Equatorial Guinea 350 km

Coastline: 885 km

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 24 nm;

Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: maritime boundary with Equatorial Guinea

Climate: tropical; always hot, humid

Terrain: narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and south

Natural resources: crude oil, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore

Land use: 1% arable land; 1% permanent crops; 18% meadows and pastures;
78% forest and woodland; 2% other

Environment: deforestation

- People
Population: 1,068,240 (July 1990), growth rate 0.8% (1990)

Birth rate: 28 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 15 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 6 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 106 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 50 years male, 56 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 4.0 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Gabonese (sing., pl.); adjective--Gabonese

Ethnic divisions: about 40 Bantu tribes, including four major tribal
groupings (Fang, Eshira, Bapounou, Bateke); about 100,000 expatriate Africans
and Europeans, including 27,000 French

Religion: 55-75% Christian, less than 1% Muslim, remainder animist

Language: French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira,
Bandjabi

Literacy: 61.6%

Labor force: 120,000 salaried; 65.0% agriculture, 30.0% industry and
commerce, 2.5% services, 2.5% government; 58% of population of working age
(1983)

Organized labor: there are 38,000 members of the national trade union,
the Gabonese Trade Union Confederation (COSYGA)

- Government
Long-form name: Gabonese Republic

Type: republic; one-party presidential regime since 1964

Capital: Libreville

Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Estuaire, Haut-Ogooue,
Moyen-Ogooue, Ngounie, Nyanga, Ogooue-Ivindo, Ogooue-Lolo,
Ogooue-Maritime, Woleu-Ntem

Independence: 17 August 1960 (from France)

Constitution: 21 February 1961, revised 15 April 1975

Legal system: based on French civil law system and customary law;
judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme
Court; compulsory ICJ jurisdiction not accepted

National holiday: Renovation Day (Gabonese Democratic Party established),
12 March (1968)

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Assemble Nationale)

Judicial branch: Supreme