Country Facts - Central African Republic

The People

Ethnic Composition

Baya	33%
Banda	27%
Mandjia	13%
Sara	10%
Mboum	7%
M'Baka	4%
Yakoma	4%
Other	2%

Religious Composition

Indegenous beliefs	35%
Protestant	25%
Roman Catholic	25%
Muslim	15%

Note: animistic beliefs and practices strongly influence the Christian majority

Languages Spoken

French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages.

Education and Literacy

The Central African Republic's overall adult literacy is around 60 percent. Among males it is 68.5 percent and females 52.4 percent.

Labor Force

Total: NA

Geography

Land Mass Total

240,535 sq mi (622,984 sq km)

Land

240,535 sq mi (622,984 sq km)

Water

Landlocked

Land Boundaries

Total: 3,232 mi (5,203 km)

Border countries: Cameroon 495 mi (797 km), Chad 743 mi (1,197 km), Democratic Republic of the Congo 979 mi (1,577 km), Republic of the Congo
290 mi (467 km), Sudan 723 mi (1,165 km).

Coastline

Landlocked

Maritime claim

Landlocked

Climate/Weather

Tropical; hot, dry winters; mild to hot, wet summers.

Terrain

Vast, flat to rolling, monotonous plateau; scattered hills in northeast and southwest.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Ubangi River 1,099 ft (335 m)
Highest: Mont Ngaoui 4,658 ft (1,420 m)

Natural Resources

Diamonds, uranium, timber, gold, oil, hydropower.

Land use

Arable land	3%
Permanent crops	0%
Other	97%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Hot, dry, dusty harmattan winds affect northern areas; floods are common.

Environment - current issues

Tap water is not potable; poaching has diminished its reputation as one of the last great wildlife refuges; desertification; deforestation.

Geography Note

Landlocked. Almost the precise center of Africa.

Demographics

Population

3,642,739 (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:	43%	Male: 788,417	Female: 776,721
15-64 years:	53.2%	Male: 951,908	Female: 986,947
65 years and over:	3.8%	Male: 60,395	Female: 78,351

(2002)

Growth Rate

1.8% (2002)

Life Expectancy

43.58 years (2002)
female: 45.13 years
male: 42.08 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$1,300 (2001)

Infant Mortality

103.81 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:	0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.77 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.98 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

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

Economy & Trade

Subsistence agriculture, together with forestry, remains the backbone of the economy of the Central African Republic (CAR), with more than 70 percent of the population living in outlying areas. The agricultural sector generates half of GDP. Timber has accounted for about 16 percent of export earnings and the diamond industry for 54 percent. Important constraints to economic development include the CAR's landlocked position, a poor transportation system, a largely unskilled work force, and a legacy of misdirected macroeconomic policies. The 50 percent devaluation of the currencies of 14 Francophone African nations on 12 January 1994 had mixed effects on the CAR's economy. Diamond, timber, coffee, and cotton exports increased, leading an estimated rise of GDP of 7 percent in 1994 and nearly 5 percent in 1995. Military rebellions and social unrest in 1996 were accompanied by widespread destruction of property and a drop in GDP of 2 percent. The IMF approved an Extended Structure Adjustment Facility in 1998 and the World Bank extended further credits in 1999 and approved a $10 million loan in early 2001. As of January 2002, many civil servants were owed as much as 16 months pay during the Patasse administration, as well as 14 months pay from the deposed Koingba administration. By the beginning of 2002, GDP growth rates had topped 3.5 percent, and inflation was at a tidy 3 percent per annum. All this progress was thrown out of kilter when insurgents sponsored by CAR's neighbors rose up under the leadership of a former Army officer.

Unemployment

8% (23% for Bangui) (2001)

Inflation Rate

3.6% (2001)

Industries

Diamond mining, sawmills, breweries, textiles, footwear, assembly of bicycles and motorcycles.

Exports

US$166 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports

US$154 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$4.6 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Benelux 64%, Cote d'Ivoire, Spain, China, Egypt, France (1999)

Top Import Partners

France 35%, Cameroon 13%, Benelux, Cote d'Ivoire, Germany, Japan (1999)

Top Exports

Diamonds, timber, cotton, coffee, tobacco.

Top Imports

Food, textiles, petroleum products, machinery, electrical equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, industrial products.

Debt - external

US$881.4 million (2000)

Economic aid

US$172.2 million (1995)
Note: Traditional budget subsidies from France.

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year.

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	7:30a.m. to 3:30p.m.	Closed
Retail	8a.m. to noon and 4p.m. to 7p.m.	Saturday, 8a.m. to noon and again from 4p.m. to 7p.m.
Banks	7a.m. to 11:30p.m.	Closed
Government	6:30a.m. to 1:30p.m.	Saturday 7a.m. to noon.

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Anniversary of the Death of Barthélemy Boganda	March 29	March 29	March 29
Easter¹	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 21	April 12	March 28
Ascension²	May 29	May 20	May 6
Whit Monday³	June 9	May 31	May 16
National Prayer Day	June 30	June 30	June 30
Independence Day	August 13	August 13	August 13
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	August 15	August 15	August 15
All Saints Day	November 1	November 1	November 1
National Day, Proclamation of the Republic	December 1	December 1	December 1
Christmas Day*¹	December 25	December 25	December 25

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	The Christian feast of Pentecost, Whit Sunday or Whit Monday takes place 50 days after Easter, in observation of the day God came to the disciples through the Holy Ghost.
*¹	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