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Where is Sao Tome and Principe?
About Sao Tome and Principe
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

Sao Tome and Principe is a small island country off the west coast of Africa, made up of two main islands.

Sao Tome and Principe is in the Atlantic Ocean.

The land is volcanic and mountainous.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Sao Tome and Principe, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 1 00NS
Longitude - 7 00E

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Check the weather in Sao Tome now.

This is the time in Sao Tome now

The Sao Tomean flag is three horizontal stripes of green, at the top, yellow, double width, and green. Two black five-pointed stars are placed side by side in the centre of the yellow band. A red isosceles triangle is based on the flag pole side. Green stands for the country's rich vegetation, red recalls the struggle for independence and yellow represents cocoa, one of the country's main agricultural products. The two stars represent the two main islands

The capital of Sao Tome and Principe is Sao Tome.

Sao Tome and Principe is a semi-presidential republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Sao Tome and Principe is the dobra.

Portuguese is the official language.

Hear the National Anthem

These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Sao Tomean National Anthem called Total Independence. It was adopted in 1975. This is a translation of the words. If anthem fails to play click here

Chorus (sung after each verse):
Total independence, glorious song of the people,
Total independence, sacred hymn of combat.
Dynamism in the national struggle,
Eternal oath to the sovereign country of São Tomé and Príncipe.
Warriors in the war without weapons,
live flame in the soul of the people,
Congregating the sons of the islands
Around the Immortal Fatherland.
Total independence, total and complete,
Building, in progress and peace,
With the heroic hands of the people,
The happiest nation on earth.
Working, struggling, struggling and conquering,
We go ahead with giant steps
In the crusade of the African peoples,
Raising the national flag.
Voice of the people, present, present and united,
Strong beat in the heart of hope
To be a hero in the hour of peril,
A hero of the Nation’s resurgence.

We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Sao Tome and Principe to provide us with a detailed history of their own country. Check how here.

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The total land area of Sao Tome and Principe is 964 sq kms which is the 54th largest in Africa.

Sao Tome and Principe has no lakes, rivers and canals.

Sao Tome and Principe has no boundaries with other countries.

Sao Tome and Principe has a coastline of 209 kms which is the 33rd longest in Africa.

The highest point in Sao Tome and Principe is Pico de Sao Tome at 2,024 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Sao Tome and Principe is 204,454 people, making it the 54th largest country in Africa by population.

Of this number 102,391 are females and 102,063 are males.

A person from Sao Tome and Principe is called a Sao Tomean.

To be a citizen of Sao Tome and Principe, one of your parents must be a citizen of Sao Tome and Principe. It is not sufficient to be born in Sao Tome and Principe. You have to live in Sao Tome and Principe for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest two cities in Sao Tome and Principe, by population are:-

Sao Tome 53,300 people

Principe 1,156

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.

72.0% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Sao Tome and Principe is 31.5 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Sao Tome and Principe is 6.7 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 42.1 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 46.0 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 19.1 and for males is 18.3. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 19.4.

The elderly dependency ratio is 5.6. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 17.8. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Sao Tome and Principe spends 8.4% of its total income on health care.

We have no figures for the number of doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 2.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

12.4% of the population are estimated as obese.

98.9% of the urban population and 93.6% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

40.8% of the urban population and 23.3% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Sao Tome and Principe releases 0.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the lowest in Africa.

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Sao Tome and Principe spends 4.9% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 7 in Sao Tome and Principe. Primary education is for six years until age 13 and secondary education can continue till 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

We are awaiting information about school terms in Sao Tome and Principe.

68.4% of females and 81.8% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

20.8% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. We do not have a split female/male for this figure.

The total number of people available for work in Sao Tome and Principe is 72,600.

They work in the following sectors.

Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work

Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers

Services is everything else

12.2% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 2 paved airports in Sao Tome and Principe, which is the 49th highest number in Africa.

There are no railways in Sao Tome and Principe.

There are 320 kilometres of roads in Sao Tome and Principe, which means Sao Tome and Principe is in 54th place for the most kilometres of roads in Africa.

There is 1 major national newspaper in Sao Tome and Principe.

There are 173,646 mobile phone users.

3% of the people have a fixed landline.

50,000 people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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