The World Factbook (1982)/Guinea

by the Central Intelligence Agency

GUINEA

(See reference map VII)

LAND

246,050 km²; 3% cropland, 10% forest

Land boundaries: 3,476 km

WATER

Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 12 nm (fishing 200 nm; economic zone 200 nm)

Coastline: 346 km

PEOPLE

Population: 5,278,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.6%

Nationality: noun—Guinean(s); adjective—Guinean

Ethnic divisions: 99% African (3 major tribes—Fulani, Malinke, Susu; and 15 smaller tribes)

Religion: 75% Muslim, 25% animist, Christian, less than 1%

Language: French official; each tribe has own language

Literacy: 5% to 10%; French only significant written language

Labor force: 1.8 million, of whom less than 10% are wage earners; most of population engages in subsistence agriculture

Organized labor: virtually 100% of wage labor force loosely affiliated with the National Confederation of Guinean Workers, which is closely tied to the PDG

GOVERNMENT

Official name: People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea

Type: republic; under one-party presidential regime

Capital: Conakry

Political subdivisions: 35 administrative regions, 170 arrondissements, about 8,000 local entities at village level

Legal system: based on French civil law system, customary law, and presidential decree; constitution adopted 1958; no constitutional provision for judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Independence Day, 2 October

Branches: executive branch dominant, with power concentrated in President's hands and a small group who are both ministers and members of the party's politburo; unicameral People's National Assembly (210 members) and judiciary have little independence

Government leader: President Ahmed Sekou TOURE, who has been designated “The Supreme Leader of the Revolution”

Suffrage: universal over age 18

Elections: approximate schedule—five years parliamentary, latest in 1980; seven years presidential, latest in 1975

Political parties and leaders: only party is Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG), headed by Sekou Toure

Communists: no Communist party, although there are some sympathizers

Member of: AFDB, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, IBA, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IFAD, ILO, IMCO, IMF, ISCON, ITU, Niger River Commission, NAM, OAU, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO

ECONOMY

GNP: $1.5 billion (1980), $270 per capita

Agriculture: cash crops—coffee, bananas, palm products, peanuts, and pineapples; staple food crops—cassava, rice, millet, corn, sweet potatoes; livestock raised in some areas

Major industries: bauxite mining, alumina, light manufacturing and processing industries

Electric power: 75,000 kW capacity (1980); 500 million kWh produced (1980), 90 kWh per capita

Exports: $410 million (f.o.b., 1980); bauxite, alumina, coffee, pineapples, bananas, palm kernels

Imports: $380 million (f.o.b., 1980); petroleum products, metals, machinery and transport equipment, foodstuffs, textiles

Major trade partners: Communist countries, Western Europe (including France), US

Budget: (1979) public revenue $479.6 million, current expenditures $271.2 million, development expenditures $435.6 million

Monetary conversion rate: 18.928 syli=US$1 floating (February 1981)

Fiscal year: calendar year

COMMUNICATIONS

Railroads: 805 km; 662 km meter gauge (1.000 m), 143 km standard gauge (1.435 m)

Highways: 7,604 km total; 4,949 km paved, remainder unimproved earth

Inland waterways: 1,295 km navigable by shallow-draft native craft

Ports: 1 major (Conakry), 2 minor

Civil air: 13 major transport aircraft

Airfields: 18 total, 18 usable; 4 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 9 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

DEFENSE FORCES

Military manpower: males 15-49, 1,173,000; 590,000 fit for military service