l war depleting natural resources; overfishing

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban,
Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

@Sierra Leone:People

Population: 5,080,004 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 45% (male 1,130,728; female 1,167,084)
15-64 years: 52% (male 1,257,901; female 1,367,902)
65 years and over: 3% (male 79,113; female 77,276) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 4.01% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 46.16 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 17.25 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 11.18 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

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: 1.02 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 129.38 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 48.57 years
male: 45.56 years
female: 51.66 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.23 children born/woman (1998 est.)

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

Ethnic groups: 20 native African tribes 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%,
other 30%), Creole 10% (descendents of freed Jamaican slaves who were
settled in the Freetown area in the late-eighteenth 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
descendents 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 in English, Mende,
Temne, or Arabic
total population: 31.4%
male: 45.4%
female: 18.2% (1995 est.)

@Sierra Leone:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Sierra Leone
conventional short form: Sierra Leone

Data code: SL

Government type: constitutional democracy

National capital: Freetown

Administrative divisions: 3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern, Northern,
Southern, Western*

Independence: 2