Togo
|
| Basic Facts |
| Country name |
conventional long form: Togolese Republic
conventional short form: Togo local long form: Republique togolaise local short form: none former: French Togoland |
| Gevernment type | republic under transition to multiparty democratic rule |
| Capital |
name: Lome
geographic coordinates: 6 08 N, 1 13 E time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Flag description | five equal horizontal bands of green (top and bottom) alternating with yellow; there is a white five-pointed star on a red square in the upper hoist-side corner; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia |
| Currency | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States |
| Internet country code | .tg |
| Ports and terminals | Kpeme, Lome |
| Agriculture products | coffee, cocoa, cotton, yams, cassava (tapioca), corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; livestock; fish |
| Industries | phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement, handicrafts, textiles, beverages |
| Geography |
| Location | Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Benin and Ghana |
| Coordinates | 8 00 N, 1 10 E |
| Continent | Africa |
| Area |
total: 56,785 sq km
land: 54,385 sq km water: 2,400 sq km |
| Boundaries |
total: 1,647 km
border countries: Benin 644 km, Burkina Faso 126 km, Ghana 877 km |
| Coastline | 56 km |
| Climate | tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north |
| Terrain | gently rolling savanna in north; central hills; southern plateau; low coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes |
| Natural resources | phosphates, limestone, marble, arable land |
| Natural hazards | hot, dry harmattan wind can reduce visibility in north during winter; periodic droughts |
| People |
| Population | 5,548,702
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) |
| Ethnic groups | African (37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre) 99%, European and Syrian-Lebanese less than 1% |
| Religions | indigenous beliefs 51%, Christian 29%, Muslim 20% |
| Languages | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) |
