Equatorial Guinea gained independence in 1968 after 190 years of Spanish rule; it is one of the smallest countries in Africa consisting of a mainland territory and five inhabited islands. The capital of Malabo is located on the island of Bioko, approximately 25 km from the Cameroonian coastline in the Gulf of Guinea. Between 1968 and 1979, autocratic President Francisco MACIAS NGUEMA virtually destroyed all of the country's political, economic, and social institutions before being deposed by his nephew Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO in a coup. President OBIANG has ruled since October 1979 and was reelected in 2016. Although nominally a constitutional democracy since 1991, presidential and legislative elections since 1996 have generally been labeled as flawed. The president exerts almost total control over the political system and has placed legal and bureaucratic barriers that prevent political opposition. Equatorial Guinea has experienced rapid economic growth due to the discovery of large offshore oil reserves, and in the last decade has become Sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil exporter. Despite the country's economic windfall from oil production, resulting in a massive increase in government revenue in recent years, the drop in global oil prices has placed significant strain on the state budget. Equatorial Guinea continues to seek to diversify its economy and to increase foreign investment despite limited improvements in the population's living standards. Equatorial Guinea is the host of major regional and international conferences and continues to seek a greater role in regional affairs.

Central Africa, bordering the Bight of Biafra, between Cameroon and Gabon

2 00 N, 10 00 E

Africa

slightly smaller than Maryland

296 km

tropical; always hot, humid

coastal plains rise to interior hills; islands are volcanic

highest point: Pico Basile 3,008 m

petroleum, natural gas, timber, gold, bauxite, diamonds, tantalum, sand and gravel, clay

arable land 4.3%; permanent crops 2.1%; permanent pasture 3.7%

NA

violent windstorms; flash floods

tap water is non-potable; deforestation

insular and continental regions widely separated

759,451 (July 2016 est.)

Fang 85.7%, Bubi 6.5%, Mdowe 3.6%, Annobon 1.6%, Bujeba 1.1%, other 1.4% (1994 census)

Spanish (official) 67.6%, other (includes French (official), Fang, Bubi) 32.4% (1994 census)

nominally Christian and predominantly Roman Catholic, pagan practices

Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest and least populated countries in continental Africa and is the only independent African country where Spanish is an official language. Despite a boom in oil production in the 1990s, authoritarianism, corruption, and resource mismanagement have concentrated the benefits among a small elite. These practices have perpetuated income inequality and unbalanced development, such as low public spending on education and health care. Unemployment remains problematic because the oil-dominated economy employs a small labor force dependent on skilled foreign workers. The agricultural sector, Equatorial Guinea’s main employer, continues to deteriorate because of a lack of investment and the migration of rural workers to urban areas. About three-quarters of the population lives below the poverty line.

Equatorial Guinea’s large and growing youth population – about 60% are under the age of 25 – is particularly affected because job creation in the non-oil sectors is limited, and young people often do not have the skills needed in the labor market. Equatorial Guinean children frequently enter school late, have poor attendance, and have high dropout rates. Thousands of Equatorial Guineans fled across the border to Gabon in the 1970s to escape the dictatorship of MACIAS NGUEMA; smaller numbers have followed in the decades since. Continued inequitable economic growth and high youth unemployment increases the likelihood of ethnic and regional violence.

2.48% (2016 est.)

32.8 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)

8 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)

MALABO (capital) 145,000 (2014)

342 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)

4.48 children born/woman (2016 est.)

12.6% (2011)

3.8% of GDP (2014)

2.1 beds/1,000 population (2010)

urban: 72.5% of population

rural: 31.5% of population

total: 47.9% of population

urban: 27.5% of population

rural: 68.5% of population

total: 52.1% of population (2015 est.)

urban: 79.9% of population

rural: 71% of population

total: 74.5% of population

urban: 20.1% of population

rural: 29% of population

total: 25.5% of population (2015 est.)

4.88% (2015 est.)

27,400 (2015 est.)

1,100 (2015 est.)

16.2% (2014)

5.6% (2010)

presidential republic

7 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia); Annobon, Bioko Norte, Bioko Sur, Centro Sur, Kie-Ntem, Litoral, Wele-Nzas

12 October 1968 (from Spain)

Independence Day, 12 October (1968)

approved by referendum 17 November 1991; amended several times, last in 2012 (2016)

mixed system of civil and customary law

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

18 years of age; universal

Convergence Party for Social Democracy or CPDS [Andres ESONO ONDO]

Democratic Party for Equatorial Guinea or PDGE [Teodoro OBIANG Nguema Mbasogo] (ruling party)

Electoral Coalition or EC

Popular Action of Equatorial Guinea or APGE [Carmelo MBA BACALE]

Popular Union or UP [Daniel MARTINEZ AYECABA]

Independent Candidacy or CI [Gabriel NSE OBIANG OBONO]

Party for Progress of Equatorial Guinea or PPGE [Severo MOTO]

Union for the Center Right or UDC [Avelino MOCACHE MEAENGA]

ASODEGUE (Madrid-based pressure group for democratic reform)

Coalicion CEIBA (group formed by diverse, exiled political parties)

C.O.R.E.D. (originally led by Raimundo Ela Nsang; based in Paris)

EG Justice (US-based anti-corruption group)

