Sierra Leone 
Facts
Population: 6,144,562 (July 2007 est.).
Age structure: 0-14 years: 44.8% (male 1,349,878/female 1,400,297)
15-64 years: 52% (male 1,531,763/female 1,664,996)
65 years and over: 3.2% (male 92,360/female 105,268) (2007 est.).
Population growth rate: 2.292% (2007 est.).
Birth rate: 45.41 births/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Death rate: 22.64 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Net migration rate: 0.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: refugees currently in surrounding countries are slowly returning (2007 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 0.964 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.877 male(s)/female
total population: 0.938 male(s)/female (2007 est.).
Infant mortality rate: total: 158.27 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 175.39 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 140.65 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.).
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 40.58 years
male: 38.36 years
female: 42.87 years (2007 est.).
Total fertility rate: 6.01 children born/woman (2007 est.).
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 7% (2001 est.).
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 170,000 (2001 est.).
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 11,000 (2001 est.).
Nationality: noun: Sierra Leonean(s)
adjective: Sierra Leonean.
Ethnic groups: 20 African ethnic groups 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole (Krio) 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%, Christian 10%, indigenous beliefs 30%.
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: 35.1%
male: 46.9%
female: 24.4% (2004 est.).
GDP (purchasing power parity): $5.452 billion (2006 est.).
GDP - real growth rate: 7.1% (2006 est.).
GDP - per capita (PPP): $900 (2006 est.).
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 49%
industry: 31%
services: 21% (2001 est.).
Labor force: 1.369 million (1981 est.).
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%.
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): 1% (2002 est.).
Unemployment rate: NA%.
Budget: revenues: $96 million
expenditures: $351 million; including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.).
Agriculture - products: rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish.
Industries: diamond mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair.
Industrial production growth rate: NA%.
Electricity - production: 244 million kWh (2004).
Electricity - consumption: 226.9 million kWh (2004).
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004).
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004).
Exports: $185 million f.o.b. (2004 est.).
Exports - commodities: diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish.
Exports - partners: Belgium 65.8%, Germany 13.4%, US 4.6% (2005).
Imports: $531 million f.o.b. (2004 est.).
Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals.
Imports - partners: Germany 18.7%, Cote d'Ivoire 11%, UK 8.4%, US 6.8%, China 5.5%, Netherlands 5.3% (2005).
Debt - external: $1.61 billion (2003 est.).
Economic aid - recipient: $297.4 million (2003 est.).
Currency (code): leone (SLL).
Exchange rates: leones per US dollar - 2,961.7 (2006), 2,889.6 (2005), 2,701.3 (2004), 2,347.9 (2003), 2,099 (2002).
Fiscal year: calendar year.
Statistics: C.I.A. World Factbook. Updated: July 20, 2007.
Press
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Displaying 36 to 37 of 37 items.
We Yone
(All People's Congress affiliated), Freetown
Wisdom
(independent), Freetown
Sierra Leone in the News
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Displaying 1 to 4 of 59 items.
As Sierra Leone continues to build its nation in the wake of civil war, the youth in the country are a valuable factor in continual improvement.
After a difficult childhood battling polio, Marcella Camara-Macauley studied early childhood education and has now written a children's book whose proceeds go to a worthy cause.
In the war-torn African nation of Sierra Leone, the public school system is crippled, ailing and corrupted by the government, affecting children, teachers and the nation as a whole.
In mediating a resolution involving London Mining, African Minerals and the Government of Sierra Leone, Minister Kanu emerges as the shining star.
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