Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: Ernest Bai Koroma
Population
584,578
5,485,998
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
56.550 years
Capital City
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Freetown (population: 802,639)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.329
GDP per capita
Literacy Rate
%
35.1%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
1.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
13.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
Death Penalty
Abolished
Legal
Political System
parliamentary democracy
constitutional democracy
Independence date
Religions
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Muslim 60%, Christian 10%, indigenous beliefs 30%
Languages
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
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%)
Exports
External Debt
Exchange Rate
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia
Area
28,896 km sq
71,740 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
402 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April)
