commodities—food, textiles, petroleum products, machinery, electrical equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, industrial products; partners—France, other EC, Japan, Algeria, Yugoslavia
External debt: $660 million (December 1989)
Industrial production: 1.9% (1987 est.)
Electricity: 35,000 kW capacity; 84 million kWh produced, 30 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: sawmills, breweries, diamond mining, textiles, footwear, assembly of bicycles and motorcycles
Agriculture: accounts for 40% of GDP; self-sufficient in food production except for grain; commercial crops—cotton, coffee, tobacco, timber; food crops—manioc, yams, millet, corn, bananas
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70–88), $44 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970–87), $1.3 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979–89), $6 million; Communist countries (1970–88), $38 million
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (plural—francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1—287.99 (January 1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)
Fiscal year: calendar year
- Communications Highways: 22,000 km total; 458 km bituminous, 10,542 km improved earth, 11,000 unimproved earth
Inland waterways: 800 km; traditional trade carried on by means of shallow-draft dugouts; Oubangui is the most important river
Civil air: 2 major transport aircraft
Airports: 66 total, 49 usable; 4 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440–3,659 m; 22 with runways 1,220–2,439 m
Telecommunications: fair system; network relies primarily on radio relay links, with low-capacity, low-powered radiocommunication also used; 6,000 telephones; stations—1 AM, 1 FM, 1 TV; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station
- Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Air Force
Military manpower: males 15–49, 642,207; 335,863 fit for military service
Defense expenditures: 1.8% of GDP, or $23 million (1989 est.)
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Country: Chad
- Geography
Total area: 1,284,000 km2; land area: 1,259,200 km2
Comparative area: slightly more than three times the size of California
Land boundaries: 5,968 km total; Cameroon 1,094 km, Central African
Republic 1,197 km, Libya 1,055 km, Niger 1,175 km, Nigeria 87 km, Sudan 1,360 km
Coastline: none—landlocked
Maritime claims: none—landlocked
Disputes: Libya claims and occupies a small portion of the Aozou Strip in far north; exact locations of the Chad-Niger-Nigeria and Cameroon-Chad-Nigeria tripoints in Lake Chad have not been determined—since the boundary has not been demarcated, border incidents have resulted
Climate: tropical in south, desert in north
Terrain: broad, arid plains in center, desert in north, mountains in northwest, lowlands in south
Natural resources: small quantities of crude oil (unexploited but exploration beginning), uranium, natron, kaolin, fish (Lake Chad)
Land use: 2% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 36% meadows and pastures; 11% forest and woodland; 51% other; includes NEGL% irrigated
Environment: hot, dry, dusty harmattan winds occur in north; drought and desertification adversely affecting south; subject to plagues of locusts
Note: landlocked; Lake Chad is the most significant water body in the Sahel
- People
Population: 5,017,431 (July 1990), growth rate 2.1% (1990)
Birth rate: 42 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 22 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 136 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 38 years male, 40 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 5.3 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Chadian(s); adjective—Chadian
Ethnic divisions: some 200 distinct ethnic groups, most of whom are
Muslims (Arabs, Toubou, Fulbe, Kotoko, Hausa, Kanembou, Baguirmi, Boulala, and
Maba) in the north and center and non-Muslims (Sara, Ngambaye, Mbaye, Goulaye,
Moudang, Moussei, Massa) in the south; some 150,000 nonindigenous, of whom
1,000 are French
Religion: 44% Muslim, 33% Christian, 23% indigenous beliefs, animism
Language: French and Arabic (official); Sara and Sango in south; more than 100 different languages and dialects are spoken
Literacy: 25.3%
Labor force: NA; 85% agriculture (engaged in unpaid subsistence farming, herding, and fishing)
Organized labor: about 20% of wage labor force
- Government
Long-form name: Republic of Chad
Type: republic
Capital: N'Djamena
Administrative divisions: 14 prefectures (prefectures,
singular—prefecture); Batha, Biltine, Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti, Chari-Baguirmi,
Guera, Kanem, Lac, Logone Occidental, Logone Oriental, Mayo-Kebbi,
Moyen-Chari, Ouaddai, Salamat, Tandjile
Independence: 11 August 1960 (from France)
Constitution: 22 December 1989
Legal system: based on French civil law system and Chadian customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: National Day (founding of the Third Republic), 7 June (1982)
Executive branch: president, Council of Ministers (cabinet)
Legislative branch:
