Togo - Geography

Location: Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Benin and Ghana
Geographic coordinates: 8 00 N, 1 10 E
Map references: Africa
Area: total: 56,785 sq km

land: 54,385 sq km

water: 2,400 sq km

Land boundaries: total: 1,647 km

border countries: Benin 644 km, Burkina Faso 126 km, Ghana 877 km
Coastline: 56 km
Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 NM

territorial sea: 30 NM
Climate: tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north
Terrain: gently rolling savanna in north; central hills; southern plateau; low coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m

highest point: Mont Agou 986 m
Natural resources: phosphates, limestone, marble, arable land
Land use: arable land: 38%

permanent crops: 7%

permanent pastures: 4%

forests and woodland: 17%

other: 34% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 70 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: hot, dry harmattan wind can reduce visibility in north during winter; periodic droughts
Environment - current issues: deforestation attributable to slash-and-burn agriculture and the use of wood for fuel; water pollution presents health hazards and hinders the fishing industry; air pollution increasing in urban areas
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: the country's length allows it to stretch through six distinct geographic regions; climate varies from tropical to savanna

note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2001 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 45.63% (male 1,179,650; female 1,171,748)

15-64 years: 51.92% (male 1,302,197; female 1,373,247)

65 years and over: 2.45% (male 54,651; female 71,595) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.6% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 37.04 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 11.24 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female

total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 70.43 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 54.35 years

male: 52.38 years

female: 56.38 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate: 5.32 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 5.98% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 130,000 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 14,000 (1999 est.)
Nationality: noun: Togolese (singular and plural)

adjective: Togolese
Ethnic groups: native African (37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre) 99%, European and Syrian-Lebanese less than 1%
Religions: indigenous beliefs 59%, Christian 29%, Muslim 12%
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)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 51.7%

male: 67%

female: 37% (1995 est.)

Togo-Economy

Economy - overview: This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be imported. Together, cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate some 40% of export earnings, with cotton being the most significant cash crop despite falling prices on the world market. In the industrial sector, phosphate mining is by far the most important activity. Togo is the world's fourth largest producer, and geological advantages keep production costs low. The recently privatized mining operation, Office Togolais des Phosphates (OTP), is slowly recovering from a steep fall in prices in the early 1990's, but continues to face the challenge of tough foreign competition, exacerbated by weakening demand. Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. It continues to expand its duty-free export-processing zone (EPZ), launched in 1989, which has attracted enterprises from France, Italy, Scandinavia, the US, India, and China and created jobs for Togolese nationals. The government's decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with expenditures has stalled. Progress depends on following through on privatization, increased openness in government financial operations, progress towards legislative elections, and possible downsizing of the military, on which the regime has depended to stay in place. Lack of foreign aid, deterioration of the financial sector, energy shortages, and depressed commodity prices continue to constrain economic growth; however, Togo did realize a 3% gain in GDP in 1999. The takeover of the national power company by a Franco-Canadian consortium in 2000 should ease the energy crisis and if successful legislative elections pave the way for increased aid, growth should rise to 5% a year in 2001-02.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $7.3 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3.4% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,500 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 42%

industry: 21%

services: 37% (1997)
Population below poverty line: 32% (1989 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%

highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.5% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 1.74 million (1996)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 65%, industry 5%, services 30% (1998 est.)
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget: revenues: $232 million

expenditures: $252 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)
Industries: phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement; handicrafts, textiles, beverages
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - production: 92 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 97.83%

hydro: 2.17%

nuclear: 0%

other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 511.6 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports: 426 million kWh

note: electricity supplied by Ghana (1999)
Agriculture - products: coffee, cocoa, cotton, yams, cassava (tapioca), corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; livestock; fish
Exports: $336 million (f.o.b., 2000)
Exports - commodities: cotton, phosphates, coffee, cocoa
Exports - partners: Nigeria, Brazil, Canada, Philippines (1999)
Imports: $452 million (f.o.b., 2000)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products
Imports - partners: Ghana, China, France, Cote d'Ivoire (1999)
Debt - external: $1.5 billion (1999)
Economic aid - recipient: $201.1 million (1995)
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States
Currency code: XOF
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 699.21 (January 2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996); note - from 1 January 1999, the XOF is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF per euro
Fiscal year: calendar year