Sierra Leone 
Facts
Population:
5,426,618 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
44.73% (male 1,190,207; female 1,237,326)
15-64 years:
52.12% (male 1,351,455; female 1,477,155)
65 years and over:
3.15% (male 84,364; female 86,111) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate:
3.61% (2001 est.)
Birth rate:
45.11 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate:
19.19 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate:
10.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
note:
by the end of 1999 refugees from Sierra Leone are assumed to be returning
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:
0.98 male(s)/female
total population:
0.94 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
146.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
45.6 years
male:
42.69 years
female:
48.61 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate:
6.01 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
2.99% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
68,000 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
8,200 (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Sierra Leonean(s)
adjective:
Sierra Leonean
Ethnic groups:
20 native African tribes 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole 10% (descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-18th century), refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians
Religions:
Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%
Languages:
English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic
total population:
31.4%
male:
45.4%
female:
18.2% (1995 est.)
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $2.7 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
4.2% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $510 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture:
43%
industry:
26%
services:
31% (1999)
Population below poverty line:
68% (1989 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%:
0.5%
highest 10%:
43.6% (1989)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
15% (2000 est.)
Labor force:
1.369 million (1981 est.)
note:
only about 65,000 wage earners (1985)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$96 million
expenditures:
$351 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)
Industries:
mining (diamonds); small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining
Industrial production growth rate:
NA%
Electricity - production:
240 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel:
100%
hydro:
0%
nuclear:
0%
other:
0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption:
223.2 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products:
rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish
Exports:
$65 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities:
diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish
Exports - partners:
Belgium 38%, US 6%, Italy 4%, UK 4% (1999)
Imports:
$145 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals
Imports - partners:
UK 34%, US 8%, Italy 7%, Nigeria 5% (1999)
Debt - external:
$1.28 billion (1999)
Economic aid - recipient:
$203.7 million (1995)
Currency:
leone (SLL)
Currency code:
SLL
Exchange rates:
leones per US dollar - 1,653.39 (January 2001), 2,092.13 (2000), 1,804.20 (1999), 1,563.62 (1998), 981.48 (1997), 920.73 (1996)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Statistics: CIA World Factbook.
Press
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Displaying 1 to 7 of 35 items.
Advocate, The
(English),
African Champion, The
(independent),
Afro Times
(Independent),
Awoko
(Conservative), Freetown
Center for Media, Education and Technology
(Independent), Freetown
Chronicle, The
(independent), Freetown
(Independent, published in Somerset, NJ),
http://www.cocorioko.com/
Sierra Leone in the News
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Displaying 1 to 4 of 48 items.
The July 13 impounding of a plane loaded with cocaine, and the subsequent arrest of alleged drug traffickers, overshadowed all government business in Freetown, Sierra Leone, for several days last week.
On June 10, Samuel Atere-Roberts participated as project manager in the commissioning of the solar powered computer center at the Prince of Wales School in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
I saw a willing president who, according to his presidential and public affairs minister, wants to "bring the State House closer to the people and the people closer to State House."
As part of his tour of West Africa, billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros was in Sierra Leone to pledge his support for the country's economic recovery.
Americas 
