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Guinea-Bissau: Countries
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Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world. Agriculture employs 76 % of the labour force, and producing maize, manioca and rice for the internal market. The main products for export are Cashew nuts, ground nuts and seed oil. Guinea Bissau is the world second largest Cashew exporter. Drought is a major threat to agriculture in Guinea Bissau. Guinea-Bissau's economic performance that improved in 1997 was severely disrupted by the political and social unrest, which erupted in June 1998.
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Most of Guinea-Bissau is a low-lying, swampy coastal plain. The land rises gradually to form a plateau region in the east. The maximum elevation of about 310 m (about 1,017 ft) is found in the southeast. Numerous meandering rivers cross the country from east to west and form wide estuaries near their mouths. Nearly all are navigable and serve as major transportation arteries. The climate is tropical, with a mean annual temperature of 25°C (77°F).
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Guinea-Bissau has a population of approximately 1.3 million. The major language groups in the country are Portuguese, Crioulo, and a number of African languages. The population practices Islam, Christianity, and indigenous religions. Because illiteracy is very high—about 50 percent—news broadcasts by radio are the most practical and popular means of communicating current events and perspectives on domestic and international situations.
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The population of Guinea-Bissau is ethnically diverse and has many distinct languages, customs, and social structures. Guineans can be divided into the following three ethnic groups: Fula and the Mandinka-speaking people, who comprise the largest portion of the population and are concentrated in the north and northeast; the Balanta and Papel people, who live in the southern coastal regions; and the Manjaco and Mancanha, who occupy the central and northern coastal areas. Most of the remaining 1% are mestiços of mixed Portuguese and African descent, including a Cape Verdean minority. Portuguese comprise only a very small portion of Guinea-Bissauans. This deficit was directly caused by the exodus of Portuguese settlers that took place after Guinea-Bissau gained independence. The country has ... Chinese minority, including Macanese people of mixed Portuguese and Chinese ancestry from Macau.
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After a disastrous 2006, Guinea-Bissau's economy bounced back in 2007. Cashews, the country's principal cash crop, rebounded strongly in 2007 after the government's 2006 attempt to artificially set the price of cashews at 70 U.S. cents/kg--more than twice what traders were willing to pay. The economy ... benefited from robust growth in the country's tourism industry. Guinea-Bissau appears ready to continue its economic growth in 2008 with new support from international donors and a recovery in cashew exports. The government is also in discussions to revive an IMF program.
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In early 2004, the last two countries on the continent, Guinea-Bissau and Eritrea, launched mobile services. As early as 2001, Africa became the first continent as a whole where mobile phones outnumbered fixed telephone lines, which individually is the case in most African countries now. Despite this, owning a mobile phone remains a luxury afforded by less than 8% of Africa's 840 million people. This compares to only 3% penetration of fixed-line telephony.
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