Country:  Togo
- Geography
Total area: 56,790 km2; land area: 54,390 km2
 
Comparative area: slightly smaller than West Virginia
 
Land boundaries: 1,647 km total; Benin 644 km, Burkina 126 km,
Ghana 877 km
 
Coastline: 56 km
 
Maritime claims:
 
Extended economic zone: 200 nm;
 
Territorial sea: 30 nm
 
Climate: tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north
 
Terrain: gently rolling savanna in north; central hills; southern
plateau; low coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes
 
Natural resources: phosphates, limestone, marble
 
Land use: 25% arable land; 1% permanent crops; 4% meadows and
pastures; 28% forest and woodland; 42% other; includes NEGL% irrigated
 
Environment: hot, dry harmattan wind can reduce visibility in north
during winter; recent droughts affecting agriculture; deforestation
 
- People
Population: 3,674,355 (July 1990), growth rate 3.7% (1990)
 
Birth rate: 50 births/1,000 population (1990)
 
Death rate: 14 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
 
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
 
Infant mortality rate: 112 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
 
Life expectancy at birth: 53 years male, 57 years female (1990)
 
Total fertility rate: 7.2 children born/woman (1990)
 
Nationality: noun--Togolese (sing. and pl.); adjective--Togolese
 
Ethnic divisions: 37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and
Kabye; under 1% European and Syrian-Lebanese
 
Religion: about 70% indigenous beliefs, 20% Christian, 10% Muslim
 
Language: French, both official and language of commerce; major African
languages are Ewe and Mina in the south and Dagomba and Kabye in the north
 
Literacy: 40.7%
 
Labor force: NA; 78% agriculture, 22% industry; about 88,600 wage earners,
evenly divided between public and private sectors; 50% of population of working
age (1985)
 
Organized labor: one national union, the National Federation of Togolese
Workers
 
- Government
Long-form name: Republic of Togo
 
Type: republic; one-party presidential regime
 
Capital: Lome
 
Administrative divisions: 21 circumscriptions (circonscriptions,
singular--circonscription); Amlame (Amou), Aneho (Lacs),
Atakpame (Ogou), Badou (Wawa), Bafilo (Assoli), Bassar (Bassari),
Dapaong (Tone), Kante (Keran), Klouto (Kloto), Kpagouda (Binah),
Lama-Kara (Kozah), Lome (Golfe), Mango (Oti), Niamtougou (Doufelgou),
Notse (Haho), Sotouboua, Tabligbo (Yoto), Tchamba, Tchaoudjo,
Tsevie (Zio), Vogan (Vo); note--the 21 units may now be called
prefectures (prefectures, singular--prefecture) and reported name
changes for individual units are included in parenthesis
 
Independence: 27 April 1960 (from UN trusteeship under French
administration, formerly French Togo)
 
Constitution: 30 December 1979, effective 13 January 1980
 
Legal system: French-based court system
 
National holiday: Liberation Day (anniversary of coup), 13 January (1967)
 
Executive branch: president, Council of Ministers (cabinet)
 
Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale)
 
Judicial branch: Court of Appeal (Cour d'Appel), Supreme Court
(Cour Supreme)
 
Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government--President Gen. Gnassingbe
EYADEMA (since 14 April 1967)
 
Political parties and leaders: only party--Rally of the Togolese
People (RPT), President Eyadema
 
Suffrage: universal adult at age NA
 
Elections:
President--last held 21 December 1986 (next to be held December 1993);
results--Gen. Eyadema was reelected without opposition;
 
National Assembly--last held 4 March 1990 (next to be held March 1995);
results--RPT is the only party;
seats--(77 total) RPT 77
 
Communists: no Communist party
 
Member of: ACP, AfDB, CEAO (observer), EAMA, ECA, ECOWAS, ENTENTE, FAO,
G-77, GATT, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL,
ITU, NAM, OAU, OCAM, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
 
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Ellom-Kodjo SCHUPPIUS; Chancery at
2208 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 234-4212
or 4213;
US--Ambassador Rush W. TAYLOR, Jr.; Embassy at Rue Pelletier Caventou and
Rue Vauban, Lome (mailing address is B. P. 852, Lome);
telephone p228o 21-29-91 through 94 and 21-36-09
 
Flag: five equal horizontal bands of green (top and bottom) alternating
with yellow; there is a white five-pointed star on a red square in the upper
hoist-side corner; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia
 
- Economy
Overview: Togo is one of the least developed countries in the world with a
per capita GDP of about $400. The economy is heavily dependent on subsistence
agriculture, which accounts for about 35% of GDP and provides employment for 80%
of the labor force. Primary agricultural exports are cocoa, coffee, and cotton,
which together account for about 30% of total export earnings. Togo is
self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs when harvests are normal. In the industrial
sector phosphate mining is by far the most important activity, with phosphate
exports accounting for about 40% of total foreign exchange earnings.
 
GDP: $1.35 billion, per capita $405; real growth rate 4.1% (1988 est.)
 
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.5% (1987 est.)
 
Unemployment rate: 2.0% (1987)
 
Budget: revenues $354 million; expenditures $399 million,
including capital expenditures of $102 million (1988 est.)
 
Exports: $344 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--phosphates,
cocoa, coffee, cotton, manufactures, palm kernels;
partners--EC 70%, Africa 9%, US 2%, other 19% (1985)
 
Imports: $369 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--food, fuels,
durable consumer goods, other intermediate goods, capital goods;
partners--EC 69%, Africa 10%, Japan 7%, US 4%, other 10% (1985)
 
External debt: $1.3 billion (December 1988)
 
Industrial production: growth rate 4.9% (1987 est.)
 
Electricity: 117,000 kW capacity; 155 million kWh produced,
45 kWh per capita (1989)
 
Industries: phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement,
handicrafts, textiles, beverages
 
Agriculture: cash crops--coffee, cocoa, cotton; food crops--yams,
cassava, corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum, fish
 
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $121 million; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.6 billion;
OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $35 million; Communist countries (1970-88),
$46 million
 
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (plural--francs);
1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
 
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF)
per US$1--287.99 (January 1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987),
346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)
 
Fiscal year: calendar year
 
- Communications
Railroads: 515 km 1.000-meter gauge, single track
 
Highways: 6,462 km total; 1,762 km paved; 4,700 km unimproved roads
 
Inland waterways: none
 
Ports: Lome, Kpeme (phosphate port)
 
Merchant marine: 7 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 41,809 GRT/72,289
DWT; includes 4 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 3 multifunction large-load carrier
 
Civil air: 3 major transport aircraft
 
Airports: 9 total, 9 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m
none with runways 1,220-2,439 m
 
Telecommunications: fair system based on network of open-wire lines
supplemented by radio relay routes; 12,000 telephones; stations--2 AM, no FM,
3 (2 relays) TV; satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and
1 SYMPHONIE
 
- Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary Gendarmerie
 
Military manpower: males 15-49, 767,949; 403,546 fit for military service;
no conscription
 
Defense expenditures: 3.3% of GDP (1987)