fun facts!

I don't think I'm the only volunteer who knew very little about Burkina Faso before receiving an invitation to serve here. So! Here are some fun facts about Burkina Faso. I included a comparison to the US (a) because it's interesting and (b) to give some type of context. Enjoy!

BURKINA FASO                           UNITED STATES

Population:

18.4 million                                          318.9 million

Geography:

274 thousand sq km                           9.8 million sq km

>> slightly larger than CO

Religion:

60.5%  Muslim                                    51.1%  Protestant

19%  Catholic                                       23.9%  Catholic

15.3%  Animist                                    1.7%  Mormon

4.2%  Protestant                                 1.7%  Jewish

1%  Other/None                                  1.6%  Other Christian

                                                               0.7%  Buddhist

                                                               0.6% Muslim

Mother’s average age at first birth:

19.4*                                                     25.6

Total Fertility Rate (children born/woman):

5.93**                                                  2.01

Physician density (number of physicians per 1,000 people):

0.05                                                     2.45

Percentage of children under 5 who are underweight:

26.2%                                                  0.5%

Literacy (age 15 and over who can read and write):

Total population: 28.7%                 Total Population: 99.99%***

Male: 36.7%

Female: 21.6%

GDP per capita:

$1,700                                                  $54,800

Number of internet users per 100 people:
3.7                                                          81

Number of mobile phone users per 100 people:

57.1****                                              98.2

Notes:

* This age is higher than observed in village - confirmed by volunteer sitting next to me as I type :)

** This number is lower than observed in village - same volunteer agrees again. The head of my health clinic reported an average of 7-8 children per woman.

*** For some reason I couldn't find this number on the World Factbook page, but Wikipedia gave this number and cited the World Factbook as a source...so, who knows.

**** For BF, this number may as well be "number of phone users." I've never met a Burkinabe with a landline.



Source: CIA World Factbook, UNICEF