Location:

Western Africa, southeast of Algeria

Area:

total: 1.267 million sq km
land: 1,266,700 sq km
water: 300 sq km

Land boundaries:

total: 5,697 km
border countries: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, and Nigeria.

Climate:

desert; mostly hot, dry, dusty; tropical in extreme south

Natural resources:

uranium, coal, iron ore, tin, phosphates, gold, molybdenum, gypsum, salt, petroleum

Land use:

arable land: 11.43%
permanent crops: 0.01%
other: 88.56% (2005)

Population:

12,525,094 (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 46.9% (male 2,994,022/female 2,882,273)
15-64 years: 50.7% (male 3,262,114/female 3,083,522)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 150,982/female 152,181) (2006 est.)

Median age:

total: 16.5 years
male: 16.5 years
female: 16.4 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate:

2.92% (2006 est.)

Birth rate:

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

Death rate:

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

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.99 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 118.25 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 122.29 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 114.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 43.76 years
male: 43.8 years
female: 43.73 years (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

70,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases:

degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria is a high risk in some locations
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified among birds in this country or surrounding region; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2007)

Nationality:

noun: Nigerien(s)
adjective: Nigerien

Ethnic groups:

Hausa 56%, Djerma 22%, Fula 8.5%, Tuareg 8%, Beri Beri (Kanouri) 4.3%, Arab, Toubou, and Gourmantche 1.2%, about 1,200 French expatriates

Religions:

Muslim 80%, other (includes indigenous beliefs and Christian) 20%

Languages:

French (official), Hausa, Djerma

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 17.6%
male: 25.8%
female: 9.7% (2003 est.)