Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one-third of the population). The military, which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country's stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 presidential election, but still look to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) - a civilian UN mission - to support efforts to consolidate peace. The new government's priorities include furthering development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption.

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

8 30 N, 11 30 W

Africa

slightly smaller than South Carolina

402 km

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

coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east

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

300 sq km (2003)

160 cu km (1987)

dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (December to February); sandstorms, dust storms

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

rainfall along the coast can reach 495 cm (195 inches) a year, making it one of the wettest places along coastal, western Africa

5,245,695 (July 2010 est.)

2.216% (2010 est.)

38.79 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)

11.97 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.)

-4.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population

4.97 children born/woman (2010 est.)

1.7% (2007 est.)

55,000 (2007 est.)

3,300 (2007 est.)

20 African ethnic groups 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole (Krio) 10% (descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-18th century), refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians

Muslim 60%, Christian 10%, indigenous beliefs 30%

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%)

3.8% of GDP (2005)

constitutional democracy

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

27 April 1961 (from the UK)

Independence Day, 27 April (1961)

1 October 1991; amended several times

based on English law and customary laws indigenous to local tribes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

unicameral Parliament (124 seats; 112 members elected by popular vote, 12 filled by paramount chiefs elected in separate elections; members to serve five-year terms)

Supreme Court; Appeals Court; High Court

All People's Congress or APC [Ernest Bai KOROMA]; Peace and Liberation Party or PLP [Darlington MORRISON]; People's Movement for Democratic Change or PMDC [Charles MARGAI]; Sierra Leone People's Party or SLPP [Solomon BEREWA]; numerous others

ACP, AfDB, AU, C, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMIS, UNMIT, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and blue; green symbolizes agriculture, mountains, and natural resources, white represents unity and justice, and blue the sea and the natural harbor in Freetown

Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone's exports. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation. A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining.

$4.622 billion (2009 est.)

$4.444 billion (2008 est.)

$4.212 billion (2007 est.)

$2.088 billion (2009 est.)

4% (2009 est.)

5.5% (2008 est.)

6.4% (2007 est.)

$900 (2009 est.)

$900 (2008 est.)

$900 (2007 est.)

2.207 million (2007 est.)

NA%

70.2% (2004)

62.9 (1989)

11.7% (2007 est.)

NA%

24.5% (31 December 2008)

25% (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$184.6 million (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$177.7 million (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$162.9 million (31 December 2007)

$NA

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

diamond mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair

NA%

80 million kWh (2007 est.)

74.4 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

3 bbl/day (2008 est.)

9,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)

502 bbl/day (2007 est.)

8,316 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2009 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.)

-$63 million (2007 est.)

$216 million (2006)

diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish

Belgium 39.2%, US 22.1%, India 7%, France 5.4%, Netherlands 4.1% (2008)

$560 million (2006)

foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals

China 10.2%, US 7.8%, Belgium 6.6%, UK 6.5%, Cote dIvoire 6.2%, India 5.6%, Thailand 5.1% (2008)

$1.61 billion (2003 est.)

leones (SLL) per US dollar - NA (2007), 2,961.7 (2006), 2,889.6 (2005), 2,701.3 (2004), 2,347.9 (2003)

31,500 (2008)

1.009 million (2008)

AM 1, FM 9, shortwave 1 (2001)

2 (1999)

.sl

273 (2009)

13,900 (2008)

9 (2009)

2 (2009)

800 km (600 km year round) (2007)

Freetown, Pepel, Sherbro Islands

Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF): Army (includes Maritime Wing and Air Wing) (2008)

17 years 6 months of age for male and female voluntary military service (younger with parental consent); no conscription; candidates must be HIV negative (2009)

2.3% of GDP (2006)

as domestic fighting among disparate ethnic groups, rebel groups, warlords, and youth gangs in Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone gradually abates, the number of refugees in border areas has begun to slowly dwindle; Sierra Leone considers excessive Guinea's definition of the flood plain limits to define the left bank boundary of the Makona and Moa rivers and protests Guinea's continued occupation of these lands including the hamlet of Yenga occupied since 1998