Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification
Geography - note:
rainfall along the coast can reach 495 cm (195 inches) a year,
making it one of the wettest places along coastal, western Africa
People Sierra Leone
Population:
6,005,250 (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 44.8% (male 1,321,563/female 1,370,721)
15-64 years: 52% (male 1,494,502/female 1,625,733)
65 years and over: 3.2% (male 90,958/female 101,773) (2006 est.)
Median age:
total: 17.4 years
male: 17.1 years
female: 17.7 years (2006 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.3% (2006 est.)
Birth rate:
45.76 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate:
23.03 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration rate:
0.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: refugees currently in surrounding countries are slowly
returning (2006 est.)