
most widely spoken

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 48.5%
male: 57%
female: 40%

Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
conventional short form: Cote d'Ivoire
loca