Sudan | Facts & Information

Updated September 26, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

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Facts & Figures

  • National name: Jamhuryat as-Sudan

    President: Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (1989)

    Current government officials

    Total area: 1,156,673 sq mi (1,861,484 sq km); land area: 668,601 sq mi (1,731,671 sq km); water area: 50,121 sq mi (129,813 sq km)

    Population (2022 est.): 47,958,856 (growth rate: 2.55%); birth rate: 33.47/1000; infant mortality rate: 42.27/1000; life expectancy: 67.12

    Capital (2022 est.): Khartoum, 6.160 million

    Largest cities: Nyala, 1.012 million

    Monetary unit: Dinar

    Languages: Arabic (official), English (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, Fur

    Ethnicity/race: Sudanese Arab (approximately 70%), Fur, Beja, Nuba, Fallata

    Religions: Sunni Muslim, small Christian minority

    Literacy rate: 60.7% (2018 est.)

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2020 est.): $176.4 billion; per capita $4,000. Real growth rate: 1.4%. Inflation: 50.2%. Unemployment: 19.6% (2017 est.). Arable land: 15.7%. Agriculture: cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sugarcane, cassava (tapioca), mangos, papaya, bananas, sweet potatoes, sesame; sheep, livestock. Labor force: 11.92 million (2007 est.); agriculture 80%, industry 7%, services 13% (1998 est.). Industries: oil, cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar, soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, armaments, automobile/light truck assembly. Natural resources: petroleum; small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold, hydropower. Exports: $5.11 billion (2019 est.): gold; oil and petroleum products; cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, sugar. Major trading partners (exports): United Arab Emirates 31%, China 19%, Saudi Arabia 14%, India 12%, Egypt 5% (2019). Imports: $9.79 billion (2019 est.): foodstuffs, manufactured goods, refinery and transport equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles, wheat. Major trading partners (imports): China 31%, India 14%, United Arab Emirates 11%, Egypt 6% (2019).

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 129,408 (2020); mobile cellular: 33,014,200 (2019). Broadcast Media: "Following the establishment of Sudan’s civilian-led transitional government in August 2019, government-owned broadcasters became increasingly independent from government and military control. Following the October 2021 military takeover, additional restrictions were imposed on these government-owned broadcasters, which now practice a heightened degree of self-censorship but still operate more independently than in the pre-2019 environment." (World Factbook 2022). Radios: 7.55 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 3 (1997). Televisions: 2.38 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 99 (2012). Internet users: 12,277,795 (2020).

    Transportation: Railways: total: 7,251 km (2014). Highways: total: 31,000 km; paved: 8,000 km; unpaved: 23,000 km (2020 est.). Waterways: 4,068 km navigable (2011). Ports and harbors: Port Sudan. Airports: 67 (2020).

    International disputes: the effects of Sudan's almost constant ethnic and rebel militia fighting since the mid-20th century have penetrated all of the neighboring states; Chad wishes to be a helpful mediator in resolving the Darfur conflict, and in 2010 established a joint border monitoring force with Sudan, which has helped to reduce cross-border banditry and violence; as of mid-2013, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Israel, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan provided shelter for more than 600,000 Sudanese refugees; during the same period, Sudan, in turn, hosted about 115,000 Eritreans, 32,000 Chadians, and smaller numbers of Ethiopians and Central Africans; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel groups; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia proceed slowly due to civil and ethnic fighting in eastern Sudan; Sudan claims but Egypt de facto administers security and economic development of the Halaib region north of the 22nd parallel boundary; periodic violent skirmishes with Sudanese residents over water and grazing rights persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic; South Sudan-Sudan boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment, final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation; final sovereignty status of Abyei Area pending negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan.

    Major sources and definitions

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