Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) achieved independence from France in 1960. Repeated military coups during the 1970s and 1980s were followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s. Current President Blaise COMPAORE came to power in a 1987 military coup and has won every election since then. Burkina Faso's high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens. Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.

Western Africa, north of Ghana

slightly larger than Colorado

tropical; warm, dry winters; hot, wet summers

mostly flat to dissected, undulating plains; hills in west and southeast

manganese, limestone, marble; small deposits of gold, phosphates, pumice, salt

recent droughts and desertification severely affecting agricultural activities, population distribution, and the economy; overgrazing; soil degradation; deforestation

landlocked savanna cut by the three principal rivers of the Black, Red, and White Voltas

44.33 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)

13.3 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.)

6.21 children born/woman (2010 est.)

Mossi over 40%, other approximately 60% (includes Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, and Fulani)

Muslim 50%, indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian (mainly Roman Catholic) 10%

French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population

parliamentary republic

45 provinces; Bale, Bam, Banwa, Bazega, Bougouriba, Boulgou, Boulkiemde, Comoe, Ganzourgou, Gnagna, Gourma, Houet, Ioba, Kadiogo, Kenedougou, Komondjari, Kompienga, Kossi, Koulpelogo, Kouritenga, Kourweogo, Leraba, Loroum, Mouhoun, Nahouri, Namentenga, Nayala, Noumbiel, Oubritenga, Oudalan, Passore, Poni, Sanguie, Sanmatenga, Seno, Sissili, Soum, Sourou, Tapoa, Tuy, Yagha, Yatenga, Ziro, Zondoma, Zoundweogo

5 August 1960 (from France)

Republic Day, 11 December (1958)

approved by referendum 2 June 1991; formally adopted 11 June 1991; last amended January 2002

based on French civil law system and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (111 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)

Supreme Court; Appeals Court

African Democratic Rally-Alliance for Democracy and Federation or ADF-RDA [Gilbert OUEDRAOGO]; Citizen's Popular Rally or RPC [Antoine QUARE]; Coalition of Democratic Forces of Burkina or CFD-B [Amadou Diemdioda DICKO]; Congress for Democracy and Progress or CDP [Roch Marc-Christian KABORE]; Democratic and Popular Rally or RDP [Nana THIBAUT]; Movement for Tolerance and Progress or MTP [Nayabtigungou Congo KABORE]; Party for African Independence or PAI [Soumane TOURE]; Party for Democracy and Progress-Socialist Party or PDP-PS [Ali LANKOANDE]; Party for Democracy and Socialism or PDS [Felix SOUBEIGA]; Party for National Rebirth or PAREN [Jeanne TRAORE]; Rally for the Development of Burkina or RDB [Antoine KARGOUGOU]; Rally of Ecologists of Burkina Faso or RDEB [Ram OUEDRAGO]; Republican Party for Integration and Solidarity or PARIS; Union for Democracy and Social Progress or UDPS [Fidele HIEN]; Union for Rebirth - Sankarist Movement or UNIR-MS [Benewende STANISLAS]; Union for the Republic or UPR [Toussaint Abel COULIBALY]; Union of Sankarist Parties or UPS [Ernest Nongma OUEDRAOGO]

Burkinabe General Confederation of Labor or CGTB [Tole SAGNON]; Burkinabe Movement for Human Rights or MBDHP [Chrysigone ZOUGMORE]; Group of 14 February [Benewende STANISLAS]; National Confederation of Burkinabe Workers or CNTB [Laurent OUEDRAOGO]; National Organization of Free Unions or ONSL [Paul KABORE]

ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and green with a yellow five-pointed star in the center; red recalls the country's struggle for independence, green is for hope and abundance,and yellow represents the country's mineral wealth

One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the main cash crop and the government has joined with 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. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but successful privatization of state-owned enterprises. Having revised its investment code in 2004, Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign investors. Thanks to this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production. While the bitter internal crisis in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to be resolved, it is still having a negative effect on Burkina Faso's trade and employment. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary school level, and signed an MCC compact that focuses on the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform in July 2008.

$18.81 billion (2009 est.)

$18.23 billion (2008 est.)

$17.33 billion (2007 est.)

$8.105 billion (2009 est.)

20.1% of GDP (2009 est.)

4.75% (31 December 2008)

4.25% (31 December 2007)

$1.068 billion (31 December 2008)

$1.051 billion (31 December 2007)

$751.3 million (31 December 2008)

$663 million (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$905.1 million (31 December 2007)

cotton, peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, corn, rice; livestock

cotton lint, beverages, agricultural processing, soap, cigarettes, textiles, gold

611.6 million kWh (2007 est.)

568.8 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)

9,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

8,283 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2009 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.)

-$692 million (2009 est.)

-$763 million (2008 est.)

$855 million (2009 est.)

$687 million (2008 est.)

cotton, livestock, gold

Singapore 16.76%, Belgium 12.78%, China 7.59%, Ghana 6.89%, India 6.36%, Denmark 5.76%, Niger 5.13%, Thailand 4.52% (2009)

$1.545 billion (2009 est.)

$1.431 billion (2008 est.)

capital goods, foodstuffs, petroleum

Cote d'Ivoire 24.31%, France 19.48%, Togo 6.42% (2009)

$1.296 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$927.6 million (31 December 2008 est.)

$1.84 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$1.665 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 481.35 (2009), 447.81 (2008), 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005)

2.553 million (2008)

2 TV stations - 1 state-owned and 1 privately-owned; state-owned radio runs a national and regional network; substantial number of privately-owned radio broadcast stations; transmissions of several international broadcasters available in Ouagadougou (2007)

Army, Air Force of Burkina Faso (Force Aerienne de Burkina Faso, FABF), National Gendarmerie (2010)

18 years of age for voluntary military service; women may serve in supporting roles (2009)

in September 2007, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intervened to attempt to resolve the dispute over two villages along the Benin-Burkina Faso border that remain from a 2005 ICJ decision; in recent years citizens and rogue security forces rob and harass local populations on both sides of the poorly defined Burkina Faso-Niger border; despite the presence of more than 9,000 UN forces (UNOCI) in Cote d'Ivoire since 2004, ethnic conflict continues to spread into neighboring states that can no longer send their migrant workers to work in Ivorian cocoa plantations