Quick Facts

© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield)
and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

Demography

Population: 9.5 million

Languages: Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English

Religions: Sunni Muslim

Ethnic groups:Somali 85%, Bantu and other non-Somali 15% (including 30,000 Arabs)

Median age: 17.5 years

Population Growth Rate: 2.8%

Literacy (age 15+ can read and write): 37.8%

Geography

Capital: Mogadishu

Area: 637,657 sq. km; slightly smaller than Texas

Natural resources: uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, likely oil reserves

Economy

GDP (purchasing power parity): $5.39 billion

Currency: Somali Shilling

Population below the Poverty line: NA

Government and Political

Date of Independence: July 1, 1960 (from a merger of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland)

Type of government: no permanent national government; transitional, parliamentary federal government

Displacement

IDPs: 1.1 million

According to Worldmapper.org Somalia ranks 8th in the world for violent deaths

© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).