Introduction
Geography Guinea Bissau is a west-African country located between Guinea and Senegal and along the border of the North Atlantic Ocean. The terrain consists of low-lying coastal plains with an estuarine coastline that rises to the savanna in the east. The climate is tropical, typically hot and humid with a monsoonal season from June to November and a dry season from December to May. Some of the natural resources of Guinea Bissau include fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, and limestone. |
PopulationThe population of Guinea Bissau consists of 1,833,247 people who belong to ethnic groups such as Fulani, Balanta, Mandiga, Papel, Beafada, Mancahna, Bijago, Felupe, Mansoanca, and Balanta Mane. Approximately one-fifth of the population resides in the capital, Bissau, and the remainder of people live in the other eight mainly rural regions of Guinea Bissau. The population is sustained by its high fertiliy rate. Each woman, on average, conceives four children. An estimate of 60 percent of the entire popoulation is under the age of 25 years-old. |
Education
The education system in Guinea Bissau lacks school funding and materials and qualified teachers. The country does not possess a strong educational infrastructure. There is a cultural emphasis on religious education, and many families send their children, specifically boys, to study in Koranic schools in Senegal or The Gambia. The literacy rate for the total population is 59.9 percent. Those over the age of 15 can read and write, but the percentages differ across gender with males at 71.8 percent and females at 48.3 percent.
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Politics
Guinea Bissau possesses a history of political instability, civil war, and several coups, all which have led to fragility in the state, a weak economy, high rates of unemployment, corruption, poverty, and drug and child trafficking.
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