Burkina Faso
POPULATION 12,603,185
MUSLIM 55 percent
TRADITIONAL 24 percent
ROMAN CATHOLIC 17 percent
PROTESTANT 3 percent
OTHER 1 percent
Country Overview
Introduction
Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa, is surrounded by Mali on the west and north, Niger and Benin on the east, and Togo, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire on the south. As Upper Volta, the country gained independence from France in 1960, and it was renamed Burkina Faso in 1984. The capital and largest city is Ouagadougou. Although it has declined in importance, Bobo-Dioulasso remains the second largest city and the hub of a productive agricultural region.
About half of the population is ethnically Mose (Mossi), concentrated in the central part of the country, but there are a number of other ethnic groups. Burkina Faso has three major indigenous national languages: Moré, the language of the Mose; Jula, the language of the western third of the country; and Fulfulde, spoken mostly in the north. The official language is French, which is the medium of the government and press and of the schools at all levels.
Although Muslims constituted only a quarter of the population in 1964, they are now a majority. Nonetheless, many observers still think of Burkina Faso as a bastion of traditional practices and as an area of success for Roman Catholic missions.
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