Cameroon

Find a country's flag, map or national anthem here. Click on a letter to find the country:

Cameroon

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name République du Cameroun/Republic of Cameroon Area 475,440 sq km/183,567 sq mi Capital Yaoundé Language French, English (both official; often spoken in pidgin), Sudanic languages (in the north), Bantu languages (elsewhere); there has been some discontent with the emphasis on French – there are 163 indigenous peoples with their own African languages Religion animist 50%, Christian 33%, Muslim 16% Time difference GMT +1 Major holidays 1 January, 11 February, 1, 20 May, 15 August, 25 December; variable: Ascension Thursday, Eid-ul-Adha, end of Ramadan, Good Friday


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities Garoua, Douala, Nkongsamba, Maroua, Bamenda, Bafoussam, Ngaoundéré Major ports Douala Physical features desert in far north in the Lake Chad basin, mountains in west, dry savannah plateau in the intermediate area, and dense tropical rainforest in south; Mount Cameroon 4,070 m/13,358 ft, an active volcano on the coast, west of the Adamawa Mountains Airports three international airports, 11 domestic airports, and a number of smaller airfields; total passengers carried: 315,000 (2003 est) Railways total length: 1,008 km/626 mi; total passenger journeys: 9,000 (2000) Roads total road network: 80,932 km/50,289 mi, of which 6.7% paved (2002 est); passenger cars: 11 per 1,000 people (2000 est)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state Paul Biya from 1982 Head of government Ephraim Inoni from 2004 Political system emergent democracy Political executive limited presidency Administrative divisions ten provinces Political parties Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC), nationalist, left of centre; Front of Allies for Change (FAC), left of centre (There are 47 parties in Cameroon and seven parties in parliament) Death penalty retained and used for ordinary crimes Armed forces 23,100; plus paramilitary forces of 9,000 (2006 est) Conscription military service is voluntary; paramilitary compulsory training programme in force Defence spend (% GDP) 1.3 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 3.8 (2003 est) Health spend (% GDP) 1.2 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency franc CFA GDP (US$) 17 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 4.2 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 16.5 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 2,150 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 2.9% (2006 est) Unemployment 8% (2002 est) Labour force 56% agriculture, 9% industry, 35% services (2003 est) Foreign debt (US$) 9.2 billion (2003 est) Major trading partners France, Spain, Italy, Nigeria, China, USA Resources petroleum, natural gas, tin ore, limestone, bauxite, iron ore, uranium, gold Industries petroleum refining, aluminium smelting, cement, food processing, footwear, beer, cigarettes Exports crude petroleum and petroleum products, timber and timber products, cocoa, coffee, aluminium, cotton, bananas. Principal market: Spain 16.7% (2005) Imports machinery and transport equipment, basic manufactures, chemicals, fuel, rice and cereals. Principal source: France 24.5% (2005) Arable land 12.5% (2006 est) Agricultural products coffee, cocoa, cotton, cassava, sorghum, millet, maize, plantains, palm (oil and kernels), rubber, bananas; livestock rearing (cattle and sheep); forestry and fishing


POPULATION

Population 16,600,500 (2006 est) Population growth rate 1.6% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 35 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 53 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 41%, 15–59 53%, 60+ 6% (2005 est) Ethnic groups main groups include the Cameroon Highlanders (31%), Equatorial Bantu (19%), Kirdi (11%), Fulani (10%), Northwestern Bantu (8%), and Eastern Nigritic (7%) Life expectancy 46 (men); 47 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 149 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 6 Literacy rate 77% (men); 60% (women) (2004 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 0.7 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 2.6 (2002 est) HIV infection (per 100 people) 0.6 (2005 est) AIDS deaths 46,000 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 84 (urban); 71 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 0.6 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 13.8 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 163 (1997) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 45 (2005 est) Personal computer users (per 100 people) 1 (2005 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 1 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

1472 First visited by the Portuguese, who named it the Rio dos Camaroes (‘River of Prawns’) after the giant shrimps they found in the Wouri River estuary, and later introduced slave trading. early 17th century The Douala people migrated to the coastal region from the east and came to serve as intermediaries between Portuguese, Dutch, and English traders and interior tribes. 1809–48 The northern savannahs were conquered by the Fulani, Muslim pastoral nomads from the southern Sahara. 1856 Douala chiefs signed a commercial treaty with Britain and invited British protection. 1884 A treaty was signed establishing German rule as the protectorate of Kamerun; cocoa, coffee, and banana plantations were developed. 1916 Captured by Allied forces in World War I. 1919 Divided under League of Nations' mandates between Britain, which administered the southwest and north (adjoining Nigeria), and France, which administered the east and south. 1946 French Cameroon and British Cameroons made UN trust territories. 1955 The French crushed revolt by southern-based nationalist Union of the Cameroon Peoples (UPC). 1960 French Cameroon became independent Republic of Cameroon, with Muslim Ahmadou Ahidjo as president; UPC rebellion in southwest crushed, and state of emergency declared. 1961 Following UN plebiscite, northern part of British Cameroons merged with Nigeria, and southern part joined Republic of Cameroon to become Federal Republic of Cameroon. 1966 Autocratic one-party regime introduced; government and opposition parties merged to form Cameroon National Union (UNC). 1972 New constitution made Cameroon a unitary state. 1982 President Ahidjo resigned; succeeded by his prime minister Paul Biya, a Christian. 1983–84 Biya began to remove northern Muslim political ‘barons’ close to Ahidjo, who went into exile in France; coup plot by Muslim officers foiled. 1985 UNC adopted name Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC). 1990 Widespread public disorder as economy declined; Biya granted amnesty to political prisoners. 1992 Ruling RDPC won first multiparty elections in 28 years, with Biya as president. 1995 Cameroon admitted to Commonwealth. 1998 Cameroon classified by international business monitoring service as most corrupt country in the world. 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in Cameroon's favour in territorial dispute with Nigeria over oil-rich Bakassi peninsula. 2004 Biya re-elected president for another seven-year term; Ephraïm Inoni took over as prime minister. 2006 Nigerian troops finally withdrawn from Bakassi peninsula in compliance with ICJ ruling. 2007 RDPC retained power again in parliamentary elections.


© Research Machines plc 2008. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.