Guinea-bissau ( Portuguese Guinea) is a country in Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Senegal. Guinea-bissau geographic coordinates 12 00 N, 15 00 W; area 28,000 sq km; area comparative slightly less than three times the size of Connecticut; land boundaries Guinea 386 km, Senegal 338 km; coastline 350 km; maritime claims exclusive economic zone:<; climate tropical; generally hot and humid; monsoonal-type rainy season (June to November) with southwesterly; terrain mostly low coastal plain rising to savanna in east; elevation extremes unnamed location in the northeas; natural resources fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone, unexploited deposits of petroleum; land use 80.51% (2001); irrigated land 170 sq km (1998 est.); natural hazards hot, dry, dusty harmattan haze may reduce visibility during dry season; brush fires; environment current issues deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; overfishing; environment international agreements none of the selected agreements; geography note this small country is swampy along its western coast and low-lying further inland;

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Since independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has experienced considerable upheaval. The founding government consisted of a single party system and command economy. In 1980, a military coup established Joao VIEIRA as president and a path to a market economy and multiparty system was implemented. A number of coup attempts through the 1980s and early 1990s failed to unseat him and in 1994 he was elected president in the country's first free elections. A military coup attempt and civil war in 1998 eventually led to VIEIRA's ouster in 1999. In February 2000, an interim government turned over power when opposition leader Kumba YALA took office following two rounds of transparent presidential elections. YALA was ousted in a bloodless coup in September 2003, and Henrique ROSA was sworn in as President. Guinea-Bissau's transition back to democracy will be complicated by its crippled economy, devastated in the civil war. government type republic, multiparty since mid-1991; capital Bissau; administrative divisions 9 regions (regioes, singular - regiao); Bafata, Biombo, Bissau, Bolama, Cacheu, Gabu, Oio, Quinara, Tombali; note - Bolama may have been renamed Bolama/Bijagos; independence 24 September 1973 (unilaterally declared by Guinea-Bissau); 10 September 1974 (recognized by Portugal); national holiday Independence Day, 24 September (1973); constitution 16 May 1984, amended 4 May 1991, 4 December 1991, 26 February 1993, 9 June 1993, and 1996; legal system NA; suffrage 18 years of age; universal;

people

Guinea-bissau population 1,416,027 (July 2005 est.); age structure 3% (male 17,865/female 24,278) (2005 est.); median age 19.57 years (2005 est.); population growth rate 1.96% (2005 est.); birth rate 37.65 births/1,000 population (2005 est.); death rate 16.53 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.); net migration rate -1.54 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.); sex ratio 0.94 male(s)/female (2005 est.); infant mortality rate 117.78 deaths/1,000 live births; life expectancy at birth 48.92 years (2005 est.); total fertility rate 4.93 children born/woman (2005 est.); hiv adult rate 10% (2003 est.); hiv people with aids 17,000 (2001 est.); hiv deaths 1,200 (2001 est.); major infectious diseases malaria and ye; nationality Guinean; ethnic groups African 99% (Balanta 30%, Fula 20%, Manjaca 14%, Mandinga 13%, Papel 7%), European and mulatto less than 1%; religions indigenous beliefs 50%, Muslim 45%, Christian 5%; languages Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages; literacy 27.4% (2003 est.);

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