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Guinea Country Guide

Explore Guinea in Africa

Guinea with the capital city Conakry is located in Africa (Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean). It covers some 245,857 square kilometres (slightly smaller than Oregon) with 10,211,000 citizens.

Interactive map of Guinea

The landscape offers generally flat coastal plain, hilly to mountainous interior. The average density of population is approximately 42 per km². The notable climate conditions in Guinea can be described as generally hot and humid with monsoonal-type rainy season (June to November) with southwesterly winds and dry season (December to May) with northeasterly harmattan winds. Potential threats by nature are hot, dry, dusty harmattan haze may reduce visibility during dry season.

To reach someone in Guinea dial +224 prior to a number. There are 22,000 installed telephones. And there are 5,607,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks commonly support frequencies of 900 MHz. Websites registered in this country end with the top level domain ".gn". If you want to bring electric equipment on your trip (e.g. laptop power supply), note the local power outlet of 220V - 50Hz.

About the flag and history of Guinea

Guinea Flag Icon

Three equal vertical bands of red (hoist side), yellow, and green; red represents the people's sacrifice for liberation and work; yellow stands for the sun, for the riches of the earth, and for justice; green symbolizes the country's vegetation and unity note: uses the popular Pan-African colors of Ethiopia; the colors from left to right are the reverse of those on the flags of neighboring Mali and Senegal.


Guinea has had a history of authoritarian rule since gaining its independence from France in 1958. Lansana CONTE came to power in 1984 when the military seized the government after the death of the first president, Sekou TOURE. Guinea did not hold democratic elections until 1993 when Gen. CONTE (head of the military government) was elected president of the civilian government. He was reelected in 1998 and again in 2003, though all the polls were marred by irregularities. History repeated itself in December 2008 when following President CONTE's death, Capt. Moussa Dadis CAMARA led a military coup, seizing power and suspending the constitution. His unwillingness to yield to domestic and international pressure to step down led to heightened political tensions that culminated in September 2009 when presidential guards opened fire on an opposition rally killing more than 150 people, and in early December 2009 when CAMARA was wounded in an assassination attempt and evacuated to Morocco and subsequently to Burkina Faso. A transitional government led by Gen. Sekouba KONATE held democratic elections in 2010 and Alpha CONDE was elected president in the country''s first free and fair elections since independence. CONDE in July 2011 survived an attack on his residence allegedly perpetrated by the military. In October 2012, he announced a cabinet reshuffle that removed three members of the military from their positions, making the current administration Guinea''s first all-civilian government.



Geography Quick-Facts

SummaryContinent: Africa
Neighbours: Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali
Capital: Conakry
Size245,857 square kilometers (km² or sqkm) or 94,925 square miles (mi² or sqmi)
slightly smaller than Oregon
Population10,211,000
CurrencyName Franc, Currency Code:GNF
Country Top Level Domain (cTLD).gn
Telephone Country Prefix+224
Mobile Phone Connections5,607,000
Landline Phone Connections22,000

Country Position in World Rankings

Information about single country attributes and how these compare against the rest of the world. The information below is compiled with data from 2013. As such, it may differ a bit to the Information above in the text (which is from 2010).

Geography

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Area245,857 (sq km)79

People and Society

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Population11,176,026 75
Population growth rate2.64 (%)23
Birth rate36.30 (births/1,000 population)20
Death rate9.94 (deaths/1,000 population)53
Maternal mortality rate610.00 (deaths/100,000 live births)12
Infant mortality rate57.11 (deaths/1,000 live births)33
Life expectancy at birth59.11 (years)195
Total fertility rate4.99 (children born/woman)19
Health expenditures4.90 (% of GDP)145
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate1.30 (%)38
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS79,000 45
HIV/AIDS - deaths4,700 39
Obesity - adult prevalence rate4.40 (%)165
Children under the age of 5 years underweight20.80 (%)29
Education expenditures3.10 (% of GDP)140

Economy

Value nameValueWorld Rank
GDP (purchasing power parity)12,370,000,000 148
GDP - real growth rate3.90 (%)85
GDP - per capita (PPP)1,100 215
Labor force4,778,000 82
Distribution of family income - Gini index39.40 64
Investment (gross fixed)20.10 (% of GDP)93
Taxes and other revenues21.90 (% of GDP)148
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)-6.70 (% of GDP)186
Inflation rate (consumer prices)15.00 (%)212
Central bank discount rate22.25 (%)6
Commercial bank prime lending rate28.00 (%)8
Stock of narrow money1,657,000,000 133
Stock of broad money1,915,000,000 152
Stock of domestic credit1,515,000,000 144
Industrial production growth rate3.00 (%)89
Current account balance-1,754,000,000 133
Exports1,785,000,000 145
Imports2,708,000,000 152
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold535,500,000 147
Debt - external2,652,000,000 137

Energy

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Electricity - production955,000,000 (kWh)148
Electricity - consumption888,200,000 (kWh)153
Electricity - installed generating capacity393,000 (kW)144
Electricity - from fossil fuels68.70 (% of total installed capacity)111
Electricity - from hydroelectric plants31.30 (% of total installed capacity)72
Refined petroleum products - consumption8,671 (bbl/day)157
Refined petroleum products - imports8,970 (bbl/day)134
Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy1,392,000 (Mt)158

Communications

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Telephones - main lines in use18,000 194
Telephones - mobile cellular4,500,000 111
Internet hosts15 224
Internet users95,000 161

Transportation

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Airports16 144
Railways1,185 (km)87
Roadways44,348 (km)82
Waterways1,300 (km)56

Military

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Military expenditures3.40 (% of GDP)35

Data based on CIA facts book 2010 & 2013, wikipedia, national statistical offices and their census releases

List of current world heritage sites

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