The Union of the Comoros gained independence from France in July 1975, and since that time has experienced significant political instability and violence, including a number of coups. The country is extremely poor, and is heavily dependent on foreign aid and remittances from Comorans living abroad. Anjouan, one of the African Union controlled islands was taken over in March 2008 and was welcomed by the inhabitants. The languages commonly spoken are Arabic, French and Comoran.

Leader: President Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi
Capital city: Moroni

Economic profile

Monetary unit: Comoran franc
GDP per capita: $1000 (2010) (World Bank)
GDP composition by sector:
Agriculture: 45.8% (2008) (World Bank)
Industry: 12% (2008) (World Bank)
Services: 42.2% (2008) (World Bank)
GDP growth rate: 2.1% (2010) (World Bank)
Budget:
Government revenue, excluding grants: 12.1% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Government expenditure: 21.3% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Consumer price inflation: 3.0% (2007) (IMF)
Industries: Fishing, tourism, and perfume distillation.
Exports of goods and services: 12.8% of GDP (2008) (World Bank)
Imports of goods and services: 36.9% of GDP (2008) (World Bank)
Export commodities: Vanilla, ylang-ylang (perfume essence), cloves, and copra.
Import commodities: Rice and other foodstuffs, consumer goods, petroleum products, cement, and transport equipment.
Trade balance: -18.0% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Reserves: 9.6 months of imports (2007) (IMF)
Total investment: 9.7% of GDP (2007) (IMF)
Market capitalisation of listed companies: Figures not available.

Social profile

Population: 659 098 (2009) (World Bank)
Population growth: 2.4% (2009) (World Bank)
Life expectancy at birth: 65.8 years (2009) (World Bank)
Adult literacy: 74% (2009) (World Bank)
School enrolment primary: 119% (2008) (World Bank)
School enrolment secondary: 35.2% (2005) (World Bank)
School enrolment tertiary: 5% (2009) (World Bank)
Number of people living with HIV/AIDS: >5000 (Unicef)