ACP, AfDB, AU, BDEAC, CEMAC, CPLP (associate), FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ITSO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OAS (observer), OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WTO (observer)

three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red, with a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side and the coat of arms centered in the white band; the coat of arms has six yellow six-pointed stars (representing the mainland and five offshore islands) above a gray shield bearing a silk-cotton tree and below which is a scroll with the motto UNIDAD, PAZ, JUSTICIA (Unity, Peace, Justice); green symbolizes the jungle and natural resources, blue represents the sea that connects the mainland to the islands, white stands for peace, and red recalls the fight for independence

silk cotton tree; national colors: green, white, red, blue

Exploitation of oil and gas deposits, beginning in the 1990s, has driven economic growth in Equatorial Guinea, allowing per capita GDP to rise to over $29,000 in 2014. Forestry and farming are minor components of GDP. Although preindependence Equatorial Guinea counted on cocoa production for hard currency earnings, the neglect of the rural economy since independence has diminished the potential for agriculture-led growth. Subsistence farming is the dominant form of livelihood. Declining revenue from hydrocarbon production, high levels of infrastructure expenditures, lack of economic diversification, and corruption have pushed the economy into decline in recent years and led to limited improvements in the general population’s living conditions.

Foreign assistance programs by the World Bank and the IMF have been cut since 1993 because of corruption and mismanagement, and as a middle income country Equatorial Guinea is now ineligible for most donor assistance. The government has been widely criticized for its lack of transparency and misuse of oil revenues and has attempted to address this issue by working towards compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. US foreign assistance to Equatorial Guinea is limited in part because of US restrictions pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Equatorial Guinea hosted two economic diversification symposia in 2014 that focused on attracting investment in five sectors: agriculture and animal ranching, fishing, mining and petrochemicals, tourism, and financial services. Undeveloped mineral resources include gold, zinc, diamonds, columbite-tantalite, and other base metals.

$31.77 billion (2016 est.)

$35.25 billion (2015 est.)

$38.08 billion (2014 est.)

$11.64 billion (2015 est.)

-9.9% (2016 est.)

-7.4% (2015 est.)

-0.5% (2014 est.)

$38,700 (2016 est.)

$44,100 (2015 est.)

$48,900 (2014 est.)

19.3% of GDP (2016 est.)

36.3% of GDP (2015 est.)

46.3% of GDP (2014 est.)

coffee, cocoa, rice, yams, cassava (manioc, tapioca), bananas, palm oil nuts; livestock; timber

petroleum, natural gas, sawmilling

-6.7% (2016 est.)

195,200 (2007 est.)

22.3% (2009 est.)

NA%

20.9% of GDP (2016 est.)

-3.7% of GDP (2016 est.)

24.3% of GDP (2016 est.)

16.4% of GDP (2015 est.)

calendar year

3.1% (2016 est.)

11.7% (2015 est.)

8.5% (31 December 2010)

4.25% (31 December 2009)

14% (31 December 2016 est.)

14% (31 December 2015 est.)

$1.445 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$1.888 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$3.788 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$3.841 billion (31 December 2013 est.)

$1.443 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$1.557 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

-$1.368 billion (2016 est.)

-$2.322 billion (2015 est.)

$5.064 billion (2016 est.)

$7.41 billion (2015 est.)

petroleum products, timber

China 16.6%, South Korea 15.1%, Spain 9%, Brazil 8.2%, Netherlands 6.8%, South Africa 6.6%, India 5.8%, UK 5.7%, France 5.7% (2015)

$3.03 billion (2016 est.)

$3.953 billion (2015 est.)

petroleum sector equipment, other equipment, construction materials, vehicles

Netherlands 16.9%, Spain 16.3%, China 14.8%, US 8.9%, Cote dIvoire 6%, France 4.8% (2015)

$621.9 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$1.205 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$1.364 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$1.194 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

Cooperation Financiere en Afrique Centrale francs (XAF) per US dollar -

605.7 (2016 est.)

591.45 (2015 est.)

591.45 (2014 est.)

494.42 (2013 est.)

510.53 (2012 est.)

98 million kWh (2014 est.)

91.14 million kWh (2014 est.)

0 kWh (2013 est.)

0 kWh (2013 est.)

200,000 kW (2014 est.)

22.6% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

77.4% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

250,000 bbl/day (2015 est.)

290,100 bbl/day (2013 est.)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

1.1 billion bbl (1 January 2016 es)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

5,200 bbl/day (2014 est.)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

5,197 bbl/day (2013 est.)

6.55 billion cu m (2014 est.)

1.594 billion cu m (2014 est.)

4.956 billion cu m (2014 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

36.81 billion cu m (1 January 2016 es)

3.7 million Mt (2013 est.)

state maintains control of broadcast media with domestic broadcast media limited to 1 state-owned TV station, 1 private TV station owned by the president's eldest son, 1 state-owned radio station, and 1 private radio station owned by the president's eldes (2013)

.gq

3C (2016)

7 (2013)

condensate 42 km; condensate/gas 5 km; gas 79 km; oil 71 km (2013)

Equatorial Guinea Armed Forces (FAGE): Equatorial Guinea National Guard (Guardia Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, GNGE (Army), Navy, Air Force (2013)

18 years of age for selective compulsory military service, although conscription is rare in practice; 2-year service obligation; women hold only administrative positions in the Navy (2013)

in 2002, ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but a dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River and imprecisely defined maritime coordinates in the ICJ decision delayed final delimitation; UN urged Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve the sovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane and lesser islands and to create a maritime boundary in the hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay