M.B.A. / Straddling the tropic of Capricorn, land-locked Botswana spans a vast 581,730 square kilometres in area. The country shares borders with Namibia to the north and west, Zambia and Zimbabwe to the north-east, and South Africa to the east and south. The Botswana Central Statistics Office (CSO) estimate a 2001 population of 1,68 million with an annual growth rate of 2.4% (Annual Economic Report, (2003)). The population is concentrated mainly in the fertile eastern and southern one third of the country. The remaining two thirds of the country's land is covered with the thick sands of the Kgalagadi Desert. Rainfall in the country is sporadic and erratic. According to the 2001 National Census the urban population of the country stands at 52.1% with the capital Gaborone accounting for 10.1% of the country's population. Francistown, the second and only other city, accounts for 4.9% of the country's population. The remainder of the urban population is distributed among 14 smaller urban centres. Gaborone accounts for 26.9% of the country's population between the ages of 25 and 54 years (Annual Economic Report, 2003.) 1.1.2. Communication The communication network is fairly sophisticated with 19.4% of the county's roads paved. The telephone network is fully digital, with Internet, e-mail, fax facilities available in all major centres of the country. Telex, data-switching, satellite-link and voice-mail service are also available nationwide. There are two cellular phone service provides and eleven internet service providers (ISPs). There are 27 Batswana to a telephone. (See Table 1: Botswana Social Statistics 2001 Table 1: Botswana Social Statistics: 2001 Life Expectancy 65.2 Population per Physician 3448 Persons per telephone 27 Persons per radio 95 Daily Newspapers 1 Persons per vehicle 21 Paved roads % 19.4 Primary School numbers 330,767 Tertiary education numbers 128,744 Literacy rate % 70 (Source: Annual Economic Report: 2003) 1.1.3. Economic performance Domestic output, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is estimated to have grown, in nominal terms from P16.54 billion (SAR 25,47 billion) in 2000/2001 to P16.91 billion (SAR 26,04 billion) in 2001/2002, representing an increase of 2.3%. The increase for the previous year had been 17.2% (Annual Economic Report 2003) A slump in mining, with a growth rate of 3.1% (17.2% the previous year) was the major contributor to the slow growth. Banks, Insurance and Business services also shared significant growth among the non-mining sectors of the economy. (See Table 2: Economic Structure).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:2767 |
| Date | 20 August 2012 |
| Creators | Hoko, Martin |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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