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Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso, also known by its short-form name Burkina, is a landlocked nation in West Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the south east, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Cote d'Ivoire to the south west.

Country Name

  • conventional long form: none
  • conventional short form: Burkina Faso
  • local long form: none
  • local short form: Burkina Faso
  • former: Upper Volta, Republic of Upper Volta

Nationality

  • noun: Burkinabe (singular and plural)
  • adjective: Burkinabe

Capital

  • name: Ouagadougou
  • geographic coordinates: 12 22 N, 1 31 W
  • time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Independence

  • 5 August 1960 (from France)

population

  • 15,264,735
  • 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 (July 2008 est.)

Growth rate

  • 3.109% (2008 est.)

HIV adult pervvalance

  • 4.2% (2003 est.)

Ethnic Group

  • Mossi over 40%
  • other approximately 60% (includes Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, and Fulani

Religion

  • Muslim 50%
  • indigenous beliefs 40%
  • Christian (mainly Roman Catholic) 10%

Language

  • French (official)
  • native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population

Location

  • Western Africa, north of Ghana

Area Comparative

  • slightly larger than Colorado

Land Boundires

  • 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

climate

  • tropical
  • warm, dry winters
  • hot, wet summers

Natural Resourses

  • manganese
  • limestone
  • marble
  • small deposits of gold, phosphates, pumice, salt

Economy over view

One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso 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 and the government has joined with three other cotton producing countries in the region - Mali, Niger, and Chad - to lobby in the World Trade Organization for fewer subsidies to producers in other competing countries. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but successful privatization of state-owned enterprises. Having revised its investment code in 2004, Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign investors. Thanks to this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production. While the bitter internal crisis in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to be resolved, it is still having a negative effect on Burkina Faso's trade and employment. In 2007 higher costs for energy and imported foodstuffs, as well as low cotton prices, dampened a GDP growth rate that had averaged 6% in the last 10 years. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge Account threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary school level, and appears likely to receive a grant in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform.

GDP realt growth rate

  • 4.2% (2007 est.)

GDP Per Capital

  • $1,300 (2007 est.)

Background

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. Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.

Current Issues Enviorment

  • recent droughts and desertification severely affecting agricultural activities, population distribution, and the economy
  • overgrazing; soil degradation; deforestation

Government type

  • parliamentary republic

For more info please contact:
African Studies
(310) 825-3686
africa@international.ucla.edu