French Togoland became Togo in 1960. Gen. Gnassingbe EYADEMA, installed as military ruler in 1967, ruled Togo with a heavy hand for almost four decades. Despite the facade of multiparty elections instituted in the early 1990s, the government was largely dominated by President EYADEMA, whose Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) party has maintained power almost continually since 1967 and maintains a majority of seats in today's legislature. Upon EYADEMA's death in February 2005, the military installed the president's son, Faure GNASSINGBE, and then engineered his formal election two months later. Democratic gains since then allowed Togo to hold its first relatively free and fair legislative elections in October 2007. After years of political unrest and fire from international organizations for human rights abuses, Togo is finally being re-welcomed into the international community.
Population: 6,031,808
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 41.4% (male 1,252,389/female 1,244,914)
15-64 years: 55.8% (male 1,645,885/female 1,719,810)
65 years and over: 2.8% (male 66,192/female 102,618) (2009 est.)
Birth Rate: 36.49 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death Rate: 8.95 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
Infant mortality Rate:
total: 56.84 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 42
male: 63.97 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 49.49 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
Life Expectancy:
total population: 59.66 years
country comparison to the world: 186
male: 57.4 years
female: 61.99 years (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 3.3% (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 130,000 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 9,100 (2007 est.)
Ethnic Groups:
African (37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre) 99%, European and Syrian-Lebanese less than 1%
Religions: Christian 29%, Muslim 20%, indigenous beliefs 51%
Languages: French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north)
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 60.9%
male: 75.4%
female: 46.9% (2003 est.)
Government Type: republic under transition to multiparty democratic rule
Capital: Lome
Geographic coordinates: 6 08 N, 1 13 E
Time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Independence: 27 April 1960 (from French-administered UN trusteeship)
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal (adult)
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF)
Population below poverty line: 32% (1989 est.)

Transnational Issues:
Disputes - international:
in 2001, Benin claimed Togo moved boundary monuments - joint commission continues to resurvey the boundary; in 2006, 14,000 Togolese refugees remain in Benin and Ghana out of the 40,000 who fled there in 2005

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 5,000 (Ghana)
IDPs: 1,500 (2007)

Illicit drugs:
transit hub for Nigerian heroin and cocaine traffickers; money laundering not a significant problem

**Information retreived from CIA - The World Factbook: www.cia.gov