Senegal (2005) | World (2001) | |
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Administrative divisions | 11 regions (regions, singular - region); Dakar, Diourbel, Fatick, Kaolack, Kolda, Louga, Matam, Saint-Louis, Tambacounda, Thies, Ziguinchor | 267 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 42.8% (male 2,404,461/female 2,360,167)
15-64 years: 54.1% (male 2,901,689/female 3,122,854) 65 years and over: 3% (male 161,173/female 176,488) (2005 est.) |
0-14 years:
29.6% (male 933,647,850; female 886,681,514) 15-64 years: 63.4% (male 1,975,418,386; female 1,931,021,694) 65 years and over: 7% (male 188,760,223; female 241,449,691) (2001 est.) |
Agriculture - products | peanuts, millet, corn, sorghum, rice, cotton, tomatoes, green vegetables; cattle, poultry, pigs; fish | - |
Airports | 20 (2004 est.) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 9
over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2004 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 11
1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
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Area | total: 196,190 sq km
land: 192,000 sq km water: 4,190 sq km |
total:
510.072 million sq km land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than South Dakota | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | Independent from France in 1960, Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation of Senegambia in 1982. However, the envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out, and the union was dissolved in 1989. Despite peace talks, a southern separatist group sporadically has clashed with government forces since 1982. Senegal has a long history of participating in international peacekeeping. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the drop in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 35.21 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 21.37 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $1.572 billion
expenditures: $1.627 billion, including capital expenditures of $357 million (2004 est.) |
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Capital | Dakar | - |
Climate | tropical; hot, humid; rainy season (May to November) has strong southeast winds; dry season (December to April) dominated by hot, dry, harmattan wind | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 531 km | 356,000 km |
Constitution | new constitution adopted 7 January 2001 | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Senegal
conventional short form: Senegal local long form: Republique du Senegal local short form: Senegal |
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Death rate | 10.6 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Debt - external | $3.476 billion (2004 est.) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2000 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Richard Alan ROTH
embassy: Avenue Jean XXIII at the corner of Rue Kleber, Dakar mailing address: B. P. 49, Dakar telephone: [221] 823-4296 FAX: [221] 822-2991 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Amadou Lamine BA
chancery: 2112 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 234-0540 FAX: [1] (202) 332-6315 consulate(s) general: New York |
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Disputes - international | The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau attempt to stem Senegalese citizens from the Casamance region fleeing separatist violence, cross border raids, and arms smuggling | - |
Economic aid - recipient | $362.6 million (2002 est.) | traditional worldwide foreign aid $50 billion (1997 est.) |
Economy - overview | In January 1994, Senegal undertook a bold and ambitious economic reform program with the support of the international donor community. This reform began with a 50% devaluation of Senegal's currency, the CFA franc, which was linked at a fixed rate to the French franc. Government price controls and subsidies have been steadily dismantled. After seeing its economy contract by 2.1% in 1993, Senegal made an important turnaround, thanks to the reform program, with real growth in GDP averaging 5% annually during 1995-2003. Annual inflation had been pushed down to the low single digits. As a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Senegal is working toward greater regional integration with a unified external tariff and a more stable monetary policy. Senegal still relies heavily upon outside donor assistance, however. Under the IMF's Highly Indebted Poor Countries debt relief program, Senegal will benefit from eradication of two-thirds of its bilateral, multilateral, and private sector debt. | Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) rose to 4.8% in 2000 from 3.5% in 1999, despite continued low growth in Japan, severe financial difficulties in other East Asian countries, and widespread dislocations in several transition economies. The US economy continued its remarkable sustained prosperity, growing at 5% in 2000, although growth slowed in fourth quarter 2000; the US accounted for 23% of GWP. The EU economies grew at 3.3% and produced 20% of GWP. China, the second largest economy in the world, continued its strong growth and accounted for 10% of GWP. Japan grew at only 1.3% in 2000; its share in GWP is 7%. As usual, the 15 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations experienced widely different rates of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. Continued financial difficulties in East Asia, Russia, and many African nations, as well as the slowdown in US economic growth, cast a shadow over short-term global economic prospects; GWP probably will grow at 3-4% in 2001. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses serious economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2000, see the individual country entries.) |
Electricity - consumption | 1.615 billion kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - production | 1.737 billion kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel:
NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed feature near Nepen Diakha 581 m |
lowest point:
Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
Environment - current issues | wildlife populations threatened by poaching; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; overfishing | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling | - |
Ethnic groups | Wolof 43.3%, Pular 23.8%, Serer 14.7%, Jola 3.7%, Mandinka 3%, Soninke 1.1%, European and Lebanese 1%, other 9.4% | - |
Exchange rates | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Abdoulaye WADE (since 1 April 2000)
head of government: Prime Minister Macky SALL (since 21 April 2004) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term under new constitution; election last held under prior constitution (seven-year terms) 27 February and 19 March 2000 (next to be held February 2007); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Abdoulaye WADE elected president; percent of vote in the second round of voting - Abdoulaye WADE (PDS) 58.49%, Abdou DIOUF (PS) 41.51% |
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Exports | NA | $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Exports - commodities | fish, groundnuts (peanuts), petroleum products, phosphates, cotton | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | India 14.4%, Mali 13.1%, France 9.8%, Italy 7.3%, Spain 6.6%, Guinea-Bissau 5.6%, Gambia, The 4.8% (2004) | in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), yellow, and red with a small green five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia | - |
GDP | - | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $43.6 trillion (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 15.9%
industry: 21.4% services: 62.7% (2004 est.) |
agriculture:
4% industry: 32% services: 64% (1999 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2004 est.) | purchasing power parity - $7,200 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 3.2% (2004 est.) | 4.8% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 14 00 N, 14 00 W | - |
Geography - note | westernmost country on the African continent; The Gambia is almost an enclave within Senegal | - |
Highways | total: 14,576 km
paved: 4,271 km including 7 km of expressways unpaved: 10,305 km (2000) |
total:
NA km paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 33.5% (1995) |
lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
Illicit drugs | transshipment point for Southwest and Southeast Asian heroin and South American cocaine moving to Europe and North America; illicit cultivator of cannabis | - |
Imports | NA | $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Imports - commodities | food and beverages, capital goods, fuels | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | France 24.8%, Nigeria 11.9%, Thailand 6.1% (2004) | in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries |
Independence | 4 April 1960 (from France); note - complete independence was achieved upon dissolution of federation with Mali on 20 August 1960 | - |
Industrial production growth rate | 4.7% (2004 est.) | 6% (2000 est.) |
Industries | agricultural and fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials, ship construction and repair | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | total: 55.51 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 59.17 deaths/1,000 live births female: 51.75 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
52.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 0.8% (2004 est.) | all countries 25%; developed countries 1% to 3% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2000 est.)
