Gabon is a West African country, crossed by the
equator. It covers an area of 267,667 km2 and
is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest,
Cameroon to the north and the Republic of Congo to the
east and south, being bathed in the west by the Atlantic
Ocean. The most important cities are Libreville, the
capital, with 684,800 inhabitants (2004), Port-Gentil
(120,600 inhabitants), Franceville (42,500 inhabitants),
Oyem (24,300 inhabitants) and Moanda (29,800
inhabitants).
A dense equatorial forest covers about 3/4 of the
country.Climate
The climate is equatorial, with very high average
temperatures and abundant rainfall, especially between
October and May.
Economy
Gabon has an economy based on extractive industry,
forestry and agriculture. Oil is the country's main
source of revenue, and reserves of manganese, uranium
and natural gas are also important. In agriculture, the
main productions are yams, cassava, bananas, sugar cane,
corn, peanuts, palm oil, cocoa and coffee. Gabon's main
trading partners are France, the United States of
America, Japan and Spain.
Environmental indicator: the value of carbon dioxide
emissions, per capita (metric tons, 1999), is
3.0.
Population
The population is 1 424 906 inhabitants (2006), which
corresponds to a population density of 5 inhab./km2. The
birth and death rates are, respectively, 36.16% and
12.25%. Average life expectancy is 54.49 years. The
value of the Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.653 and
the value of the Gender-adjusted Development Index (IDG)
was not assigned (2001). It is estimated that, in 2025,
the population will be 1 433 000 inhabitants. About 36%
of the population belongs to the Fang ethnic group, 15%
to Mpongwé, 14% to M'Bédé, 12% to Punu and 23% are
distributed among other small ethnic groups. Religious
preferences are divided between Catholicism, with 66%,
Protestantism, with 19%, and traditional beliefs, with
18%. The official language is French, but there are,
however, 40 different dialects.
History
In 1960, Gabon became independent from France. During
that decade, the power struggle generated some
conflicts, but since the 1970s it has been a politically
stable country. The regime is strongly
presidential. Since 1967, the President of the Republic
has been Omar Bongo.
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