Current Environmental Issues: overgrazing; soil erosion; deforestation; desertification; wildlife populations (such as elephant, hippopotamus, giraffe, and lion) threatened because of poaching and habitat destruction

Geography

Source: CIA

Location: Western Africa, southeast of Algeria

Geographic Coordinates: 16 00 N, 8 00 E

Area:

total: 1.267 million sq km
land: 1,266,700 sq km
water: 300 sq km

Land Boundaries:

total: 5,697 km
border countries: Algeria 956 km, Benin 266 km, Burkina Faso 628 km, Chad 1,175 km, Libya 354 km, Mali 821 km, Nigeria 1,497 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime Claims: none (landlocked)

Natural Hazards: recurring droughts

Terrain

Predominately desert plains and sand dunes; flat to rolling plains in south; hills in north

Elevation Extremes:

lowest point: Niger River 200 m
highest point: Mont Bagzane 2,022 m

Climate

Desert; mostly hot, dry, dusty; tropical in extreme south

Government

Government Type: Republic

Capital: Niamey

Independence Date: 3 August 1960 (from France)

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

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

International Agreement

Environmental-international Agreement:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea

People and Society

Population: 13,272,679 (July 2008 est.)

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 47% (male 3,174,834/female 3,057,003)
15-64 years: 50.6% (male 3,450,393/female 3,267,496)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 159,945/female 163,008) (2008 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 2.878% (2008 est.)

Birth Rate: 49.62 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 20.26 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: -0.57 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth:

total population: 44.28 years
male: 44.3 years
female: 44.26 years (2008 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 7.29 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Languages: French (official), Hausa, Djerma

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 28.7%
male: 42.9%
female: 15.1% (2005 est.)

Water

Total Renewable Water Resources: 33.7 cu km (2003)

Freshwater Withdrawal (domestic, industrial, agricultural):

total: 2.18 cu km/yr (4%/0%/95%)
per capita: 156 cu m/yr (2000)

Agriculture

Agricultural Products: cowpeas, cotton, peanuts, millet, sorghum, cassava (tapioca), rice; cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses, poultry

Irrigated Land: 730 sq km (2003)

Resources

Natural Resources: uranium, coal, iron ore, tin, phosphates, gold, molybdenum, gypsum, salt, petroleum

Land Use:

arable land: 11.43%
permanent crops: 0.01%
other: 88.56% (2005)

Energy

Health

Prevalence Rate of HIV/AIDS in Adults: 1.2% (2003 est.)

Major Infectious Diseases:

degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2008)

Conflict

International Dispute: Libya claims about 25,000 sq km in a currently dormant dispute in the Tommo region; much of Benin-Niger boundary, including tripoint with Nigeria, remains undemarcated; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries

Trafficking in Persons:

current situation: Niger is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation; caste-based slavery practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships, continue in isolated areas of the country - an estimated 8,800 to 43,000 Nigeriens live under conditions of traditional slavery; children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging, forced labor in gold mines, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and possibly for forced labor in agriculture and stone quarries; women and children from neighboring states are trafficked to and through Niger for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, forced labor in mines and on farms, and as mechanics and welders
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Niger is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to eliminate trafficking in 2007; in particular, measures to combat and eliminate traditional slavery practices were weak; the government's overall law enforcement efforts have stalled from 2006; while efforts to protect child trafficking victims were steady, the government failed to provide services to or rescue adult victims subjected to traditional slavery practices, and made poor efforts to educate the public about traditional slavery practices in general (2008)

Economy

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking near last on the United Nations Development Fund index of human development. It is a landlocked, Sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. Drought cycles, desertification, and a 2.9% population growth rate, have undercut the economy. Niger shares a common currency, the CFA franc, and a common central bank, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), with seven other members of the West African Monetary Union. In December 2000, Niger qualified for enhanced debt relief under the International Monetary Fund program for Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and concluded an agreement with the Fund on a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). Debt relief provided under the enhanced HIPC initiative significantly reduces Niger's annual debt service obligations, freeing funds for expenditures on basic health care, primary education, HIV/AIDS prevention, rural infrastructure, and other programs geared at poverty reduction. In December 2005, Niger received 100% multilateral debt relief from the IMF, which translates into the forgiveness of approximately US $86 million in debts to the IMF, excluding the remaining assistance under HIPC. Nearly half of the government's budget is derived from foreign donor resources. Future growth may be sustained by exploitation of oil, gold, coal, and other mineral resources. Uranium prices have increased sharply in the last few years. A drought and locust infestation in 2005 led to food shortages for as many as 2.5 million Nigeriens.

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $8.902 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $4.174 billion (2007 est.)

GDP- real growth rate: 3.2% (2007 est.)

GDP- per capita (PPP): $700 (2007 est.)

GDP- composition by sector:

agriculture: 39%
industry: 17%
services: 44% (2001)

Population Below Poverty Line: 63% (1993 est.)

Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share:

lowest 10%: 0.8%
highest 10%: 35.4% (1995)

Industries: uranium mining, cement, brick, soap, textiles, food processing, chemicals, slaughterhouses

Exports: uranium ore, livestock, cowpeas, onions

Export Partners: France 50.3%, Nigeria 23.3%, Russia 13.8% (2006)

Imports: foodstuffs, machinery, vehicles and parts, petroleum, cereals

Import Partners: France 15.4%, French Polynesia 8.5%, Nigeria 8.3%, Belgium 8.3%, US 6.7%, Cote d'Ivoire 5.5% (2006)

Economic Aid Recipient: $515.4 million (2005)

Currency: $515.4 million (2005)

Communications

Telephones- main line in use: 24,000 (2005)

Telephones- mobile/cellular: 900,000 (2007)

Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 5, FM 6, shortwave 4 (2001)

Television Broadcast Stations: 5 (2007)

Internet Hosts: 200 (2007)

Internet Users: 40,000 (2006)

Transportation

Airports: 28 (2007)

Roadways:

total: 18,423 km
paved: 3,797 km
unpaved: 14,626 km (2005)