Ethnic groups:
black 52%, Arab 39%, Beja 6%, foreigners 2%, other 1%
Religions:
Sunni Muslim 70% (in north), indigenous beliefs 25%, Christian 5%
(mostly in south and Khartoum)
Languages:
Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic,
Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
note: program of "Arabization" in process
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 61.1%
male: 71.8%
female: 50.5% (2003 est.)
Government Sudan
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of the Sudan
conventional short form: Sudan
local long form: Jumhuriyat as-Sudan
local short form: As-Sudan
former: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Government type:
authoritarian regime - ruling military junta took power in 1989;
government is run by an alliance of the military and the National
Congress Party (NCP), formerly the National Islamic Front (NIF),
which espouses an Islamist platform
Capital:
Khartoum
Administrative divisions:
26 states (wilayat, singular - wilayah); A'ali an Nil (Upper Nile),
Al Bahr al Ahmar (Red Sea), Al Buhayrat (Lakes), Al Jazirah (El
Gezira), Al Khartum (Khartoum), Al Qadarif (Gedaref), Al Wahdah
(Unity), An Nil al Abyad (White Nile), An Nil al Azraq (Blue Nile),
Ash Shamaliyah (Northern), Bahr al Jabal (Bahr al Jabal), Gharb al
Istiwa'iyah (Western Equatoria), Gharb Bahr al Ghazal (Western Bahr
al Ghazal), Gharb Darfur (Western Darfur), Gharb Kurdufan (Western
Kordofan), Janub Darfur (Southern Darfur), Janub Kurdufan (Southern
Kordofan), Junqali (Jonglei), Kassala (Kassala), Nahr an Nil (Nile),
Shamal Bahr al Ghazal (Northern Bahr al Ghazal), Shamal Darfur
(Northern Darfur), Shamal Kurdufan (Northern Kordofan), Sharq al
Istiwa'iyah (Eastern Equatoria), Sinnar (Sinnar), Warab (Warab)
Independence:
1 January 1956 (from Egypt and UK)