Angola
is located on the west coast of Africa bordered
by the Atlantic
Ocean to the west, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and the Republic
of the Congo to
the north, Zambia to
the east and Namibia to
the south. The Cabinda Province of Angola is geographically
separated from the rest of the country by the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. It is the only portion of Angola
that borders the Republic of the Congo.
Angola is slightly less than twice the size of Texas. The capital of Angola is Luanda which is located in the northern third of the country along the Atlantic Ocean. The country's currency is the kwanza.
Angola won its independence from Portugal in 1975; however, it was involved in a civil war for control of the government from 1975 until 2002. The country changed from a one-party socialist state to a republic government with multiple political parties in 1992. The president is elected to a five-year term and is eligible for a second term, either consecutive or discontinuous. However, elections have not been held since this change in 1992. Due to the closeness of the presidential ballot a run-off election was supposed to be held, but when the second place finisher disputed the results of the election the run-off election was never held and the civil war resumed. Presidential elections are currently scheduled to be held in 2009.
The July 2007 estimate of the population was 12,263,597 with a population growth rate of 2.2 percent. The current life expectancy is 37.63 years with women outliving men by two years. Angola has an infant mortality rate of 18.4 percent, vastly greater than many other countries (the United States has a .6 percent infant mortality rate). It is estimated that almost four percent of the adult population has HIV/AIDS.
Portuguese is the official language; however, Bantu and other African languages are spoken. Angola has a 67.4 percent literacy rate of people over the age of 15 with 29 percent more men being literate than women. There is no majority religion; 47 percent of the population follows indigenous beliefs while 38 percent are Roman Catholic and 15 percent Protestant.
Web Sites
- CIA: The World Factbook
- U.S. Department of State
- Library of Congress Country Studies
- BBC News Country Profile
Catalog
Search the library's catalog for Angola.
Databases
Enter Angola in these databases:
- MasterFILE Premier
- Europa World Year Book
- Gale Virtual Reference Library
- Grolier
- Proquest
- Sirs
- Student Resource Center Gold