Sudan

Republic of the Sudan

GEOGRAPHY:
Location:----------------- Northern Africa
Area:
Total area:--- 2,505,810 sq. km
Land area:--- 2,376,000 sq. km
Capital city:------------- Khartoum
Natural Resources:---------------- Petroleum; small reserves of iron ore,
copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold.

PEOPLE:
Population:---------------- 33,550,552
Literacy rate:-------------- 46.1% of total population, (Males:57.7%,
Females:34.6%).
Languages:------------------ Arabic (offical), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse
dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English.
Religious:----------------- 70% Sunni Muslim(in North), 25%-indigenous
beliefs, 5%-Christian(mostly in the south and Khartoum).

VITAL STATISTICS:
Birth rate:------------- 40.54 (per 1,000 population)(1997)
Death rate:------------- 11.16 (per 1,000 population)
Infant Mortality rate:------------ 74.3 (deaths per 1,000 live births)
Fertility rate:--------------- 5.79 (per woman)
Life Expectancy at birth:
Total population:--- 55.54 (Males:54.6, Females:56.53).

GOVERNMENT:
Type of Government:-------------- Transitional-previously ruling military
junta.
Independence:-------------- January 1, 1956 (from Egypt and UK)
President:-------------- Lt. General Omar Hassan Ahmed el-Bashir.

ECONOMY:
GDP:--------------- purchasing power parity - $26.6 billion (1996)
GDP real growth rate:--- 4%
GDP per capita:--- $860
Inflation rate (consumer prices):------------- 133% (1996)
National budget:
Revenues:--- $382 million
Expenditures:--- $1.06 billion
External Debt:-------------- $18.5 billion
Currency:--------------- 1 Sudanese pound = 100 piastres
Labor force:--------------- 11 million (1996)
Unemployment rate:---------------- 30%
Agriculture:---------------- Cotton, oilseed, sorghum, millet, wheat, gum
arabic; sheep.
Industries:--------------- Cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar,
soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining.
Exports:---------------- $500 million
Commodities:--- Cotton, livestock/meat, gum arabic.
Imports:---------------- $1 billion
Commodities:--- Foodstuffs, petroleum products, manufactured goods,
machinery and equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles.

DEFENCE:
Defence Expenditures:--------------- $NA, NA% of GDP

Geography:Sudan is located in the northeast Africa. Sudan is the largest country in the
continent of Africa. Its neighbors are Chad, central African Republic on the west and
Egypt and Libya on the north. Ethiopia and Eritrea to the east and Kenya and Uganda to
the south.