Guinea-Bissau

Geography

Guinea-Bissau is a country at the West African Atlantic coast. The land has a total area of 36,130 km² (13,950 mi²) and a total coastline of 350 km (217.5 mi). This land area is approximately 144% of the area of Maryland. Guinea-Bissau is thus one of the smallest countries in Africa by area and ranked 138th worldwide. Only slightly less than half of all residents (45%) live within cities.

Guinea-Bissau is very deep with an average elevation of only 70 m above sea level. The highest elevation in the country (Colinas do Boé) is 262 meters. The country has about 100 islands. There are direct national borders with the two neighboring countries Guinea and Senegal. The distance between New York City and the Capital Bissau is about 6,510 km (4,045 mi).

The climate in Guinea-Bissau

In Guinea-Bissau, as in all equatorial countries, there is a tropical climate. Unlike in Europe or the USA, there is almost no difference between the seasons. The daylight hours vary little, and the temperature differences between summer and winter are also lower. Depending on the season, the average daytime temperatures range between 30 and 36 degrees. In some parts of the country, the temperature rises to 38 °C. In the colder months, and depending in the region, the temperature drops to 19 °C in a month's average.

• Detailed climate data for Guinea-Bissau and 4 individual regions
• Hurricanes

Languages

Mother tongue	Distribution
Crioulo	36.4 %
Fula	16.6 %
Balante	14.6 %
Portuguese	8.1 %
Malinke	6.9 %
Bambara	5.1 %
Mandyako	4.9 %
other	7.4 %

Religions

Religion	Distribution
Animists	14.9%
Christs	22.1%
Muslims	45.1%
nondenominational	2.0%
other	15.9%

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Economy

GDP:	1.64 bn $
Exportations:	232.5 M $
Importations:	439.4 M $
› Tourism receipts:	18.92 M $
› Unemployment rate:	3.6 %
› Inflation rate:	9.39 %
› Corruption index:	19 (very bad)
› Energy consumption:	76.5 M kWh

Due to its political and financial situation, Guinea-Bissau is considered one of the least developed countries in the world and is also one of the heavily indebted poor countries.

In terms of revenues, it still ranks 178th in the world and, with an average annual income of 760 USD is one of the low-income countries.

Land use

1% Urban areas:	306 km²
58% Agricultural areas:	20,945 km²
70% Forest:	25,439 km²
22% Water areas:	8,010 km²

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Transport

Roadways:	4,400 km
Waterways:	1,367 km
Commercial harbors:	8
› Airports:	1