1982 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1982 (Wikisource)
Geography
Area
1,266,510 km2; about 3% cultivated, perhaps 20% somewhat arable, remainder desert
Land boundaries
5,745 km
People and Society
Ethnic divisions
main Negroid groups 75% (of which, Hausa 50%, Djerma and Songhai 21%); Caucasian elements include Tuareg, Toubous, and Tamacheks; mixed group includes Fulani
Labor force
26,000 wage earners; bulk of population engaged in subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry
Language
French official; many African languages; Hausa used for trade
Literacy
about 6%
Nationality
noun—Nigerien(s) (sing. and pl.); adjective—Niger
Organized labor
negligible
Population
5,833,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.9%
Religion
80% Muslim, remainder largely animists and a very few Christians
Government
Branches
executive authority exercised by Supreme Military Council (SMC) composed of army officers; Cabinet includes some civilian technocrats
Capital
Niamey
Communists
no Communist party; some sympathizers in outlawed Sawaba party
Elections
political activity banned Political parties and leaders: political parties banned
Government leader
Lt. Col. Seyni KOUNTCHE, President of Supreme Military Council, Chief of State, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Interior
Legal system
based on French civil law system and customary law; constitution adopted 1960, suspended 1974; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Member of
AFDB, APC, CEAO, EAMA, ECA, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IPU, ISCON, ITU, Lake Chad Basin Commission, Niger River Commission, NAM, OAU, OCAM, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
National holiday
Proclamation of the Republic, 18 December
Official name
Republic of Niger
Political subdivisions
7 departments, 32 arrondissements
Suffrage
suspended
Type
republic; military regime in power since April 1974
Economy
Agriculture
commercial—peanuts, cotton, livestock; main food crops—millet, sorghum, niebe beans, vegetables
Budget
(1980/81) revenue $458.8 million, current expenditure $255.9 million, development expenditure $344.6 million
Electric power
32,800 kW capacity (1980); 78 million kWh produced (1980), 14 kWh per capita
Exports
$557.9 million (f.o.b., 1980); about 65% uranium, rest peanuts and related products, livestock, hides, skins; exports understated because much regional trade not recorded
Fiscal year
1 October-30 September
GDP
$2.7 billion (1980), $491 per capita, annual average growth rate 1.3% (1971-81)
Imports
$801.0 million (c.i.f., 1980); fuels, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, consumer goods
Major industries
cement plant, brick factory, rice mill, small cotton gins, oil presses, slaughterhouse, and a few other small light industries; uranium production began in 1971
Major trade partners
France (over 50%), other EC countries, Nigeria, UDEAC countries, US; preferential tariff to EC and franc zone countries
Monetary conversion rate
about 225.8 Communaute Financiere Africaine=US$1 (1980)
Communications
Airfields
66 total, 62 usable; 6 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 18 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Civil air
4 major transport aircraft
Highways
8,220 km total; 2,674 km paved bituminous, 2,658 km gravel, 2,888 km unimproved earth
Inland waterways
Niger River navigable 300 km from Niamey to Gaya on the Benin frontier from mid-December through March
Railroads
none
Telecommunications
small system of wire and radio-relay links concentrated in southwestern area; 8,500 telephones (0.2 per 100 popl.); 12 AM stations, no FM, and 2 TV stations; 1 Atlantic Ocean satellite station, 4 domestic antennas under construction
Military and Security
Military budget
for fiscal year ending 30 September 1981, $15.4 million; about 3.9% of central government budget
Military manpower
males 15-49, 1,255,000; 676,000 fit for military service; about 60,000 reach military age (18) annually