Country Facts

The People

Ethnic Composition

Cameroon Highlanders	31%
Equatorial Bantu	19%
Kirdi	11%
Fulani	10%
Northwestern Bantu	8%
Eastern Nigritic	7%
Other African	13%
Non-African	less than 1%

Religious Composition

Indigenous beliefs	40%
Christian	40%
Muslim	20%

Languages Spoken

English and French are the official languages of government and business in Cameroon. There are 24 major African language groups spoken in the country.

Education and Literacy

Cameroon's overall adult literacy is around 63.4 percent. Among males it is 75 percent and females 52.1 percent. (1995)

Labor Force

Total: NA
By occupation: agriculture 70%, industry and commerce 13%, other 17%

Geography

Land Mass Total

183,568 sq mi (475,440 sq km)

Land

181,251 sq mi (469,440 sq km)

Water

2,316 sq mi (6,000 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 2,852 mi (4,591 km)
Border countries: Central African Republic 495 mi (797 km), Chad 679 mi (1,094 km), Republic of the Congo 324 mi (523 km), Equatorial Guinea 117 mi (189 km), Gabon 185 mi (298 km), Nigeria 1,050 mi (1,690 km)

Coastline

249 mi (402 km)

Maritime claim

Territorial sea: 50 nm

Climate/Weather

Varies with terrain, from tropical along coast to semiarid and hot in north.

Terrain

Diverse, with coastal plain in southwest, dissected plateau in center, mountains in west, plains in north.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Atlantic Ocean 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Fako (on Cameroon Mountain) 13,435 ft (4,095 m)

Natural Resources

Petroleum, bauxite, iron ore, timber, hydropower.

Land use

Arable land	13%
Permanent crops	3%
Other	84%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Volcanic activity with periodic releases of poisonous gases from Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun volcanoes.

Environment - current issues

Water-borne diseases are prevalent; deforestation; overgrazing; desertification; poaching; overfishing.

Geography Note

Sometimes referred to as the hinge of Africa; throughout the country there are areas of thermal springs and indications of current or prior volcanic activity; Mount Cameroon, the highest mountain in Sub-Saharan west Africa, is an active volcano.

Demographics

Population

16,184,748 (July 2002)
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.

Age structure

0-14 years:	42.1%	Male: 3,443,505	Female: 3,367,571
15-64 years:	54.5%	Male: 4,431,524	Female: 4,392,155
65 years and over:	3.4%	Male: 253,242	Female: 296,751

Growth Rate

2.36% (2002)

Life Expectancy

54.36 years (2002)
female: 55.23 years
male: 53.51 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$1,700 (2001)

Infant Mortality

68.79 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.85 male(s)/female
Total population:	1.01 male(s)/female

Net migration rate

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

Economy & Trade

Because of its oil resources and favorable agricultural conditions, Cameroon has one of the best-endowed primary commodity economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Still, it faces many of the serious problems facing other underdeveloped countries, such as a top-heavy civil service and a generally unfavorable climate for business enterprise. Since 1990, the government has embarked on various IMF and World Bank programs designed to spur business investment, increase efficiency in agriculture, improve trade, and recapitalize the nation's banks. In June 2000, the government completed an IMF-sponsored, three-year structural adjustment program; however, the IMF is pressing for more reforms, including increased budget transparency and privatization. Swings in the global oil and cocoa markets have considerable impact on the economy. The government estimates are of a 4.7 percent GDP growth rate in 2003, a respectable percentage anywhere in the global economy. However, analysts have already noted that Cameroon needs growth rates in excess of 7 percent if it is to reverse the trends towards further impoverishment of the population. Cameroon will need to make improvements in order to qualify for the World Bank's HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) debt relief programs.

Unemployment

30% (2001)

Inflation Rate

2% (2000)

Industries

Petroleum production and refining, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, lumber.

Exports

US$2.1 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports

US$1.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$26.4 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Italy 24%, France 18%, Netherlands 10% (2000)

Top Import Partners

France 29%, Germany 7%, US 6%, Japan 6% (2000)

Top Exports

Crude oil and petroleum products, lumber, cocoa beans, aluminum, coffee, cotton.

Top Imports

Machines and electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, food.

Debt - external

US$10.9 billion (2000)

Economic aid

US$1.26 billion
Note: on 23 January 2001, the Paris Club agreed to reduce Cameroon's debt of $1.3 billion by $900 million; total debt relief now amounts to $1.26 billion.

Fiscal Year:

July 1 to June 30

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	7:30a.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Retail	7:30a.m. to 6p.m.	Closed
Banks	7:30a.m. to 3:30p.m.	Closed
Government	7:30a.m. to 3:30p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day and Independence Day (1960)	January 1	January 1	January 1
Youth Day	February 11	February 11	February 11
Festival of Sacrifice (Id al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
National Day	May 20	May 20	May 20
Sheep Festival	May 21	May 21	May 21
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	August 15	August 15	August 15
All Saints' Day	November 1	November 1	November 1
Start of Ramadan³	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan (Aid Al Fitr)*¹	November 26	November 14	November 3
Christmas Day*²	December 25	December 25	December 25

¹	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
²	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.
³	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
*¹	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.
*²	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