Part 761

Environment - international agreements: party to: Endangered Species, Law of the Sea signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban

Geography - note: strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal

@Somalia:People

Population: 6,590,325 (July 1997 est.) note: this estimate was derived from an official census taken in 1987 by the Somali Government with the cooperation of the UN and the US Bureau of the Census; population estimates are updated year by year between census years by factoring growth rates into them and by taking account of refugee movements and of losses due to famine; lower estimates of Somalia's population in mid-1996 (on the order of 6.0 million to 6.5 million) have been made by aid and relief agencies, based on the number of persons being fed; population counting in Somalia is complicated by the large numbers of nomads and by refugee movements in response to famine and clan warfare

Age structure: 0-14 years: 44% (male 1,449,037; female 1,452,171) 15-64 years: 53% (male 1,777,131; female 1,718,389) 65 years and over: 3% (male 89,346; female 104,251) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.03% (1997 est.) (1997 est.)

Birth rate: 45.49 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 18.34 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.) (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: 3.12 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female (1997 est.) under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female total population : 1.01 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 125.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population : 46.23 years male: 44.66 years female: 47.85 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.76 children born/woman (1997 est.)

Nationality: noun: Somali(s) adjective : Somali

Ethnic groups: Somali 85%, Bantu, Arabs 30,000

Religions: Sunni Muslim

Languages: Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 24% male: 36% female: 14% (1990 est.)

@Somalia:Government

Country name: conventional long form : none conventional short form: Somalia former: Somali Republic

Data code: SO

Government type: none

National capital: Mogadishu

Administrative divisions: 18 regions (plural - NA, singular - gobolka); Awdal, Bakool, Banaadir, Bari, Bay, Galguduud, Gedo, Hiiraan, Jubbada Dhexe, Jubbada Hoose, Mudug, Nugaal, Sanaag, Shabeellaha Dhexe, Shabeellaha Hoose, Sool, Togdheer, Woqooyi Galbeed

Independence: 1 July 1960 (from a merger of British Somaliland, which became independent from the UK on 26 June 1960, and Italian Somaliland, which became independent from the Italian-administered UN trusteeship on 1 July 1960, to form the Somali Republic)

National holiday: NA

Constitution: 25 August 1979, presidential approval 23 September 1979

Legal system: NA