Religion: 92% Muslim, 6% indigenous beliefs, 2% Christian (mostly Roman
Catholic)
Language: French (official); Wolof, Pulaar, Diola, Mandingo
Literacy: 28.1%
Labor force: 2,509,000; 77% subsistence agricultural workers; 175,000 wage earners—40% private sector, 60% government and parapublic; 52% of population of working age (1985)
Organized labor: majority of wage-labor force represented by unions; however, dues-paying membership very limited; major confederation is National Confederation of Senegalese Labor (CNTS), an affiliate of governing party
- Government
Long-form name: Republic of Senegal
Type: republic under multiparty democratic rule
Capital: Dakar
Administrative divisions: 10 regions (regions, singular—region);
Dakar, Diourbel, Fatick, Kaolack, Kolda, Louga, Saint-Louis, Tambacounda,
Thies, Ziguinchor
Independence: 4 April 1960 (from France); The Gambia and Senegal signed an agreement on 12 December 1981 (effective 1 February 1982) that called for the creation of a loose confederation to be known as Senegambia, but the agreement was dissolved on 30 September 1989