(formerly
Upper Volta) in 1960. Governmental instability during the 1970s and
1980s was followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s. Several
hundred thousand farm workers migrate south every year to Cote
d'Ivoire and Ghana.
@Burkina Faso:Geography
Location: Western Africa, north of Ghana
Geographic coordinates: 13 00 N, 2 00 W
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 274,200 sq km
land: 273,800 sq km
water: 400 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than Colorado
Land boundaries:
total: 3,192 km
border countries: Benin 306 km, Cote d'Ivoire 584 km, Ghana 548 km,
Mali 1,000 km, Niger 628 km, Togo 126 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: tropical; warm, dry winters; hot, wet summers
Terrain: mostly flat to dissected, undulating plains; hills in west
and southeast
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Mouhoun (Black Volta) River 200 m
highest point: Tena Kourou 749 m
Natural resources: manganese, limestone, marble; small deposits of
gold, antimony, copper, nickel, bauxite, lead, phosphates, zinc,
silver
Land use:
arable land: 13%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 22%
forests and woodland: 50%
other: 15% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 200 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: recurring droughts
Environment - current issues: recent droughts and desertification
severely affecting agricultural activities, population distribution,
and the economy; overgrazing; soil degradation; deforestation
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer
Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban
Geography - note: landlocked
@Burkina Faso:People
Population: 11,946,065
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the
effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life
expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population
and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age
and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2000 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 48% (male 2,866,361; female 2,822,990)
15-64 years: 49% (male 2,808,797; female 3,097,048)
65 years and over: 3% (male 149,474; female 201,395) (2000 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.71% (2000 est.)
Birth rate: 45.26 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)
D
|