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...