Country:  Equatorial Guinea
- Geography
Total area: 28,050 km2; land area: 28,050 km2
 
Comparative area: slightly larger than Maryland
 
Land boundaries: 539 km total; Cameroon 189 km, Gabon 350 km
 
Coastline: 296 km
 
Maritime claims:
 
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;
 
Territorial sea: 12 nm
 
Disputes: maritime boundary dispute with Gabon
 
Climate: tropical; always hot, humid
 
Terrain: coastal plains rise to interior hills; islands are
volcanic
 
Natural resources: timber, crude oil, small unexploited deposits
of gold, manganese, uranium
 
Land use: 8% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 4% meadows and pastures;
51% forest and woodland; 33% other
 
Environment: subject to violent windstorms
 
Note: insular and continental regions rather widely separated
 
- People
Population: 368,935 (July 1990), growth rate 2.6% (1990)
 
Birth rate: 43 births/1,000 population (1990)
 
Death rate: 16 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
 
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
 
Infant mortality rate: 118 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
 
Life expectancy at birth: 48 years male, 52 years female (1990)
 
Total fertility rate: 5.5 children born/woman (1990)
 
Nationality: noun--Equatorial Guinean(s) or Equatoguinean(s);
adjective--Equatorial Guinean or Equatoguinean
 
Ethnic divisions: indigenous population of Bioko, primarily Bubi, some
Fernandinos; Rio Muni, primarily Fang; less than 1,000 Europeans, mostly
Spanish
 
Religion: natives all nominally Christian and predominantly Roman
Catholic; some pagan practices retained
 
Language: Spanish (official), pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo
 
Literacy: 40%
 
Labor force: 172,000 (1986 est.); 66% agriculture, 23% services,
11% industry (1980); labor shortages on plantations; 58% of population
of working age (1985)
 
Organized labor: no formal trade unions
 
- Government
Long-form name: Republic of Equatorial Guinea
 
Type: republic
 
Capital: Malabo
 
Administrative divisions: 2 provinces (provincias, singular--provincia);
Bioko, Rio Muni; note--there may now be 6 provinces named Bioko Norte,
Bioko Sur, Centro Sur, Kie-Ntem, Litoral, Wele Nzas
 
Independence: 12 October 1968 (from Spain; formerly Spanish Guinea)
 
Constitution: 15 August 1982
 
Legal system: in transition; partly based on Spanish civil law and
tribal custom
 
National holiday: Independence Day, 12 October (1968)
 
Executive branch: president, prime minister, deputy prime minister,
Council of Ministers (cabinet)
 
Legislative branch: unicameral Chamber of People's Representatives
(Camara de Representantes del Pueblo)
 
Judicial branch: Supreme Tribunal
 
Leaders:
Chief of State--President Brig. Gen. Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA
MBASOGO (since 3 August 1979);
 
Head of Government--Prime Minister Cristino SERICHE Bioko Malabo (since
15 August 1982); Deputy Prime Minister Isidoro Eyi Monsuy Andeme
(since 15 August 1989)
 
Political parties and leaders: only party--Democratic Party
for Equatorial Guinea (PDEG), Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, party leader
 
Suffrage: universal adult at age NA
 
Elections:
President--last held 25 June 1989 (next to be held 25 June 1996);
results--President Brig. Gen. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was reelected without
opposition;
 
Chamber of Deputies--last held 10 July 1988 (next to be
held 10 July 1993);
results--PDEG is the only party;
seats--(41 total) PDEG 41
 
Communists: no significant number but some sympathizers
 
Member of: ACP, AfDB, Conference of East and Central African
States, ECA, FAO, G-77, GATT (de facto), IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IFAD,
IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTERPOL, IPU, ITU, NAM, OAU, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO
 
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Damaso OBIANG NDONG; Chancery at
801 Second Avenue, Suite 1403, New York, NY 10017; telephone (212) 599-1523;
US--Ambassador Chester E. NORRIS, Jr.; Embassy at Calle de Los Ministros,
Malabo (mailing address is P. O. Box 597, Malabo); telephone 2406 or 2507
 
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red with a
blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side and the coat of arms centered
in the white band; the coat of arms has six yellow six-pointed stars
(representing the mainland and five offshore islands) above a gray shield
bearing a silk-cotton tree and below which is a scroll with the motto
UNIDAD, PAZ, JUSTICIA (Unity, Peace, Justice)
 
- Economy
Overview: The economy, destroyed during the regime of former
President Macias Nguema, is now based on agriculture, forestry,
and fishing, which account for about 60% of GNP and nearly all exports.
Subsistence agriculture predominates, with cocoa, coffee, and wood
products providing income, foreign exchange, and government
revenues. There is little industry. Commerce accounts
for about 10% of GNP, and the construction, public works, and service
sectors for about 34%. Undeveloped natural resources include titanium,
iron ore, manganese, uranium, and alluvial gold.  Oil exploration is
taking place under concessions offered to US, French, and Spanish firms.
 
GNP: $103 million, per capita $293; real growth rate NA% (1987)
 
Inflation rate (consumer prices): - 6.0% (1988 est.)
 
Unemployment rate: NA%
 
Budget: revenues $23 million; expenditures $31 million, including
capital expenditures of NA (1988)
 
Exports: $30 million (f.o.b., 1988 est.); commodities--coffee,
timber, cocoa beans;
partners--Spain 44%, FRG 19%, Italy 12%, Netherlands 11% (1987)
 
Imports: $50 million (c.i.f., 1988 est.); commodities--petroleum,
food, beverages, clothing, machinery;
partners--Spain 34%, Italy 16%, France 14%, Netherlands 8% (1987)
 
External debt: $191 million (December 1988)
 
Industrial production: growth rate NA%
 
Electricity: 23,000 kW capacity; 60 million kWh produced,
170 kWh per capita (1989)
 
Industries: fishing, sawmilling
 
Agriculture: cash crops--timber and coffee from Rio Muni, cocoa
from Bioko; food crops--rice, yams, cassava, bananas, oil palm nuts,
manioc, livestock
 
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY81-88), $11 million; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $100 million;
Communist countries (1970-88), $55 million
 
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (plural--francs);
1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
 
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF)
per US$1--287.99 (January 1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987),
346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)
 
Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March
 
- Communications
Highways: Rio Muni--1,024 km; Bioko--216 km
 
Ports: Malabo, Bata
 
Merchant marine: 2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,413
GRT/6,699 DWT; includes 1 cargo and 1 passenger-cargo
 
Civil air: 1 major transport aircraft
 
Airports: 4 total, 3 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 1 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
 
Telecommunications: poor system with adequate government services;
international communications from Bata and Malabo to African and European
countries; 2,000 telephones; stations--2 AM, no FM, 1 TV; 1 Indian Ocean
INTELSAT earth station
 
- Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Navy, and possibly Air Force
 
Military manpower: males 15-49, 77,363; 39,174 fit for military service
 
Defense expenditures: 11% of GNP (FY81 est.)