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Photos of Mauritania

The Tenoumer crater, a nearly perfect circle in the Sahara Desert, is 1.9 km (1.2 mi) wide and sports a rim 100 m (330 ft) high. Close examination of the structure has revealed that the crater's hardened "lava" was rock that melted from a meteorite impact. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Introduction

World Factbook Glyph

Visit the Definitions and Notes page to view a description of each topic.

Geography

Area

comparison ranking: total 30

Area - comparative

Area comparison map:
<p>slightly larger than three times the size of New Mexico; about six times the size of Florida</p>

People and Society

Languages

Arabic audio sample:

Age structure

2024 population pyramid:
This is the population pyramid for Mauritania. A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends. <br/><br/>For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page.

Median age

comparison ranking: total 185

Population growth rate

comparison ranking: 43

Birth rate

comparison ranking: 37

Death rate

comparison ranking: 115

Net migration rate

comparison ranking: 133

Maternal mortality ratio

comparison ranking: 15

Infant mortality rate

comparison ranking: total 19

Total fertility rate

comparison ranking: 38

Tobacco use

comparison ranking: total 140

Environment

Government

National anthem(s)

"Bilāda l-ʾubāti l-hudāti l-kirām" (Land of the Proud, Guided by Noblemen):

Economy

Real GDP growth rate

comparison ranking: 35

Real GDP per capita

comparison ranking: 164

Labor force

comparison ranking: 141

Unemployment rate

comparison ranking: 151

Current account balance

comparison ranking: 128

Exports

comparison ranking: 147

Imports

comparison ranking: 151

Debt - external

comparison ranking: 85

Energy

Communications

Transportation

Airports

comparison ranking: 130

Heliports

comparison ranking: 119

Merchant marine

comparison ranking: total 158

Military and Security

Terrorism

Transnational Issues