Senegal

Senegal (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. Its size is almost 197,000 km² with an estimated population of nearly 11,700,000. The Gambia lies almost entirely within Senegal, surrounded by it on the north, east and south; from its western coast, Gambia's territory follows the Gambia River more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) inland. Dakar is the capital city of Senegal, located on the Cape Verde Peninsula on the country's Atlantic coast. About a third of the population live below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 a day.[2]

Capital(and largest city)
Dakar14°40′N 17°25′W / 14.667°N 17.417°W / 14.667; -17.417
Official languages
French
Recognised regional languages
Wolof (spoken by 94 percent)
Demonym
Senegalese
Government
Semi-presidential republic
-
President
Abdoulaye Wade
-
Prime Minister
Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye
Independence
-
from France
20 August 1960
Area
-
Total
196,723 km2 (87th)76,000 sq mi
-
Water (%)
2.1
Population
-
(July 2009 est.) estimate
13,711,597 (72nd)
-
Density
59/km2 (137th)153/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2008 estimate
-
Total
$21.738 billion[1]
-
Per capita
$1,736[1]
GDP (nominal)
2008 estimate
-
Total
$13.350 billion[1]
-
Per capita
$1,066[1]
Gini (1995)
41.3 (medium)
HDI (2008)
▲0.502 (medium) (153rd)
Currency
CFA franc (XOF)
Time zone
UTC
Drives on the
right
Internet TLD
.sn
Calling code
221

1 History
2 Politics
3 Geography
4 Administrative divisions
4.1 Major cities
5 Economy
6 Demographics
6.1 Ethnicity
7 Religion
7.1 Islam
7.2 Other religions
8 Culture
9 See also
10 Further reading
11 References
12 External links