Sierra Leone

Meet Our Heroes in Sierra Leone

Learn About Life in Sierra Leone

  • Population
    5.88 Million
  • Rural Population
    60%
  • Official Language
    English
  • Official Flag
  • Capital City
    Freetown
  • Currency
    Leone

Sierra Leone is located in Western Africa, between Guinea and Liberia, and bordered by the North Atlantic Ocean.

The climate is tropical, with a hot, humid summer rainy season (May to December), and a dry season (December to April).

The country is made up of a coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, and mountains in the east.

Sierra Leone is slightly smaller than South Carolina.

Economy

Sierra Leone is extremely poor and nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. The country possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, but it is still recovering from a civil war that destroyed most institutions before ending in the early 2000s.

Until 2014, the government had relied on external assistance to support its budget, but it was gradually becoming more independent. While the World Health Organization declared Sierra Leone free of Ebola in November 2015, the epidemic has disrupted economic activity, deterred private investment, and strained the budget and restricted public investment projects.

Nearly half of the working-age population of Sierra Leone engages in subsistence agriculture.

Literacy

48% of the population age 15 and over can read and write.

Poverty

70% of the population of Sierra Leone lives below the poverty line.

Religous Beliefs

60% of Sierra Leoneans are Muslim, 30% practice indigenous beliefs, and 10% are Christian.

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