The World Factbook (1982)/Niger

by the Central Intelligence Agency

NIGER

(See reference map VII)

LAND

1,266,510 km²; about 3% cultivated, perhaps 20% somewhat arable, remainder desert

Land boundaries: 5,745 km

PEOPLE

Population: 5,833,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.9%

Nationality: noun—Nigerien(s) (sing. and pl.); adjective—Niger

Ethnic divisions: main Negroid groups 75% (of which, Hausa 50%, Djerma and Songhai 21%); Caucasian elements include Tuareg, Toubous, and Tamacheks; mixed group includes Fulani

Religion: 80% Muslim, remainder largely animists and a very few Christians

Language: French official; many African languages; Hausa used for trade

Literacy: about 6%

Labor force: 26,000 wage earners; bulk of population engaged in subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry

Organized labor: negligible

GOVERNMENT

Official name: Republic of Niger

Type: republic; military regime in power since April 1974

Capital: Niamey

Political subdivisions: 7 departments, 32 arrondissements

Legal system: based on French civil law system and customary law; constitution adopted 1960, suspended 1974; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Proclamation of the Republic, 18 December

Branches: executive authority exercised by Supreme Military Council (SMC) composed of army officers; Cabinet includes some civilian technocrats

Government leader: Lt. Col. Seyni KOUNTCHE, President of Supreme Military Council, Chief of State, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Interior

Suffrage: suspended

Elections: political activity banned

Political parties and leaders: political parties banned

Communists: no Communist party; some sympathizers in outlawed Sawaba party

Member of: AFDB, APC, CEAO, EAMA, ECA, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IPU, ISCON, ITU, Lake Chad Basin Commission, Niger River Commission, NAM, OAU, OCAM, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

ECONOMY

GDP: $2.7 billion (1980), $491 per capita, annual average growth rate 1.3% (1971-81)

Agriculture: commercial—peanuts, cotton, livestock; main food crops—millet, sorghum, niebe beans, vegetables

Major industries: cement plant, brick factory, rice mill, small cotton gins, oil presses, slaughterhouse, and a few other small light industries; uranium production began in 1971

Electric power: 32,800 kW capacity (1980); 78 million kWh produced (1980), 14 kWh per capita

Exports: $557.9 million (f.o.b., 1980); about 65% uranium, rest peanuts and related products, livestock, hides, skins; exports understated because much regional trade not recorded

Imports: $801.0 million (c.i.f., 1980); fuels, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, consumer goods

Major trade partners: France (over 50%), other EC countries, Nigeria, UDEAC countries, US; preferential tariff to EC and franc zone countries

Budget: (1980/81) revenue $458.8 million, current expenditure $255.9 million, development expenditure $344.6 million

Monetary conversion rate: about 225.8 Communaute Financiere Africaine=US$1 (1980)

Fiscal year: 1 October-30 September

COMMUNICATIONS

Railroads: none

Highways: 8,220 km total; 2,674 km paved bituminous, 2,658 km gravel, 2,888 km unimproved earth

Inland waterways: Niger River navigable 300 km from Niamey to Gaya on the Benin frontier from mid-December through March

Civil air: 4 major transport aircraft

Airfields: 66 total, 62 usable; 6 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 18 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: small system of wire and radio-relay links concentrated in southwestern area; 8,500 telephones (0.2 per 100 popl.); 12 AM stations, no FM, and 2 TV stations; 1 Atlantic Ocean satellite station, 4 domestic antennas under construction

DEFENSE FORCES

Military manpower: males 15-49, 1,255,000; 676,000 fit for military service; about 60,000 reach military age (18) annually

Military budget: for fiscal year ending 30 September 1981, $15.4 million; about 3.9% of central government budget