Location:

Central Africa, north of Democratic Republic of the Congo

Area:

total: 622,984 sq km
land: 622,984 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Land boundaries:

total: 5,203 km
border countries: Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, and Sudan.

Climate:

tropical; hot, dry winters; mild to hot, wet summers

Land use:

arable land: 3.1%
permanent crops: 0.15%
other: 96.75% (2005)

Population:

4,303,356
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 2006 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 41.9% (male 907,629/female 897,153)
15-64 years: 53.9% (male 1,146,346/female 1,173,268)
65 years and over: 4.2% (male 71,312/female 107,648) (2006 est.)

Median age:

total: 18.4 years
male: 18 years
female: 18.8 years (2006 est.)

Birth rate:

33.91 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate:

18.65 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.66 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 85.63 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 92.44 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 78.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 43.54 years
male: 43.46 years
female: 43.62 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate:

4.41 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

260,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases:

degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis (2007)

Nationality:

noun: Central African(s)
adjective: Central African

Ethnic groups:

Baya 33%, Banda 27%, Mandjia 13%, Sara 10%, Mboum 7%, M'Baka 4%, Yakoma 4%, other 2%

Religions:

indigenous beliefs 35%, Protestant 25%, Roman Catholic 25%, Muslim 15%
note: animistic beliefs and practices strongly influence the Christian majority

Languages:

French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 51%
male: 63.3%
female: 39.9% (2003 est.)