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Cameroon : Factsheets

camcarte1. GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa, located in the Gulf of Guinea. It is one of the few African countries open to six neighbouring countries, as it is bordered by Nigeria to the West and North, Chad to the North-East, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Congo to the East and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo to the South. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Biafra Bay, which is part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The southern rainforest has vast timber reserves, estimated at 37% of Cameroon's total area. The country covers a total area of 475,442 square kilometres.

2. POPULATION AND LANGAGE
• Population: approximately 32 million inhabitants
• Surface Area: 475,442 km2
• Capital: Yaoundé (2.8 millions inhabitants)
• System of governance: Republic
• Head of State: M. Paul Biya
• Currency: CEMAC (Central African Economic and Monetary Community) CFA Franc
• Human Development Index (life expectancy, education, standard of living): 0.563. World ranking: 153 out of 189 countries.
• French and English are the official languages, a legacy of Cameroon's colonial past, first under mandate and then under the control of France and the UK from 1916 to 1960. Eight of Cameroon's ten regions are predominantly French-speaking, representing 83% of the country's population, and two are English-speaking, representing 17%.
• National languages: 55 Afro-Asian languages, two Nilo-Saharan languages and 173 Niger-Congolese languages.

3. CAPITAL
Yaoundé is the political capital of Cameroon, with a population of over 2.8 million, and the second largest city in the country after the port city of Douala (economic capital). It is located in the central region of the country, at an altitude of about 750 metres above sea level.

4- POLITICS
Cameroon's politics is part of a decentralised unitary state, where the President of Cameroon is the Head of State. The Prime Minister being the Head of Government, the executive power is exercised by the government. Eastern Cameroon under French rule gained independence on 1 January 1960 to become the Republic of Cameroon. Western Cameroon under the rule of the United Kingdom agreed to become part of the Republic of Cameroon in a referendum held on 11 February 1961.
Mr Joseph Dion Ngute, appointed by H.E. Paul Biya in 2019, is the Prime Minister, Head of Government. The Republic of Cameroon has 10 regions which were previously provinces until 2008, when H.E. Paul Biya transformed the provinces into regions.

5. TIME ZONE
Cameroon Standard Time is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+1). Cameroon is in the West African Time Zone (WAT).

6. OPENING TIME
• Exchange bureaus: they are normally open every day (sometimes) on Sundays afternoon.
• Banks and government offices are open Monday-Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Shops are open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Post offices are open Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

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