BOTSWANA
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 600,370 km2; land area: 585,370 km2
Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas
Land boundaries: 4,013 km total; Namibia 1,360 km, South Africa
1,840 km, Zimbabwe 813 km
Coastline: none--landlocked
Maritime claims: none--landlocked
Disputes: short section of the boundary with Namibia is indefinite;
quadripoint with Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe is in disagreement
Climate: semiarid; warm winters and hot summers
Terrain: predominately flat to gently rolling tableland; Kalahari
Desert in southwest
Natural resources: diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash,
potash, coal, iron ore, silver, natural gas
Land use: arable land 2%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures
75%; forest and woodland 2%; other 21%; includes irrigated NEGL%
Environment: rains in early 1988 broke six years of drought that
had severely affected the important cattle industry; overgrazing;
desertification
Note: landlocked
PEOPLE
Population: 1,258,392 (July 1991), growth rate 2.7% (1991)
Birth rate: 36 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 43 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 59 years male, 65 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 4.6 children born/woman (1991)
Nationality: noun and adjective--Motswana (singular), Batswana
(plural)
Ethnic divisions: Batswana 95%; Kalanga, Basarwa, and Kgalagadi
about 4%; white about 1%
Religion: indigenous beliefs 50%, Christian 50%
Language: English (official), Setswana
Literacy: 23% (male 32%, female 16%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force: 400,000; 182,200 formal sector employees, most others
are engaged in cattle raising and subsistence agriculture (1988 est.);
19,000 are employed in various mines in South Africa (1988)
Organized labor: 19 trade unions
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: Republic of Botswana
Type: parliamentary republic
Capital: Gaborone
Administrative divisions: 10 districts; Central, Chobe, Ghanzi,
Kgalagadi, Kgatleng, Kweneng, Ngamiland, North-East, South-East,
Southern; note--in addition, there may now be 4 town councils named
Francistown, Gaborone, Lobaste, Selebi-Pikwe
Independence: 30 September 1966 (from UK; formerly Bechuanaland)
Constitution: March 1965, effective 30 September 1966
Legal system: based on Roman-Dutch law and local customary law;
judicial review limited to matters of interpretation; has not accepted
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Botswana Day, 30 September (1966)
Legislative branch: bicameral National Assembly consists of an
upper house or House of Chiefs and a lower house or National Assembly
Judicial branch: High Court, Court of Appeal
Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government--President Quett K. J. MASIRE
(since 13 July 1980); Vice President Peter S. MMUSI (since 3 January
1983)
Political parties and leaders:
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Quett MASIRE;
Botswana National Front (BNF), Kenneth KOMA;
Botswana People's Party (BPP), Knight MARIPE;
Botswana Independence Party (BIP), Motsamai MPHO
Suffrage: universal at age 21
Elections:
President--last held 7 October 1989 (next to be held October
1994);
results--President Quett K. J. MASIRE was reelected by the National
Assembly;
National Assembly--last held 7 October 1989 (next to be
held October 1994); results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(38 total, 34 elected) BDP 35, BNF 3
Communists: no known Communist organization; Kenneth Koma of BNF
has long history of Communist contacts
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Botsweletse Kingsley
SEBELE; Chancery at Suite 404, 4301 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington
DC 20008; telephone (202) 244-4990 or 4991;
US--Ambassador David PASSAGE; Embassy at Botswana Road, Gaborone
(mailing address is P. O. Box 90, Gaborone); telephone 267 353-982
through 353-984
Flag: light blue with a horizontal white-edged black stripe
in the center
ECONOMY
Overview: The economy has historically been based on cattle raising
and crops. Agriculture today provides a livelihood for over 80% of the
population, but produces only about 50% of food needs and contributes
a small 3% to GDP. The driving force behind the rapid economic growth of
the 1970s and 1980s has been the mining industry. This sector, mostly on
the strength of diamonds, has gone from generating 25% of GDP in 1980 to
over 50% in 1989. No other sector has experienced such growth, especially
not agriculture, which is plagued by erratic rainfall and poor soils. The
unemployment rate remains a problem at 25%.
GDP: $3.1 billion, per capita $2,500; real growth rate 6.3%
(1990)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12.0% (1990)
Unemployment rate: 25% (1989)
Budget: revenues $1,719 million; expenditures $1,792 million,
including capital expenditures of $NA (FY92 est.)
commodities--foodstuffs, vehicles and transport equipment,
textiles, petroleum products;
partners--Switzerland, SACU (Southern African Customs Union),
UK, US
External debt: $780 million (December 1990 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 16.8% (FY86); accounts for
about 57% of GDP, including mining
Electricity: 217,000 kW capacity; 630 million kWh produced,
510 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: mining of diamonds, copper, nickel, coal, salt, soda
ash, potash; livestock processing
Agriculture: accounts for only 3% of GDP; subsistence
farming predominates; cattle raising supports 50% of the population;
must import large share of food needs
Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $257
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $1.8 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $43 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $29 million
Currency: pula (plural--pula); 1 pula (P) = 100 thebe
Exchange rates: pula (P) per US$1--1.8720 (January 1991), 1.8601
(1990), 2.0125 (1989), 1.8159 (1988), 1.6779 (1987), 1.8678 (1986),
1.8882 (1985)
Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 712 km 1.0 67-meter gauge
Highways: 11,514 km total; 1,600 km paved; 1,700 km crushed stone
or gravel, 5,177 km improved earth, 3,037 km unimproved earth
Civil air: 6 major transport aircraft
Airports: 100 total, 87 usable; 8 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 26 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: the small system is a combination of open-wire
lines, radio relay links, and a few radiocommunication stations; 17,900
telephones; stations--2 AM, 3 FM, no TV; 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT earth
station
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Botswana Defense Force (including Army and Air Wing),
Botswana National Police
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 260,290; 137,038 fit for
military service; 14,767 reach military age (18) annually
Defense expenditures: $99 million, 8.2% of GNP (1989)