note: national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from stable prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World countries |
International organization participation | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, ECOWAS, FAO, FZ, G-15, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OIC, ONUB, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNMOVIC, UNOCI, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 10,350 (2000 est.) |
Irrigated land | 710 sq km (1998 est.) | 2,481,250 sq km (1993 est.) |
Judicial branch | Constitutional Court; Council of State; Court of Final Appeals or Cour de Cassation; Court of Appeals; note - the judicial system was reformed in 1992 | - |
Labor force | 4.65 million (2004 est.) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 70% | agricultue NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total: 2,640 km
border countries: The Gambia 740 km, Guinea 330 km, Guinea-Bissau 338 km, Mali 419 km, Mauritania 813 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 251,480.24 km (not counting shared boundaries twice) |
Land use | arable land: 12.78%
permanent crops: 0.21% other: 87.01% (2001) |
arable land:
10% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 26% forests and woodland: 32% other: 31% (1993 est.) |
Languages | French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka | - |
Legal system | based on French civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Court; the Council of State audits the government's accounting office; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (120 seats; members are elected by direct, popular vote to serve five-year terms)
note: the former National Assembly, dissolved in the spring of 2001, had 140 seats elections: last held 29 April 2001 (next to be held NA 2006) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - SOPI Coalition 89, AFP 11, PS 10, other 10 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 58.9 years
male: 57.37 years female: 60.47 years (2005 est.) |
total population:
63.79 years male: 62.15 years female: 65.51 years (2001 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 40.2% male: 50% female: 30.7% (2003 est.) |
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Location | Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania | - |
Map references | Africa | World, Time Zones |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
contiguous zone:
24 NM claimed by most, but can vary continental shelf: 200-m depth claimed by most or to depth of exploitation; others claim 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary exclusive economic zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary territorial sea: 12 NM claimed by most, but can vary note: boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
Military branches | Army, Navy (Marine Senegalaise), Air Force (2005) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $107.3 million (2004) | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.5% (2004) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 4 April (1960) | - |
Nationality | noun: Senegalese (singular and plural)
adjective: Senegalese |
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Natural hazards | lowlands seasonally flooded; periodic droughts | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | fish, phosphates, iron ore | the rapid using up of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | 0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Pipelines | gas 564 km (2004) | - |
Political parties and leaders | African Party for Democracy and Socialism or And Jef (also known as PADS/AJ) [Landing SAVANE, secretary general]; African Party of Independence [Majhemout DIOP]; Alliance of Forces of Progress or AFP [Moustapha NIASSE]; Democratic and Patriotic Convention or CDP (also known as Garab-Gi) [Dr. Iba Der THIAM]; Democratic League-Labor Party Movement or LD-MPT [Dr. Abdoulaye BATHILY]; Front for Socialism and Democracy or FSD [Cheikh Abdoulaye DIEYE]; Gainde Centrist Bloc or BGC [Jean-Paul DIAS]; Independence and Labor Party or PIT [Amath DANSOKHO]; National Democratic Rally or RND [Madier DIOUF]; Senegalese Democratic Party or PDS [Abdoulaye WADE]; Socialist Party or PS [Ousmane Tanor DIENG]; SOPI Coalition (a coalition led by the PDS) [Abdoulaye WADE]; Union for Democratic Renewal or URD [Djibo Leyti KA]; other small parties | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | labor; Muslim brotherhoods; students; teachers | - |
Population | 11,126,832 (July 2005 est.) | 6,157,400,560 (July 2001 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 54% (2001 est.) | - |
Population growth rate | 2.48% (2005 est.) | 1.25% (2001 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Dakar | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 8, FM 20, shortwave 1 (2001) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Radios | - | NA |
Railways | total: 906 km
narrow gauge: 906 km 1.000-meter gauge (2004) |
total:
1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line broad gauge: 251,153 km standard gauge: 710,754 km narrow gauge: 239,430 km |
Religions | Muslim 94%, indigenous beliefs 1%, Christian 5% (mostly Roman Catholic) | - |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: good system
domestic: above-average urban system; microwave radio relay, coaxial cable and fiber-optic cable in trunk system international: country code - 221; 4 submarine cables; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
general assessment:
NA domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 228,800 (2003) | NA |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 575,900 (2003) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 1 (1997) | NA |
Terrain | generally low, rolling, plains rising to foothills in southeast | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 4.75 children born/woman (2005 est.) | 2.73 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 48% (urban youth 40%) (2001 est.) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2000 est.) |
Waterways | 1,000 km (primarily on Senegal, Saloum, and Casamance rivers) (2003) | - |