Languages: English 2% (official), Setswana 78%, Kalanga 8%,
Sekgalagadi 3%, other (2001)
Ethnicity/race: Tswana (or Setswana) 79%, Kalanga 11%, Basarwa
3%, other (including Kgalagadi and white) 7%
Religions: Christian 72%, Badimo 6%, none 21% (2001)
Literacy rate: 80% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.):
$16.48 billion; per capita $10,000. Real growth rate: 3.3%.
Inflation: 8.3%. Unemployment: 23.8% (2004). Arable
land: 1%. Agriculture: livestock, sorghum, maize, millet,
beans, sunflowers, groundnuts. Labor force: 288,400 formal
sector employees (2004); agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services
n.a.. Industries: diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash,
potash; livestock processing; textiles. Natural resources:
diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal, iron ore,
silver. Exports: $3.68 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): diamonds,
copper, nickel, soda ash, meat, textiles. Imports: $3.37
billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): foodstuffs, machinery, electrical goods,
transport equipment, textiles, fuel and petroleum products, wood and
paper products, metal and metal products. Major trading partners:
European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Southern African Customs
Union (SACU), Zimbabwe (2004).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main
lines in use: 142,400 (2002); mobile cellular: 435,000 (2002).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 8, FM 13, shortwave 4 (2001).
Television broadcast stations: 1 (2001). Internet hosts:
1,920 (2003). Internet users: 60,000 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: total: 888 km
(2004). Highways: total: 10,217 km; paved: 5,619 km; unpaved:
4,598 km (1999). Ports and harbors: none. Airports: 85
(2004 est.).
International disputes:
commission established with Namibia has yet to resolve small residual
disputes along the Caprivi Strip, including the Situngu marshlands
along the Linyanti River; downstream Botswana residents protest
Namibia's planned construction of the Okavango hydroelectric dam at
Popavalle (Popa Falls); Botswana has built electric fences to stem the
thousands of Zimbabweans who flee to find work and escape political
persecution; Namibia has long supported and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped
objections to plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over
the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing their short, but not
clearly delimited Botswana-Zambia boundary.
Twice the size of Arizona, Botswana is in south-central Africa, bounded
by Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Most of the country is
near-desert, with the Kalahari occupying the western part of the country.
The eastern part is hilly, with salt lakes in the north.
Government
Parliamentary republic.
History
The earliest inhabitants of the region were the San, who were followed
by the Tswana. About half the country today is ethnic Tswana. The term for
the country's people, Batswana, refers to national rather than
ethnic origin.
Encroachment by the Zulu in the 1820s and by Boers from Transvaal in
the 1870s and 1880s threatened the peace of the region. In 1885, Britain
established the area as a protectorate, then known as Bechuanaland. In
1961, Britain granted a constitution to the country. Self-government began
in 1965, and on Sept. 30, 1966, the country became independent. Botswana
is Africa's oldest democracy.
The new country maintained good relations with its white-ruled
neighbors but gradually changed its policies, harboring rebel groups from
South Rhodesia as well as some from South Africa.
Although Botswana is rich in diamonds, it has high unemployment and
stratified socioeconomic classes. In 1999 it suffered its first budget
deficit in 16 years because of a slump in the international diamond
market. Yet it remains one of the wealthiest as well as most stable
countries on the continent.
After 17 years in power, President Ketumile Masire retired in 1997, and
Festus Mogae, an Oxford-educated economist, became the new president.
Mogae has won high marks from the international financial community for
continuing to privatize Botswana's mining and industrial operations.
Although Botswana's economic outlook remains strong, the devastation
that AIDS has caused threatens to destroy the country's future. In 2001,
Botswana had the highest rate of HIV infection in the world (350,000 of
its 1.6 million people). With the help of international donors, however,
it launched an ambitious national campaign that provided free antiviral
drugs to anyone who needed them, and by March 2004, Botswana's infection
rate had dropped significantly. But with 37.5% of the population infected,
the country remains on the brink of catastrophe. President Mogae won a
second and final four-year term in Oct. 2004.
After serving 10 years as deputy president, Ian Khama, the son of
Botswana's first president, Seretse Khama, was inaugurated as president in
April 2008. Festus Mogae stepped aside after 10 years in office.
