Discovered and claimed by Portugal in the late 15th century, the islands' sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century - all grown with African plantation slave labor, a form of which lingered into the 20th century. While independence was achieved in 1975, democratic reforms were not instituted until the late 1980s. The country held its first free elections in 1991, but frequent internal wrangling between the various political parties precipitated repeated changes in leadership and four failed, non-violent coup attempts in 1995, 1998, 2003, and 2009. In 2012, three opposition parties combined in a no confidence vote to bring down the majority government of former Prime Minister Patrice TROVOADA, but in 2014, legislative elections returned him to the office. President Evaristo CARVALHO, of the same political party as Prime Minister TROVOADA, was elected in September 2016, marking a rare instance in which the positions of president and prime minister are held by the same party. New oil discoveries in the Gulf of Guinea may attract increased attention to the small island nation.

Central Africa, islands in the Gulf of Guinea, just north of the Equator, west of Gabon

1 00 N, 7 00 E

Africa

more than five times the size of Washington, DC

0 km

209 km

measured from claimed archipelagic baselines

tropical; hot, humid; one rainy season (October to May)

volcanic, mountainous

highest point: Pico de Sao Tome 2,024 m

fish, hydropower

arable land 9.1%; permanent crops 40.6%; permanent pasture 1%

100 sq km (2012)

Sao Tome, the capital city, has roughly a quarter of the nation's population; Santo Antonio is the largest town on Principe; the northern areas of both islands have the highest population densities

flooding

deforestation; soil erosion and exhaustion

the smallest country in Africa; the two main islands form part of a chain of extinct volcanoes and both are mountainous

201,025 (July 2017 est.)

mestico, angolares (descendants of Angolan slaves), forros (descendants of freed slaves), servicais (contract laborers from Angola, Mozambique, and Cabo Verde), tongas (children of servicais born on the islands), Europeans (primarily Portuguese), Asians (mostly Chinese)

Portuguese 98.4% (official), Forro 36.2%, Cabo Verdian 8.5%, French 6.8%, Angolar 6.6%, English 4.9%, Lunguie 1%, other (including sign language) 2.4%

Catholic 55.7%, Adventist 4.1%, Assembly of God 3.4%, New Apostolic 2.9%, Mana 2.3%, Universal Kingdom of God 2%, Jehovah's Witness 1.2%, other 6.2%, none 21.2%, unspecified 1% (2012 est.)

Sao Tome and Principe’s youthful age structure – more than 60% of the population is under the age of 25 – and high fertility rate ensure future population growth. Although Sao Tome has a net negative international migration rate, emigration is not a sufficient safety valve to reduce already high levels of unemployment and poverty. While literacy and primary school attendance have improved in recent years, Sao Tome still struggles to improve its educational quality and to increase its secondary school completion rate. Despite some improvements in education and access to healthcare, Sao Tome and Principe has much to do to decrease its high poverty rate, create jobs, and increase its economic growth.

The population of Sao Tome and Principe descends primarily from the islands’ colonial Portuguese settlers, who first arrived in the late 15th century, and the much larger number of African slaves brought in for sugar production and the slave trade. For about 100 years after the abolition of slavery in 1876, the population was further shaped by the widespread use of imported unskilled contract laborers from Portugal’s other African colonies, who worked on coffee and cocoa plantations. In the first decades after abolition, most workers were brought from Angola under a system similar to slavery. While Angolan laborers were technically free, they were forced or coerced into long contracts that were automatically renewed and extended to their children. Other contract workers from Mozambique and famine-stricken Cape Verde first arrived in the early 20th century under short-term contracts and had the option of repatriation, although some chose to remain in Sao Tome and Principe.

Today’s Sao Tomean population consists of mesticos (creole descendants of the European immigrants and African slaves that first inhabited the islands), forros (descendants of freed African slaves), angolares (descendants of runaway African slaves that formed a community in the south of Sao Tome Island and today are fishermen), servicais (contract laborers from Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde), tongas (locally born children of contract laborers), and lesser numbers of Europeans and Asians.

1.72% (2017 est.)

32.4 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)

6.8 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)

-8.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Sao Tome, the capital city, has roughly a quarter of the nation's population; Santo Antonio is the largest town on Principe; the northern areas of both islands have the highest population densities

SAO TOME (capital) 71,000 (2014)

19.4 years

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

4.25 children born/woman (2017 est.)

40.6% (2014)

8.4% of GDP (2014)

2.9 beds/1,000 population (2011)

urban: 98.9% of population

rural: 93.6% of population

total: 97.1% of population

urban: 1.1% of population

rural: 6.4% of population

total: 2.9% of population (2015 est.)

urban: 40.8% of population

rural: 23.3% of population

total: 34.7% of population

urban: 59.2% of population

rural: 76.7% of population

total: 65.3% of population (2015 est.)

NA

NA

NA

12.4% (2016)

8.8% (2014)

3.9% of GDP (2014)

semi-presidential republic

2 provinces; Principe, Sao Tome

12 July 1975 (from Portugal)

Independence Day, 12 July (1975)

mixed legal system of civil law base on the Portuguese model and customary law

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

18 years of age; universal

Force for Democratic Change Movement or MDFM [Fradique Bandeira Melo DE MENEZES]

Independent Democratic Action or ADI [Patrice TROVOADA]

Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe-Social Democratic Party or MLSTP-PSD [Aurelio MARTINS]

Party for Democratic Convergence-Reflection Group or PCD-GR [Leonel Mario D'ALVA]

other small parties

Association of Sao Tome and Principe NGOs or FONG

ACP, AfDB, AOSIS, AU, CD, CEMAC, CPLP, EITI (candidate country), FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

the US does not have an embassy in Sao Tome and Principe; the US Ambassador to Gabon is accredited to Sao Tome and Principe on a nonresident basis

three horizontal bands of green (top), yellow (double width), and green with two black five-pointed stars placed side by side in the center of the yellow band and a red isosceles triangle based on the hoist side; green stands for the country's rich vegetation, red recalls the struggle for independence, and yellow represents cocoa, one of the country's main agricultural products; the two stars symbolize the two main islands

palm tree; national colors: green, yellow, red, black

This small, poor island economy has become increasingly dependent on cocoa since independence in 1975. Cocoa production has substantially declined in recent years because of drought and mismanagement. Sao Tome and Principe has to import fuels, most manufactured goods, consumer goods, and food, making it vulnerable to fluctuations in global commodity prices. Maintaining control of inflation, fiscal discipline, and increasing flows of foreign direct investment into the nascent oil sector are major economic problems facing the country. The government also has attempted to reduce price controls and subsidies.

Over the years, Sao Tome and Principe has had difficulty servicing its external debt and has relied heavily on concessional aid and debt rescheduling. It benefited from $200 million in debt relief in December 2000 under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries program, which helped bring down the country's $300 million debt burden. In April 2011, the country completed a Threshold Country Program with The Millennium Challenge Corporation to help increase tax revenues, reform customs, and improve the business environment. In 2016, Sao Tome and Portugal signed a five-year cooperation agreement worth approximately $64 million, some of which will be provided as loans.

Considerable potential exists for development of a tourist industry, and the government has taken steps to expand facilities in recent years. Potential also exists for the development of petroleum resources in Sao Tome and Principe's territorial waters in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, which are being jointly developed in a 60-40 split with Nigeria, but any actual production is at least several years off. Volatile aid and investment inflows, even with a growing tourism sector, have kept growth moderate at around 4% annually, which is insufficient to alleviate poverty. The IMF in late 2016 expressed concern about the country’s banking sector vulnerabilities.

$638 million (2016 est.)

$606 million (2015 est.)

$576 million (2014 est.)

$351 million (2016 est.)

4.1% (2016 est.)

4% (2015 est.)

4.1% (2014 est.)

$3,100 (2016 est.)

$3,000 (2015 est.)

$3,000 (2014 est.)

21.6% of GDP (2016 est.)

19.1% of GDP (2015 est.)

3.3% of GDP (2014 est.)

cocoa, coconuts, palm kernels, copra, cinnamon, pepper, coffee, bananas, papayas, beans; poultry; fish

light construction, textiles, soap, beer, fish processing, timber

4.5% (2016 est.)

67,870 (2016 est.)

12.6% (2016 est.)

13.6% (2015 est.)

66.2% (2009 est.)

30.2% of GDP (2016 est.)

-4.1% of GDP (2016 est.)

58.8% of GDP (2016 est.)

56.7% of GDP (2015 est.)

calendar year

5.4% (2016 est.)

5.2% (2015 est.)

16% (31 December 2009)

28% (31 December 2008)

19.59% (31 December 2016 est.)

23.31% (31 December 2015 est.)

$65.47 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$63.82 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$116.3 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$126.7 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$72.19 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$72.71 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$NA

$-22 million (2016 est.)

$-68.6 million (2015 est.)

$13.6 million (2016 est.)

$11.3 million (2015 est.)

cocoa 80%, copra, coffee, palm oil (2010 est.)

Germany 23.3%, Netherlands 13.8%, Portugal 10%, Angola 6.4%, South Korea 5.2%, Peru 4.5%, Dominican Republic 4.1% (2016)

$119.1 million (2016 est.)

$118.9 million (2015 est.)

machinery and electrical equipment, food products, petroleum products

Portugal 58.8%, Angola 15.2%, China 5.3% (2016)

$61.5 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$72.86 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$308.5 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$249.4 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$430.3 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$409.5 million (31 December 2015 est.)

$2.2 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$2.5 million (31 December 2015 est.)

dobras (STD) per US dollar -

22,149 (2016 est.)

22,149 (2015 est.)

22,091 (2014 est.)

18,466 (2013 est.)

19,068 (2012 est.)

66 million kWh (2015 est.)

61.38 million kWh (2015 est.)

0 kWh (2016)

0 kWh (2016 est.)

20,000 kW (2015 est.)

80% of total installed capacity (2015 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2015 est.)

20% of total installed capacity (2015 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2016 est.)

0 bbl/day (2014 est.)

0 bbl/day (2014 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2017)

0 bbl/day (2014 est.)

1,000 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2014 est.)

1,001 bbl/day (2014 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2014 es)

100,000 Mt (2013 est.)

1 government-owned TV station; 1 government-owned radio station; 3 independent local radio stations authorized in 2005 with 2 operating at the end of 2006; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available (2007)

.st

S9 (2016)

2 (2013)

Armed Forces of Sao Tome and Principe (Forcas Armadas de Sao Tome e Principe, FASTP): Army, Coast Guard of Sao Tome e Principe (Guarda Costeira de Sao Tome e Principe, GCSTP; also called "Navy"), Presidential Guard, National Guard (2015)

18 is the legal minimum age for compulsory military service; 17 is the legal minimum age for voluntary service (2012)

Sao Tome and Principe's army is a tiny force with almost no resources at its disposal and would be wholly ineffective operating unilaterally; infantry equipment is considered simple to operate and maintain but may require refurbishment or replacement after 25 years in tropical climates; poor pay, working conditions, and alleged nepotism in the promotion of officers have been problems in the past, as reflected in the 1995 and 2003 coups; these issues are being addressed with foreign assistance aimed at improving the army and its focus on realistic security concerns; command is exercised from the president, through the Minister of Defense, to the Chief of the Armed Forces (infantry, technical issues) and the Chief of the General Staff (logistics, administration, finances) (2012)

none