Overview:
Niger's economy is centered on subsistence agriculture, animal
husbandry, and re-export trade, and increasingly less on uranium, its
major export throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Uranium revenues dropped
by almost 50% between 1983 and 1990. Terms of trade with Nigeria,
Niger's largest regional trade partner, have improved dramatically
since the 50% devaluation of the African franc in January 1994; this
devaluation boosted exports of livestock, peas, onions, and the
products of Niger's small cotton industry. The government relies on
bilateral and multilateral aid for operating expenses and public
investment, and is strongly induced to adhere to structural adjustment
programs designed by the IMF and the World Bank.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $5.4 billion (1993 est.)
National product real growth rate:
1.9% (1991 est.)
National product per capita:
$650 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.3% (1991 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$193 million
expenditures:
$355 million, including capital expenditures of $106 million (1991
est.)
Exports:
$294 million (f.o.b., 1991)
commodities:
uranium ore 60%, livestock products 20%, cowpeas, onions
partners:
France 77%, Nigeria 8%, Cote d'Ivoire, Italy
Imports:
$346 million (c.i.f., 1991)
commodities:
primary materials, machinery, vehicles and parts, electronic
equipment, cereals, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, chemical
products, foodstuffs
partners:
Germany 26%, Cote d'Ivoire 11%, France 5%, Italy 4%, Nigeria 2%
External debt:
$1.2 billion (December 1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate -2.7% (1991 est.); accounts for 13% of GDP
Electricity:
capacity:
105,000 kW
production:
230 million kWh
consumption per capita:
30 kWh (1991)
Industries:
cement, brick, textiles, food processing, chemicals, slaughterhouses,
and a few other small light industries; uranium mining began in 1971
Agriculture:
accounts for roughly 40% of GDP and 90% of labor force; cash crops -
cowpeas, cotton, peanuts; food crops - millet, sorghum, cassava, rice;
livestock - cattle, sheep, goats; self-sufficient in food except in
drought years
Economic aid:
recipient:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $380 million; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89),
$3.165 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $504 million; Communist
countries (1970-89), $61 million
Currency:
1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 592.05
(January 1994), 283.16 (1993), 264.69 (1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26
(1990), 319.01 (1989)
note:
the official rate is pegged to the French franc, and beginning 12
January 1994, the CFA franc was devalued to CFAF 100 per French franc
from CFAF 50 at which it had been fixed since 1948
Fiscal year:
1 October - 30 September

@Niger, Communications

Highways:
total:
39,970 km
paved:
bituminous 3,170 km
unpaved:
gravel, laterite 10,330 km; earth 3,470 km; tracks 23,000 km
Inland waterways:
Niger River is navigable 300 km from Niamey to Gaya on the Benin
frontier from mid-December through March
Airports:
total:
30
usable:
28
with permanent-surface runways:
9
with runways over 3,659 m:
0
with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
2
with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
14
Telecommunications:
small system of wire, radiocommunications, and radio relay links
concentrated in southwestern area; 14,260 telephones; broadcast
stations - 15 AM, 5 FM, 18 TV; satellite earth stations - 1 Atlantic
Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, and 3 domestic, with 1
planned

@Niger, Defense Forces

Branches:
Army, Air Force, Gendarmerie, National Police, Republican Guard
Manpower availability:
males age 15-49 1,845,374; fit for military service 994,683; reach
military age (18) annually 91,595 (1994 est.)
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $27 million, 1.3% of GDP (1989)

@Nigeria, Geography

Location:
Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean between Benin and
Cameroon
Map references:
Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World
Area:
total area:
923,770 sq km
land area:
910,770 sq km
comparative area:
slightly more than twice the size of California
Land boundaries:
total 4,047 km, Benin 773 km, Cameroon 1,690 km, Chad 87 km, Niger
1,497 km
Coastline:
853 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf:
200-m depth or to depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
territorial sea:
30 nm
International disputes:
demarcation of international boundaries in Lake Chad, the lack of
which has led to border incidents in the past, is completed and
awaiting ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria; boundary
commission, created with Cameroon to discuss unresolved land and
maritime boundaries, has not yet convened, but a commission was formed
January 1994 to study a flare-up of the dispute
Climate:
varies; equatorial in south, tropical in center, arid in north
Terrain:
southern lowlands merge into central hills and plateaus; mountains in
southeast, plains in north
Natural resources:
petroleum, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc,
natural gas
Land use:
arable land:
31%
permanent crops:
3%
meadows and pastures:
23%
forest and woodland:
15%
other:
28%
Irrigated land:
8,650 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues:
soil degradation; rapid deforestation; desertification; recent
droughts in north severely affecting marginal agricultural activities
natural hazards:
periodic droughts
international agreements:
party to - Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity, Climate
Change

@Nigeria, People

Population: 98,091,097 (July 1994 est.) Population growth rate: 3.15% (1994 est.) Birth rate: 43.52 births/1,000 population (1994 est.) Death rate: 12.43 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.) Net migration rate: 0.36 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.) Infant mortality rate: 75 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 55.33 years male: 54.11 years female: 56.59 years (1994 est.) Total fertility rate: 6.37 children born/woman (1994 est.) Nationality: noun: Nigerian(s) adjective: Nigerian Ethnic divisions: north: Hausa and Fulani southwest: Yoruba southeast: Ibos non-Africans 27,000 note: Hausa and Fulani, Yoruba, and Ibos together make up 65% of population Religions: Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10% Languages: English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, Fulani Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.) total population: 51% male: 62% female: 40% Labor force: 42.844 million by occupation: agriculture 54%, industry, commerce, and services 19%, government 15% note: 49% of population of working age (1985)

@Nigeria, Government