Names: conventional long form: Republic of Sierra Leone conventional short form: Sierra Leone local long form: Republic of Sierra Leone local short form: Sierra Leone

Capital City: Freetown

Population: 6,005,250 (July 2006 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $900 (2006 est.)

Currency: leone (SLL)

Languages: English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)

Total Area: total: 71,740 sq km land: 71,620 sq km water: 120 sq km slightly smaller than South Carolina

Region: Africa

Industries: diamond mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair

Agriculture: rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish

Resources: diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite

Labor Force: 1.369 million (1981 est.)
agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: NA%

Exports: $185 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish

Imports: $531 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals

Overview: Sierra Leone is an extremely poor African nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. About two-thirds of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings, accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone's exports. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation. A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity, such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining.

_{CIA World Book}

In 2007 Missouri exported $100,698 in goods to Sierra Leone. This ranks Sierra Leone 75^th among the 223 international buyers of Missouri goods. Missouri exports to Sierra Leone decreased from the previous year by $168,000 a change of -62.52%. State exports to Sierra Leone have increased over the last 5 years by $100,698 a change of NA. Missouri exports account for .00%. of all 2007 US exports to Sierra Leone.