Current Environmental Issues: recent droughts and desertification severely affecting agricultural activities, population distribution, and the economy; overgrazing; soil degradation; deforestation

Geography

Source: CIA

Location: Western Africa, north of Ghana

Geographic Coordinates: 13 00 N, 2 00 W

Area:

total: 274,200 sq km
land: 273,800 sq km
water: 400 sq km

Land Boundaries:

total: 3,193 km
border countries: Benin 306 km, Cote d'Ivoire 584 km, Ghana 549 km, Mali 1,000 km, Niger 628 km, Togo 126 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime Claims: none (landlocked)

Natural Hazards: recurring droughts

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

Climate

Tropical; warm, dry winters; hot, wet summers

Government

Government Type: parliamentary republic

Capital: Ouagadougou

Independence Date: 5 August 1960 (from France)

Legal System: based on French civil law system and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years, universal

International Agreement

Environmental-international Agreement:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

People and Society

Population: 15,264,735

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 46.3% (male 3,549,034/female 3,521,684)
15-64 years: 51.1% (male 3,885,124/female 3,922,198)
65 years and over: 2.5% (male 154,476/female 232,219) (2008 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 3.109% (2008 est.)

Birthrate: 3.44.68 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

109% (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 13.59 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: N/A

Life Expectancy at Birth:

total population: 52.55 years
male: 50.67 years
female: 54.49 years (2008 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 6.34 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Languages: French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 21.8%
male: 29.4%
female: 15.2% (2003 est.)

Water

Total Renewable Water Resources: 17.5 cu km (2001)

Freshwater Withdrawal (domestic, industrial, agricultural):

total: 0.8 cu km/yr (13%/1%/86%)
per capita: 60 cu m/yr (2000)

Agriculture

Agricultural Products: cotton, peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, corn, rice; livestock

Irrigated Lands: 250 sq km (2003)

Resources

Natural Resources: manganese, limestone, marble; small deposits of gold, phosphates, pumice, salt

Land Use:

arable land: 17.66%
permanent crops: 0.22%
other: 82.12% (2005)

Energy

Health

Prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in adults: 4.2% (2003 est.)

Conflict

International Disputes:

in September 2007, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intervened to attempt to resolve the dispute over two villages along the Benin-Burkina Faso border that remain from 2005 ICJ decision; in recent years citizens and rogue security forces rob and harass local populations on both sides of the poorly-defined Burkina Faso-Niger border; despite the presence of over 9,000 UN forces (UNOCI) in Cote d'Ivoire since 2004, ethnic conflict continues to spread into neighboring states who can no longer send their migrant workers to work in Ivorian cocoa plantations

Economy

One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the main cash crop and the government has joined with three other cotton producing countries in the region - Mali, Niger, and Chad - to lobby in the World Trade Organization for fewer subsidies to producers in other competing countries. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but successful privatization of state-owned enterprises. Having revised its investment code in 2004, Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign investors. Thanks to this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production. While the bitter internal crisis in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to be resolved, it is still having a negative effect on Burkina Faso's trade and employment. In 2007 higher costs for energy and imported foodstuffs, as well as low cotton prices, dampened a GDP growth rate that had averaged 6% in the last 10 years. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge Account threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary school level, and appears likely to receive a grant in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform.

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $17.2 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $6.977 billion (2007 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 4.2% (2007 est.)

GDP-per capita (PPP): $1,300 (2007 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:

agriculture: 29.7%
industry: 19.4%
services: 50.9% (2007 est.)

Population Below Poverty Line: 46.4% (2004)

Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share:

lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 32.2% (2004)

Industries: cotton lint, beverages, agricultural processing, soap, cigarettes, textiles, gold

Exports: cotton, livestock, gold

Export Partners: China 33.3%, Singapore 15.3%, Thailand 7%, Ghana 6.3%, Niger 4.7% (2006)

Imports: capital goods, foodstuffs, petroleum

Import Partners: Cote d'Ivoire 25.7%, France 20.5%, Togo 7.1%, Belgium 4% (2006)

Economic Aid Recipient: $659.6 million (2005)

Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF);

Communications

Telephones-main line in use: 94,800 (2006)

Telephones-mobile/cellular: 1.017 million (2006)

Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 2, FM 26, shortwave 3

Television Broadcast Stations: 3 (1 national, 2 private)

Internet Hosts: 193 (2007)

Internet Users: 80,000 (2006)

Transportation

Airports: 33 (2007)

Railways:

total: 92,495 km
paved: 3,857 km
unpaved: 88,638 km (2004)