Autonomy for the Swazis of southern Africa was guaranteed by the British in the late 19th century; independence was granted in 1968.

Student and labor unrest during the 1990s pressured King Mswati III, the world's last ruling monarch, to grudgingly allow political reform and greater democracy, although he has backslid on these promises in recent years.

Swaziland recently surpassed Botswana as the country with the world's highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 1,133,066 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.)

---

Age structure: 0-14 years: 40.3% (male 230,238/female 226,184) 15-64 years: 56.1% (male 304,899/female 331,036) 65 years and over: 3.6% (male 15,870/female 24,839) (2007 est.)

---

Median age: total: 18.6 years male: 17.9 years female: 19.3 years (2007 est.)

---

Population growth rate: -0.337% (2007 est.)

---

Birth rate: 26.98 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Death rate: 30.35 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.018 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.921 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.639 male(s)/female total population: 0.947 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

---

Infant mortality rate: total: 70.66 deaths/1,000 live births male: 74 deaths/1,000 live births female: 67.21 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

---

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 32.23 years male: 31.84 years female: 32.62 years (2007 est.)

---

Total fertility rate: 3.43 children born/woman (2007 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 38.8% (2003 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 220,000 (2003 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 17,000 (2003 est.)

---

Nationality: noun: Swazi(s) adjective: Swazi

---

Ethnic groups: African 97%, European 3%

---

Religions: Zionist 40% (a blend of Christianity and indigenous ancestral worship), Roman Catholic 20%, Muslim 10%, other (includes Anglican, Bahai, Methodist, Mormon, Jewish) 30%

---

Languages: English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official)

---

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 81.6% male: 82.6% female: 80.8% (2003 est.)

In this small, landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies more than 80% of the population. The manufacturing sector has diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange earners. Mining has declined in importance in recent years with only coal and quarry stone mines remaining active. Surrounded by South Africa, except for a short border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily dependent on South Africa from which it receives more than nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends 60% of its exports. Customs duties from the Southern African Customs Union and worker remittances from South Africa substantially supplement domestically earned income. The government is trying to improve the atmosphere for foreign investment. Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2004-05 because of drought, and nearly two-fifths of the adult population has been infected by HIV/AIDS.

---

GDP (purchasing power parity): $6.018 billion (2006 est.)

---

GDP (official exchange rate): $2.214 billion (2006 est.)

---

GDP - real growth rate: 2.1% (2006 est.)

---

GDP - per capita (PPP): $5,300 (2006 est.)

---

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 8.6% industry: 49.7% services: 41.7% (2006 est.)

---

Labor force: 300,000 (2006)

---

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: NA%

---

Unemployment rate: 40% (2006 est.)

---

Population below poverty line: 69% (2006)

---

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1% highest 10%: 50.2% (1995)

---

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.4% (2006 est.)

---

Investment (gross fixed): 15.5% of GDP (2006 est.)

---

Budget: revenues: $984.6 million expenditures: $1.019 billion; including capital expenditures of $147 million (2006 est.)

---

Agriculture - products: sugarcane, cotton, corn, tobacco, rice, citrus, pineapples, sorghum, peanuts; cattle, goats, sheep

---

Industries: coal, wood pulp, sugar, soft drink concentrates, textile and apparel

---

Industrial production growth rate: 3.7% (FY95/96)

---

Electricity - production: 156.3 million kWh (2005)

---

Electricity - consumption: 1.123 billion kWh (2005)

---

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004) Electricity - imports: 697 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2004)

---

Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

---

Oil - consumption: 3,500 bbl/day (2004 est.)

---

Oil - exports: NA bbl/day

---

Oil - imports: NA bbl/day

---

Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl

---

Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

---

Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

---

Current account balance: -$23.13 million (2006 est.)

---

Exports: $2.201 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

---

Exports - commodities: soft drink concentrates, sugar, wood pulp, cotton yarn, refrigerators, citrus and canned fruit

---

Exports - partners: South Africa 59.7%, EU 8.8%, US 8.8%, Mozambique 6.2% (2006)

---

Imports: $2.274 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

---

Imports - commodities: motor vehicles, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals

---

Imports - partners: South Africa 95.6%, EU 0.9%, Japan 0.9%, Singapore 0.3% (2006)

---

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $228.5 million (2006 est.)

---

Debt - external: $417 million (2006)

---

Economic aid - recipient: $104 million (2001)

---

Currency (code): lilangeni (SZL)

---

Exchange rates: emalangeni per US dollar - 6.85 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002)

---

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March