Formerly named Upper Volta, Burkina Faso is a landlocked country
located in the Western part of the African continent. One of
the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso gained its
independence from France on August 5, 1960. The government set
up a constitution in 1991, and a parliamentary system governed
Burkina Faso since that time. The capital of Burkina Faso is
Ouagadougou.
Burkina Faso, whose name means "land of men of integrity,"
has a population of approximately 11.6 million. Its ethnic
composition is mainly composed of Mossi, and includes Gurunsi,
Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, and Fulani. 40% of the populace
maintains indigenous beliefs, 50% are Muslim, and the remaining
10% are Christian (mainly Roman Catholic). The average male
life expectancy is 46 years, and the average female life expectancy
is 47 years. In terms of literacy, 19.2% of the population
that is over the age of 15 is literate: around 29.5% of the
males can read and write, whereas the percentage of literate
females is significantly lower at 9.2%.
The average GDP per capita is approximately US$1,100. The
major Burkinabe imports include machinery, food and petroleum.
As for the major export products, these include cotton, animal
products, and gold. Manganese, limestone, marble, small deposits
of gold, antimony, copper, nickel, bauxite, lead, phosphates,
zinc, and silver are among the natural resources of the country.
Roughly 90% of the population works in the agricultural sector,
which is extremely susceptible to the fragile soil and the
variations in rainfall.
As of 1998, there are more than 41,200 telephone lines, or
approximately 0.36 lines per hundred people. The telephone
system services are rated only fair. Domestically, Burkina
Faso holds microwave radio relay, open wire, and radiotelephone
communication stations. Internationally, there is a satellite
earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean).
There is 1 Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the country.
http://r0.unctad.org/ldcs/
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