Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: Faure Gnassingbe Eyadema
Population
584,578
6,961,049
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
63.170 years
Capital City
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Lome (population: 749,700)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.479
GDP per capita
Literacy Rate
%
60.9%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
2.7
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
11.1%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished in practice
Political System
parliamentary democracy
republic under transition to multiparty democratic rule
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)
Christian 29%, Muslim 20%, indigenous beliefs 51%
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
French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north)
Exports
External Debt
Exchange Rate
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
1
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Benin and Ghana
Area
28,896 km sq
56,785 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
56 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
