Gabon: Country Profile

ABC News, from 1998 CIA Factbook

GABON is perhaps best known as the country where medical missionary Albert Schweitzer, winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, founded and ran his hospital. The coast of this mountainous west African country became a slave-trading center for Europeans, who arrived in the 16th century. Today, Gabon's economy is based largely on oil, although the wealth is confined in large part to the urban upper class. Gabon imports 90 percent of its food.

People
Languages	French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi
Major Religions	Christian 55%-75%, Muslim less than 1%, animist
Ethnic groups	Bantu tribes (four major tribal groupings: Fang, Eshira, Bapounou, Bateke), other Africans and Europeans 154,000
Growth rate	1.48%
Birth rate	28 births/1,000
Death rate	13.23 deaths/1,000
Fertility rate	3.81 children/woman
Male life expectancy	53
Female life expectancy	59
Infant mortality rate	85.43 deaths/1,000 live births

Economy
Labor force	120,000 (1996)
Unemployment rate	10% (1993)
Inflation Rate	6.2% (1996)
Gross domestic product (total value of goods and services produced annually)	$6.0 billion (1996 est.)
Budget	$1.3 billion (1996 est.)
Debt	$3.9 billion (1996)
Exports	$3.1 billion (1996 est.), primarily crude oil 81%, timber 12%, manganese 5%, uranium (1996)
Imports	$969.0 million (1996 est.), primarily machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, petroleum products, construction materials
Defense spending	2.4% of GDP (1996 est.)
Highways	7,670 km (1996)

Source: 1998 CIA World Factbook