Location:

Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Benin and Ghana

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, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.

Climate:

tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north

Natural resources:

phosphates, limestone, marble, arable land

Land use:

arable land: 44.2%
permanent crops: 2.11%
other: 53.69% (2005)

Population:

5,548,702
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: 42.3% (male 1,177,141/female 1,169,321)
15-64 years: 55.1% (male 1,485,621/female 1,570,117)
65 years and over: 2.6% (male 59,870/female 86,632) (2006 est.)

Median age:

total: 18.3 years
male: 17.8 years
female: 18.7 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate:

2.72% (2006 est.)

Birth rate:

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

Death rate:

9.83 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: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 60.63 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 68.17 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 52.87 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 57.42 years
male: 55.41 years
female: 59.49 years (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

110,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases:

degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria and yellow fever are high risks in some locations
water contact disease: schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis (2007)

Nationality:

noun: Togolese (singular and plural)
adjective: Togolese

Ethnic groups:

African (37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre) 99%, European and Syrian-Lebanese less than 1%

Religions:

Christian 29%, Muslim 20%, indigenous beliefs 51%

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: 60.9%
male: 75.4%
female: 46.9% (2003 est.)