Country Facts - Sierra Leone

The People

Nationality

Sierra Leonean(s)

Ethnic Composition

Native African	90%
Temne	30%
Mende	30%
Other Tribes	30%
Creole (Krio)	10%

Note: The Creole are descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-18th century. Sierra Leone also houses refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, as well as small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians.

Religious Composition

Muslim	60%
Indigenous beliefs	30%
Christian	10%

Languages Spoken

English is the official language of government and business in Sierra Leone. Mende is the principal vernacular in the south, and Temne is spoken in the north. Krio (an English-based Creole)--spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area--is a lingua franca and a first language for 10 percent of the population, but understood by 95 percent.

Education and Literacy

Sierra Leone's overall adult literacy is around 31.4 percent. Among males it is 45.4 percent and females 18.2 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 1.369 million

By occupation:

Agriculture	65%
Industry	19%
Services	16%

Geography

Land Mass Total

27,698 sq mi (71,740 sq km)

Land

27,652 sq mi (71,620 sq km)

Water

46 sq mi (120 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 595 mi (958 km)
Border countries: Guinea 405 mi (652 km), Liberia 190 mi (306 km)

Coastline

249 mi (402 km)

Maritime claim

Territorial sea: 12 nm
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate/Weather

Tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April)

Terrain

Coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Atlantic Ocean 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Loma Mansa (Bintimane) 6,391 ft (1,948 m)

Natural Resources

Diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite

Land use

Arable land	7%
Permanent crops	1%
Other	92%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (December to February); sandstorms, dust storms

Environment - current issues

Rapid population growth pressuring the environment; over-harvesting of timber, expansion of cattle grazing, and slash-and-burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and soil exhaustion; civil war depleting natural resources; over-fishing

Geography Note

Rainfall along the coast can reach 195 in (495 cm) a year, making it one of the wettest places along coastal, western Africa.

Demographics

Population

5,614,743 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	44.7%	Male: 1,230,530	Female: 1,280,084
15-64 years:	52.1%	Male: 1,397,070	Female: 1,528,986
65 years and over:	3.2%	Male: 87,256	Female: 90,817

(2002))

Growth Rate

3.21% (2002)

Life Expectancy

45.96 years (2002)
Female: 49.01 years
Male: 43.01 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$500 (2001)

Infant Mortality

144.38 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	0.96 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.91 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.96 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.94 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

6.32 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)
Note: by the end of 1999 refugees from Sierra Leone are assumed to be returning.

Economy & Trade

Sierra Leone is an extremely poor African nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. It does have substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources. However, the economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development, following a 10-year civil war. About two-thirds of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. There are plans to reopen bauxite and rutile (titanium ore) mines shut down during the conflict. The major source of hard currency consists of the mining of diamonds. Sierra Leone has had respectable GDP growth since 2000, primarily due to its mining sector. However, illegal war diamonds are also funneled into the black market to help support internal and external rebel activity. The fate of the economy, as is true in most of the region, depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad. However, as trouble pops up in neighboring Liberia and the Ivory Coast, there is the risk of having donor funding and interest fade away.

Unemployment

N/A

Inflation Rate

15% (2000)

Industries

Mining (diamonds); small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining

Exports

US$65 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports

US$145 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$2.7 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

NZ 33.7%, Belgium 32.6%, US 7.4%, France 5.1% (2000)

Top Import Partners

Czech Republic 26.7%, UK 26.6%, US 5.1%, Netherlands 4.6% (2000)

Top Exports

Diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish

Top Imports

Foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals

Debt - external

US$1.3 billion (2000)

Economic aid

US$103 million (2001)

Fiscal Year:

1st of July through 30th of June

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to 12p.m. and 2p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Retail	8a.m. to 12p.m. and 2p.m. to 5p.m.	Saturday 8a.m. to 12p.m. and 2p.m. to 5p.m.
Banks	Monday through Thursday, 8a.m. to 1:30p.m. Friday 8a.m. to 2p.m.	Closed
Government	8a.m. to 12p.m. and 12:30p.m. to 3:45p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 21	April 12	March 28
Independence Day	April 27	April 27	April 27
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Vesak Day	May 18	May 18	May 18
Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Mawlid an Nabi)³	May 14	May 2	April 21
Start of Ramadan*¹	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan (Eid Al Fatr)*²	November 26	November 14	November 3
Christmas Day*³	December 25	December 25	December 25
Boxing Day	December 26	December 26	December 26

¹	Culmination of the Hajj 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	The Birthday of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the twelfth day in the month of Rabi'l of the Islamic calendar.
*¹	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.
*²	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for 3 days.
*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