Nov 19 (Reuters) - Here are some key facts on Burkina Faso which holds presidential elections on Sunday.
ECONOMY: Burkina Faso was ranked 161 out of 169 countries in the 2010 U.N. Human Development Index. Life expectancy is 53.7 years. Many of its population are subsistence farmers, with severe food shortages and seasonal drought frequent.
Burkina Faso is sub-Saharan Africa's top cotton producer, after overtaking Benin and Mali The government has joined three other cotton producing countries in the region -- Mali, Niger, and Chad -- to lobby in the World Trade Organization for fewer subsidies to producers in other competing countries.
Trade: Exports are ${esc.dollar}855 million (2009) with trading partners Singapore 16.76 percent, Belgium 12.78 percent, China 7.59 percent, Ghana 6.89 percent, India 6.36 percent, Denmark 5.76 percent, Niger 5.13 percent, Thailand 4.52 percent (2009). Imports are worth ${esc.dollar}1.545 billion (2009)
COUNTRY DETAILS:
POPULATION: 16.2 million.
ETHNICITY: The Mossis make up over half of the population. There are also Fulani herders and Tamejek, Bellah and Djula minorities.
RELIGION: Islam 50 percent, traditional African religions 40 percent, Christianity (mostly Catholicism) 10 percent.
LANGUAGE: French (official); 71 languages from the Sudanic family are spoken by 90 percent of the population (most common are Mossi, Bobo, Bissa and Gurma).
GEOGRAPHY: A landlocked country in the arid Sahel region south of the Sahara, its area is 273,600 sq km. The country used to be called Upper Volta, taking its name from the three rivers which water the plains -- the black, red and white Volta. In 1984, then-president Thomas Sankara changed the name to Burkina Faso or "Land of Upright Men".
* SOME HISTORY:
-- Burkina Faso became a separate colony under French rule in 1919, acquiring its present borders in 1947. There have been five military coups since independence in 1960.
-- Compaore seized power in a 1987 coup but has widespread popular support. However, neighbouring Ivory Coast has accused him of backing rebels holding the north of the country and he has been named in U.N. reports for supporting insurgents during Sierra Leone's civil war.
-- Compaore, a former army captain, won a landslide victory in last presidential polls in Nov. 2005, taking 80 percent of the vote. A new law from 2005 had prohibited presidents from standing for more than two terms but the Constitutional Court ruled the law could not be applied retroactively, clearing the way for Compaore's re-election.
Sources: Reuters/ UN/CIA
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