Countries
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Disputes - international: adding to illicit cross-border activities, Burkina Faso has issues concerning unresolved boundary alignments with its neighbors; demarcation is currently underway with Mali, the dispute with Niger was referred to the ICJ in 2010, and a dispute over several villages with Benin persists; Benin retains a border dispute with Burkina Faso around the town of Koualou
Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 32,000 (Mali)
Military branches: Army, Air Force of Burkina Faso (Force Aerienne de Burkina Faso, FABF), National Gendarmerie
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; women may serve in supporting roles
Manpower available for military service: males age 16-49: 3,735,735
Manpower fit for military service: males age 16-49: 2,366,168, females age 16-49: 2,367,673
Military expenditures: 1.2% of GDP
country comparison to the world: 119
Airports: 24
country comparison to the world: 130
Railways: 622 km
country comparison to the world: 106
Roadways: 92,495 km
country comparison to the world: 51
Telephones - main lines in use: 144,000
country comparison to the world: 136
Telephones - mobile cellular: 5.708 million
country comparison to the world: 98
Telephone system: general assessment: system includes microwave radio relay, open-wire, and radiotelephone communication stations; in 2006 the government sold a 51 percent stake in the national telephone company and ultimately plans to retain only a 23 percent stake in the company
domestic: fixed-line connections stand at less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular usage, fostered by multiple providers, is increasing rapidly from a low base
international: country code - 226; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Broadcast media: 2 TV stations - 1 state-owned and 1 privately-owned; state-owned radio runs a national and regional network; substantial number of privately-owned radio stations; transmissions of several international broadcasters available in Ouagadougou
Internet country code: .bf
Internet hosts: 1,833
Internet users: 178,100
Burkina Faso is a poor, landlocked country that relies heavily on cotton and gold exports for revenue. The country has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the main cash crop. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual privatization of state-owned enterprises and in 2004 revised its investment code to attract foreign investment. As a result of this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production. By 2010, gold had become the main source of export revenue. Gold mining production doubled between 2009 and 2010. Two new mining projects were launched the third quarter of 2011. Local community conflict persists in the mining and cotton sectors, but the Prime Minister has made efforts to defuse some of the economic cause of public discontent, including announcing income tax reductions, reparations for looting victims, and subsidies for basic food items and fertilizer. An IMF mission to Burkina Faso in October 2011 expressed general satisfaction with the measures. The risk of a mass exodus of the 3 to 4 million Burinabe who live and work in Cote D'Ivoire has dissipated and trade, power, and transport links are being restored.
Government type: parliamentary republic
Administrative divisions: 13 regions; Boucle du Mouhoun, Cascades, Centre, Centre-Est, Centre-Nord, Centre-Ouest, Centre-Sud, Est, Hauts-Bassins, Nord, Plateau-Central, Sahel, Sud-Ouest
Legal system: civil law based on the French model and customary law
International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Ethnic groups: Mossi over 40%, other approximately 60% (includes Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, and Fulani)
Languages: French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population
Religions: Muslim 60.5%, Catholic 19%, animist 15.3%, Protestant 4.2%, other 0.6%, none 0.4%
Population: 17,275,115
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
Median age: total: 17 years, male: 16.8 years, female: 17.2 years
Population growth rate: 3.073%
Urban population: 26% of total population
Major cities - population: OUAGADOUGOU (capital) 1.777 million
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 54.07 years, male: 52.09 years, female: 56.1 years
Total fertility rate: 6.07 children born/woman
Health expenditures: 6.4% of GDP
Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria and yellow fever
water contact disease: schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
animal contact disease: rabies
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds
Education expenditures: 4.6% of GDP
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 21.8%, male: 29.4%, female: 15.2%
Location: Western Africa, north of Ghana
Land boundaries: total: 3,193 km
border countries: Benin 306 km, Cote d'Ivoire 584 km, Ghana 549 km, Mali 1,000 km, Niger 628 km, Togo 126 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: tropical; warm, dry winters; hot, wet summers
Terrain: mostly flat to dissected, undulating plains; hills in west and southeast
Natural resources: manganese, limestone, marble; small deposits of gold, phosphates, pumice, salt
Land use: arable land: 17.66%, permanent crops: 0.22%, other: 82.12%
Total renewable water resources: 17.5 cu km
Natural hazards: recurring droughts
Environment - current issues: recent droughts and desertification severely affecting agricultural activities, population distribution, and the economy; overgrazing; soil degradation; deforestation
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: landlocked savanna cut by the three principal rivers of the Black, Red, and White Voltas
Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) achieved independence from France in 1960. Repeated military coups during the 1970s and 1980s were followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s. Current President Blaise COMPAORE came to power in a 1987 military coup and has won every election since then. Burkina Faso's high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens.
Burkina Faso
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