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Mauritania

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The boundaries and names shown on this map do not imply
official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations

 Location: North Africa
Bordering Countries: Algeria, Mali, Morocco (Western Sahara) and Senegal
Area: 1,030,700 sq. km
Population statistics (based on United Nations sources):
  • Total: 2,598,000 (1999)
  • Growth rate: 2.73
  • Ratio of males per 100 females: 98.0
  • Age structure (1995 figures)
    • Percentage aged 0-4 : 16.4
    • Percentage aged 5-14 : 26.8
    • Percentage aged 15-24 : 19.8
    • Percentage aged 25-60 : 28.6
    • Percentage aged 60-over : 8.4
  • Population density: 2 per sq. km

Literacy rate: 41.2% (1998)
GNP in US$ billions: 1.0 (1998)
GNP per capita in US$: 410 (1997)
Human Development Index value: 0.451 (1998)
Human Development Index rank: 147 of 174 countries
Gender-related Development Index value: 0.441 (1998)
Gender-related Development Index rank: 122 of 174 countries

 

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Mauritania is a large country located on the Atlantic side of north-west Africa. Much of the country is a low plateau (below 500 m above sea level) and 70% of the territory is a desert with scattered oases. Adequate rainfall is only found along the southern border. The majority of the people lives on the southern borderlands and in the capital and port city of Nouakchott. Formerly a French colony, Mauritania gained its independence on November 1960.

The iron ore reserves at Zouérate in the northern desert are among the largest in the word, and there are the main sources of foreign exchange earnings for Mauritania. The marine fishing industry at the second largest port city of Nouadhibou provides also the country's most important export. Livestock raising is the main occupation of the rural population. In recent years, stability within the Mauritanian society has been threatened by violent clashes between the two main cultural divisions composed of the Arabo-Berbers (Moors), who occupy the northern part of the country and account for 60% of the total population, and the Negro-Mauritanians, who live mainly along the Senegal valley.

In 1999, the number of connected telephone lines was approximately 16,500 in Mauritania resulting in a  telephone density of 0.64 per hundred people.

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