Ethnic groups: 13 native African tribes 99% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 39%), Creole, European, Lebanese, and Asian 1%

Religions: Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%

Languages: English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (the language of the re-settled ex-slave population of the Freetown area and is lingua franca)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write in English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic total population: 31.4% male: 45.4% female: 18.2% (1995 est.)

@Sierra Leone:Government

Country name: conventional long form : Republic of Sierra Leone conventional short form: Sierra Leone

Data code: SL

Government type: constitutional democracy

National capital: Freetown

Administrative divisions: 3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern, Northern,
Southern, Western*