Gabon Today

Key Attractions	Gabon Art	Cuisine
Gabon Music	Traditional Art and Culture	Bush Trek
Bwiti Practices	Cultural Venues	Nature Reserves

 

Population: 1,208,436 (2000)

• 75% citizens of Bantu origination
• 20% foreigners from other African nations
• 20,000 French nationals
• 3,500 Pygmies living in isolated villages throughout Gabon.

Education   University     Secondary Schools

Economy  Gabon Ministry of Finance Web Site    World Bank Analysis As is often the case in economies in which oil is the prominent sector, its standard of living is much worse than that of countries at the same level of income. Life expectancy at birth is 55 years, against an average of 71.2 for countries with a comparable GNP per capita, and the 37 percent illiteracy rate is 2.5 times higher. Infant mortality, at 89 per 1000 live births, is as high as the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. The discovery of oil (Gabon petroleum analysis) facilitated the over-extension of the state since independence, and has brought with it serious economic distortions. Availability of better economic opportunities in cities sparked a rural exodus, and 73 percent of Gabon's 1.2 million inhabitants now live in urban areas. In 1997, unemployment stood at 21 percent; 30 percent of the active urban population under the age of 26 is unemployed, a figure which threatens to rise further as new jobs are not being created fast enough to make up for the contraction in public and parastatal sector jobs, and the rapid population increase. Gabon's per capita GDP is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Income distribution is, however, heavily skewed in favor of a small urban elite. The non-oil economy is dominated by inefficient, overstaffed parastatal enterprises.