Country Name:

• conventional long form: Republic of Sierra Leone
• conventional short form: Sierra Leone
• local long form: Republic of Sierra Leone
• local short form: Sierra Leone

Capital:

• name: Freetown
• geographic coordinates: 8 30 N, 13 15 W
• time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Independence:

• 2 October 1958 (from France)

Government Type:

• constitutional democracy

Executive Branch:

• chief of state: President Ernest Bai Koroma (since 17 September 2007)
• head of government: President Ernest Bai Koroma (since 17 September 2007)
• cabinet: Ministers of State appointed by the president with the approval of the House of Representatives; the cabinet is responsible to the president
• elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 17 November 2012 (next to be held in 2017)
• election results: Ernest Bai Koroma reelected president

Legislative Branch:

• structure: unicameral Parliament

Judicial Branch:

• structure: Supreme Court; Appeals Court; High Court

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Population:

• 5,743,725 (global rank: 112)
• growth rate: 2.33% (global rank: 37)

Nationality:

• noun: Sierra Leonean(s)
• adjective: Sierra Leonean

Major Cities:

• Freetown (capital): 986,000

Ethnic Groups:

• Temne 35%, Mende 31%, Limba 8%, Kono 5%, Kriole 2%, Mandingo 2%, Loko 2%, other 15% (includes refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, and 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%)

Life Expectancy at Birth:

• total population: 57.39 years (global rank: 202)
• male: 54.85 years
• female: 60 years

Infant Mortality:

• total population: 73.29 deaths/1,000 live births (global rank: 11)
• male: 81.84 deaths/1,000 live births
• female: 64.49 deaths/1,000 live births

HIV/AIDS:

• adult prevalence rate: 1.55% (2013 est.) (global rank: 31)
• people living with AIDS: 57,100 (2013 est.) (global rank: 53)

Literacy:

• definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population: 44.5%
• male: 55.5%
• female: 33.7%

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Overview: Sierra Leone is extremely poor and nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. The country possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, but it is still recovering from a civil war that destroyed most institutions before ending in the early 2000s. In recent years economic growth has been driven by mining - particularly iron ore. The country’s principal exports are iron ore, diamonds, and rutile, and the economy is vulnerable to fluctuations in international prices. In 2014, rapid spread of Ebolavirus caused a contraction of economic activity in several areas, including transportation, health, and industrial production. Iron ore production dropped, due to low global prices and high costs, driven by the epidemic. A long-term shutdown of the industry would badly hurt the economy because it supports thousands of jobs and creates about 20% of GDP. Until 2014, the government had relied on external assistance to support its budget, but it was gradually becoming more independent. The epidemic has disrupted economic activity, deterred private investment, and forced the government to increase expenditures on health care, straining the budget and restricting other public investment projects. A rise in international donor support will partially offset these fiscal constraints.

Gross Domestic Product:

• GDP (PPP): $12.89 billion (global rank: 154)
• GDP per capita (PPP): $2,800 (global rank: 200)
• real growth rate: 8% (global rank: 12)
• composition by sector: agriculture: 42.5%, industry: 26.8%, services: 30.7%

Currency:

• currency: Leones (SLL)
• exchange rate (per US Dollar): 4,376.1

Poverty:

• population below poverty line: 70.2%
• unemployment rate: NA

Agricultural Products:

• rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish

Industries:

• diamond mining; iron ore, rutile and bauxite mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair

Exports Commodities:

• diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish

Imports Commodities:

• foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals

Location:

• Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia

Area:

• total: 71,740 sq km (global rank: 119)
• land: 71,620 sq km
• water: 120 sq km
• comparative: slightly smaller than South Carolin

Climate:

• tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April)

Land Use:

• arable land: 24%
• permanent crops: 2.29%
• other: 73.72%

Natural Resources:

• diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite

Current Environmental Issues:

• rapid population growth pressuring the environment; overharvesting of timber, expansion of cattle grazing, and slash-and-burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and soil exhaustion; civil war depleted natural resources; overfishing

• international disputes: Sierra Leone opposes Guinean troops' continued occupation of Yenga, a small village on the Makona River that serves as a border with Guinea; Guinea's forces came to Yenga in the mid-1990s to help the Sierra Leonean military to suppress rebels and to secure their common border but have remained there even after both countries signed a 2005 agreement acknowledging that Yenga belonged to Sierra Leone; in 2012, the two sides signed a declaration to demilitarize the area