Burkina Faso is a land-locked country located in western Africa. It is bordered on the east by Niger; the south by Benin, Togo, and Ghana; on the southwest by Cote
d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast); and on the northwest and north by Mali. The country is slightly larger than Colorado.
Burkina Faso received its independence from France in 1960 and it has a parliamentary republic form of government. The president is elected to a five-year term by popular vote and is eligible for subsequent terms.
The capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou which is located in the center of the country. The currency is the Communaute Financiere Africaine franc.
Formerly Upper Volta, Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world. A large portion of the male population annually migrates to surrounding countries for agricultural work, however, recent unrest in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana has prevented many migrant farm workers from finding work.
The July 2007 estimate of the population was 14,326,203 with a population growth rate of three percent. The current life expectancy is 49.21 years with women outliving men by three years. It is estimated that slightly over four percent of the adult population has HIV/AIDS.
French is the official language; however, Sudanic native languages are spoken by 90 percent of the population. Burkina Faso has an extremely low literacy rate of 21.8 percent of people over the age of 15 with 14 percent more men being literate than women. The Muslim religion is followed by 50 percent of the population with 40 percent following indigenous beliefs. Christianity is followed by ten percent of the population.
Web Sites
Databases
Enter Burkina Faso in these databases:
- eLibrary
- Europa World Year Book
- Gale Virtual Reference Library
- Lands and People
- Sirs
- Proquest
- Student Resource Center Gold