Country Facts - Botswana

The People

Nationality

Motswana (singular), Batswana (plural)

Ethnic Composition

Tswana (Setswana)	79%
Kalanga	11%
Basarwa	3%
Other	7%

Religious Composition

Indigenous beliefs	50%
Christian	50%

Languages Spoken

English (official), Setswana

Education and Literacy

Literacy for the adult population is 69.8 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 264,000 formal sector employees (2000)
By occupation:

Public sector	42.5%
Private sector	57.5%

Note: The percentage of people employed in the private sector includes 14,300 who are employed in various mines in South Africa; most others employed in the private sector are engaged in cattle raising and subsistence agriculture (1995 est.).

Geography

Land Mass Total

231,804 sq mi (600,370 sq km)

Land

226,012sq mi (585,370 sq km)

Water

5,791sq mi (15,000 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 2,493 mi ( 4,013 km)
Border countries: Namibia 845 mi (1,360 km), South Africa 1,143 mi (1,840 km), Zimbabwe 505 mi (813 km)

Coastline

Landlocked

Maritime claim

None

Climate/Weather

Semiarid; warm winters and hot summers

Terrain

Predominantly flat to gently rolling tableland; Kalahari Desert in southwest.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: junction of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers 1,683 ft (513 m)
Highest: Tsodilo Hills 4,885 ft (1,489 m)

Natural Resources

Diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal, iron ore, silver.

Land use

Arable land	1%
Permanent crops	0%
Other	99%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Periodic droughts; seasonal August winds blow from the west, carrying sand and dust across the country, which can obscure visibility.

Environment - current issues

Overgrazing; desertification; limited fresh water resources.

Geography Note

Landlocked; population concentrated in eastern part of the country.

Demographics

Population

1,591,232
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 2001 est.).

Age structure

0-14 years:	40%	Male: 319,988	Female: 316,961
15-64 years:	55.8%	Male: 428,638	Female: 458,777
65 years and over:	4.2%	Male: 26,965	Female: 39,903

(2002)

Growth Rate

0.18% (2002)

Life Expectancy

35.29 years (2002)
female: 35.43 years
male: 35.15 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$7,800 (2001)

Infant Mortality

64.72 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.68 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.95 male(s)/female

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

Botswana has maintained one of the world's highest growth rates since independence in 1966. Through fiscal discipline and sound management, Botswana has transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to a middle-income country with a per capita GDP of $7,800 in 2001. Two major investment services rank Botswana as the best credit risk in Africa. Diamond mining has fueled much of expansion and currently accounts for more than one-third of GDP and for four-fifths of export earnings. Tourism, subsistence farming, and cattle raising are other key sectors. On the downside, the government must deal with high rates of unemployment and poverty. Unemployment officially is 21 percent, but unofficial estimates place it closer to 40 percent. HIV/AIDS infection rates are the highest in the world and threaten Botswana's impressive economic gains. GDP growth rates in 2001 and 2002 were 5 percent, with the prediction for 2003 only slightly above that level. The all-important mining sector, however, is expecting 6 to 7 percent growth in 2003 compared to 3.9 percent in 2002. Inflation will drop from 8.1 percent to 7 percent in 2003..

Unemployment

40% (official rate is 21%) (2001)

Inflation Rate

6.6% (2001)

Industries

Diamonds, copper, nickel, coal, salt, soda ash, potash; livestock processing.

Exports

US$2.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

$2.1 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$12.4 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

EFTA 85%, Southern African Customs Union (SACU) 10%, Zimbabwe 2% (1999)

Top Import Partners

Southern African Customs Union (SACU) 77%, EFTA 9%, Zimbabwe 4% (1999)

Top Exports

Diamonds 80%, copper, nickel, soda ash, meat, textiles (2001)

Top Imports

Foodstuffs, machinery, electrical goods, transport equipment, textiles, fuel and petroleum products, wood and paper products, metal and metal products (2000)

Industries

Diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash; livestock processing; textiles

Debt - external

US$325 million (2001)

Economic aid

Recipient: US$73 million (1995)

Fiscal Year:

1 April to 31 March

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	(April through end of September) 8a.m. to 1p.m. and 2p.m. to 5p.m.; (October through end of March) 7:30a.m. to 4:30p.m.	Closed
Retail	8:30a.m. to 1p.m., and 2p.m. to 5p.m.	Saturday 8:30a.m. to 1p.m.
Banks	10a.m. to 4:30p.m.	8:15a.m. to 10:45a.m.
Government	7:30a.m. to 12:30p.m. and 1:45p.m. to 4:30p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	April 9
Easter¹	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 21	April 12	March 28
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Ascension²	May 30	May 21	May 6
Sir Seretse Khama Day	July 1	July 1	July 1
Presidents' Day	July 15 and 16	July 15 and 16	July 15 and 16
Botswana Day Holiday	Sept. 30 to Oct. 1	Sept. 30 to Oct. 1	Sept. 30 to Oct. 1
Christmas Day³	December 25	December 25	December 25
Boxing Day	December 26	December 31	December 31

¹	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
²	The feast of Ascension takes place 40 days after Easter in both the Christian and Orthodox faiths and celebrates the ascent of Christ into Heaven.
³	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press