General data about the country

Capital city: OUAGADOUGOU

Population: 13.902.972

Surface: 274.200 Km²

Time zone:: 1h with respect ti Italy; -2h in case of Daylight Saving Time

Spoken Languages: French (official), local languages of Sudanese origin (spoken by 90% of the population): moré, diula, malinké.

Religions: Animists/traditional beliefs 40%, Muslims 50%, Christians 10%.

Currency: Franc CFA

Préfix: 00226

Telephony: cellular network is operative in the main cities.

Despite the territory’s natural beauty, tourism is not developed in Burkina Faso. Numerically the trend is positive but inconstant: foreigners hosted in hospitality facilities were 126,000 in 2000, 246,000 in 2005 and 226,000 in 2008 (source: un.org)

Unfortunately Burkina Faso is afflicted by several problems: it is one of the poorest countries in the world, subject to desertification in many areas and affected by a high rate of illiteracy (very few families can afford to provide children with primary education).

Under the touristic point of view, it represents the “other face of Africa”, far from luxurious hotels in Egypt or safaris in Kenya: it is the mirror of its people, who rely on agriculture for their subsistence, never give up, keep hoping and remain attached to their traditions and proud to honour their name meaning “the people of honest men”. (source: www.paesionline.it)