Cameroon 
Facts
Population: 18,060,382
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 (July 2007 est.).
Age structure: 0-14 years: 41.3% (male 3,763,332/female 3,695,053)
15-64 years: 55.5% (male 5,029,658/female 4,994,786)
65 years and over: 3.2% (male 266,616/female 310,937) (2007 est.).
Population growth rate: 2.241% (2007 est.).
Birth rate: 35.07 births/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Death rate: 12.66 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.018 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.007 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.857 male(s)/female
total population: 1.007 male(s)/female (2007 est.).
Infant mortality rate: total: 65.84 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 70.73 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 60.79 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.).
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 52.86 years
male: 52.15 years
female: 53.59 years (2007 est.).
Total fertility rate: 4.49 children born/woman (2007 est.).
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 6.9% (2003 est.).
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 560,000 (2003 est.).
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 49,000 (2003 est.).
Nationality: noun: Cameroonian(s)
adjective: Cameroonian.
Ethnic groups: Cameroon Highlanders 31%, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, Northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, other African 13%, non-African less than 1%.
Religions: indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian 40%, Muslim 20%.
Languages: 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official).
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 67.9%
male: 77%
female: 59.8% (2001 est.).
GDP (purchasing power parity): $42.48 billion (2006 est.).
GDP - real growth rate: 3.5% (2006 est.).
GDP - per capita (PPP): $2,400 (2006 est.).
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 45.2%
industry: 16.1%
services: 38.7% (2006 est.).
Labor force: 6.394 million (2006 est.).
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 70%
industry: 13%
services: 17%.
Population below poverty line: 48% (2000 est.).
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.9%
highest 10%: 36.6% (1996).
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.4% (2006 est.).
Unemployment rate: 30% (2001 est.).
Budget: revenues: $3.339 billion
expenditures: $3.157 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.).
Agriculture - products: coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber, bananas, oilseed, grains, root starches; livestock; timber.
Industries: petroleum production and refining, aluminum production, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, lumber, ship repair.
Industrial production growth rate: 4.2% (1999 est.).
Electricity - production: 3.924 billion kWh (2004).
Electricity - consumption: 3.649 billion kWh (2004).
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004).
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004).
Exports: $4.318 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
Exports - commodities: crude oil and petroleum products, lumber, cocoa beans, aluminum, coffee, cotton.
Exports - partners: Spain 17.3%, Italy 13.8%, France 9.5%, South Korea 8.1%, UK 8.1%, Netherlands 7.9%, Belgium 4.9%, US 4.3% (2005).
Imports: $3.083 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
Imports - commodities: machinery, electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, food.
Imports - partners: France 24%, Nigeria 12%, Belgium 6.3%, China 5.6%, US 5.1%, Thailand 4.5%, Germany 4.2% (2005).
Debt - external: $3.657 billion (2006 est.).
Economic aid - recipient: in January 2001, the Paris Club agreed to reduce Cameroon's debt of $1.3 billion by $900 million; debt relief now totals $1.26 billion.
Currency (code): Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF); note - responsible authority is the Bank of the Central African States.
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002).
Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June.
Statistics: C.I.A. World Factbook. Updated: July 20, 2007.
Press
Yaounde
http://www.crtv.cm/
Cameroon Tribune
(Government-owned), Yaoundé
Jeune Observateur
(Independent biweekly), Douala
La Nouvelle Expression
(Independent weekly), Douala
(Independent weekly), Douala
http://www.lemessager.net/
(Independent), Buea
http://www.postnewsline.com/
Cameroon in the News
Julius Awafong hopes that giving larger votes to poor, working- and middle-class people through vote sizing will ease the misery they are suffering as a result of corruption.
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