female: 57.44 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.58 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Sudanese (singular and plural)
adjective: Sudanese

Ethnic groups: black 52%, Arab 39%, Beja 6%, foreigners 2%, other
1%

Religions: Sunni Muslim 70% (in north), indigenous beliefs 25%,
Christian 5% (mostly in south and Khartoum)

Languages: Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse
dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
note: program of Arabization in process

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 46.1%
male: 57.7%
female: 34.6% (1995 est.)

Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of the Sudan
conventional short form: Sudan
local long form: Jumhuriyat as-Sudan
local short form: As-Sudan
former: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Data code: SU

Government type: transitional--previously ruling military junta;
presidential and National Assembly elections held in March 1996; new
constitution drafted by Presidential Committee, went into effect on
30 June 1998 after being approved in nationwide referendum

Capital: Khartoum

Administrative divisions: 26 states (wilayat, singular--wilayah);
A'ali an Nil, Al Bahr al Ahmar, Al Buhayrat, Al Jazirah, Al Khartum,
Al Qadarif, Al Wahdah, An Nil al Abyad, An Nil al Azraq, Ash
Shamaliyah, Bahr al Jabal, Gharb al Istiwa'iyah, Gharb Bahr al
Ghazal, Gharb Darfur, Gharb Kurdufan, Janub Darfur, Janub Kurdufan,
Junqali, Kassala, Nahr an Nil, Shamal Bahr al Ghazal, Shamal Darfur,
Shamal Kurdufan, Sharq al Istiwa'iyah, Sinnar, Warab

Independence: 1 January 1956 (from Egypt and UK)

National holiday: Independence Day, 1 January (1956)

Constitution: 12 April 1973, suspended following coup of 6 April
1985; interim constitution of 10 October 1985 suspended following
coup of 30 June 1989; new constitution implemented on 30 June 1998

Legal system: based on English common law and Islamic law; as of
20 January 1991, the now defunct Revolutionary Command Council
imposed Islamic law in the northern states; Islamic law applies to
all residents of the northern states regardless of their religion;
some separate religious courts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction,
with reservations

Suffrage: NA years of age; universal, but noncompulsory

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Lt. General Umar Hasan Ahmad al-BAS