"text":"<p>Present-day Niger originated from the nomadic peoples of the Saharan north and the agriculturalists of the south. The Taureg kingdom of Takedda was one of the largest kingdoms in the north and played a prominent role in regional trade in the 14th century. In the south, the primary ethnic groups were the Songhai-Zarma in the west, the Hausa in the center, and the Kanuri in the east. When European colonizers arrived in the 19th century, the region was an assemblage of disparate local kingdoms.</p> <p>In the late 19th century, the British and French agreed to partition the middle regions of the Niger River, and France began its conquest of what would become the colony of Niger. France experienced determined local resistance - particularly during the Tuareg uprising (1916-1917) - but established a colonial administration in 1922.</p> <p>After achieving independence from France in 1960, Niger experienced single-party or military rule until 1991 when political pressure forced General Ali SAIBOU to allow multiparty elections. Political infighting and democratic backsliding led to coups in 1996 and 1999. In December of that year, military officers restored democratic rule and held elections that brought Mamadou TANDJA to power. TANDJA was reelected in 2004 and spearheaded a 2009 constitutional amendment allowing him to extend his presidential term. In February 2010, military officers led another coup that deposed TANDJA. ISSOUFOU Mahamadou was elected in April 2011 and reelected in early 2016. In February 2021, BAZOUM Mohammed won the presidential election, marking Niger’s first transition from one democratically elected president to another.<br><br>Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world with minimal government services and insufficient funds to develop its resource base. It is ranked last in the world on the UN Development Programme's Human Development Index. The largely agrarian and subsistence-based economy is frequently disrupted by extended droughts common to the Sahel region of Africa. The Nigerien Government continues its attempts to diversify the economy through increased oil production and mining projects. In addition, Niger is facing increased security concerns on its borders from various external threats including insecurity in Libya, spillover from the conflict and terrorism in Mali, and violent extremism in northeastern Nigeria.</p>"
"text":"Niger (shared with Guinea [s], Mali, Benin, and Nigeria [m]) - 4,200 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"majority of the populace is located in the southernmost extreme of the country along the border with Nigeria and Benin as shown in this population distribution map"
"text":"landlocked; one of the hottest countries in the world; northern four-fifths is desert, southern one-fifth is savanna, suitable for livestock and limited agriculture"
"text":"<p>Niger has the highest total fertility rate (TFR) of any country in the world, averaging close to 7 children per woman in 2016. A slight decline in fertility over the last few decades has stalled. This leveling off of the high fertility rate is in large part a product of the continued desire for large families. In Niger, the TFR is lower than the desired fertility rate, which makes it unlikely that contraceptive use will increase. The high TFR sustains rapid population growth and a large youth population – almost 70% of the populace is under the age of 25. Gender inequality, including a lack of educational opportunities for women and early marriage and childbirth, also contributes to high population growth.</p><p>Because of large family sizes, children are inheriting smaller and smaller parcels of land. The dependence of most Nigeriens on subsistence farming on increasingly small landholdings, coupled with declining rainfall and the resultant shrinkage of arable land, are all preventing food production from keeping up with population growth.</p><p>For more than half a century, Niger's lack of economic development has led to steady net outmigration. In the 1960s, Nigeriens mainly migrated to coastal West African countries to work on a seasonal basis. Some headed to Libya and Algeria in the 1970s to work in the booming oil industry until its decline in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, the principal destinations for Nigerien labor migrants have been West African countries, especially Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, while emigration to Europe and North America has remained modest. During the same period, Niger’s desert trade route town Agadez became a hub for West African and other Sub-Saharan migrants crossing the Sahara to North Africa and sometimes onward to Europe.</p><p>More than 60,000 Malian refugees have fled to Niger since violence between Malian government troops and armed rebels began in early 2012. Ongoing attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, dating to 2013 in northern Nigeria and February 2015 in southeastern Niger, have pushed tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees and Nigerien returnees across the border to Niger and to displace thousands of locals in Niger’s already impoverished Diffa region.</p>"
"text":"majority of the populace is located in the southernmost extreme of the country along the border with Nigeria and Benin as shown in this population distribution map"
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Niger is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and <em>that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus</em>; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine"
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Niger is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and <em>that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus</em>; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine"
"text":"<em>due to internal conflict and shortfall in cereal production -</em> according to the latest analysis, about 4.4 million people are estimated to need humanitarian food assistance between June and August 2022, reflecting worsening conflicts and security conditions, and unfavorable weather that resulted in a sharp fall in cereal production in 2021; additionally, higher year-on-year prices of food continue to constrain access to food, aggravating conditions (2022)"
"text":"Niger (shared with Guinea [s], Mali, Benin, and Nigeria [m]) - 4,200 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"proposed by the president of the republic or by the National Assembly; consideration of amendments requires at least three-fourths majority vote by the Assembly; passage requires at least four-fifths majority vote; if disapproved, the proposed amendment is dropped or submitted to a referendum; constitutional articles on the form of government, the multiparty system, the separation of state and religion, disqualification of Assembly members, amendment procedures, and amnesty of participants in the 2010 coup cannot be amended; amended 2011, 2017"
"text":"president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 27 December 2020 with a runoff held on 21 February 2021 (next to be held in 2025); prime minister appointed by the president, authorized by the National Assembly"
"text":"unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (171 statutory seats - 166 currently; 158 members directly elected from 8 multi-member constituencies in 7 regions and Niamey by party-list proportional representation, 8 reserved for minorities elected in special single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 5 seats reserved for Nigeriens living abroad - l seat per continent - elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote; members serve 5-year terms)"
"text":"Constitutional Court (consists of 7 judges); High Court of Justice (consists of 7 members)"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Constitutional Court judges nominated/elected - 1 by the president of the Republic, 1 by the president of the National Assembly, 2 by peer judges, 2 by peer lawyers, 1 law professor by peers, and 1 from within Nigerien society; all appointed by the president; judges serve 6-year nonrenewable terms with one-third of membership renewed every 2 years; High Judicial Court members selected from among the legislature and judiciary; members serve 5-year terms"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"Court of Cassation; Council of State; Court of Finances; various specialized tribunals and customary courts"
"text":"<p>Alliance for Democracy and the Republic<br>Alliance for Democratic Renewal or ARD-Adaltchi-Mutuntchi [Laouan MAGAGI]<br>Alliance of Movements for the Emergence of Niger or AMEN AMIN [Omar Hamidou TCHIANA]<br>Congress for the Republic or CPR-Inganci [Maradi Kassoum MOCTAR]<br>Democratic Alternation for Equity in Niger<br>Democratic and Republican Renewal-RDR-Tchanji [Mahamane OUSMANE]<br>Democratic Movement for the Emergence of Niger<br>National Movement for the Development of Society-Nassara or MNSD-Nassara [Seini OUMAROU]<br>Nigerien Alliance for Democracy and Progress-Zaman Lahiya or ANDP-Zaman Lahiya [Moussa Hassane BARAZE]<br>Nigerien Democratic Movement for an African Federation or MODEN/FA Lumana [Hama AMADOU]<br>Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism or PNDS-Tarrayya [Mahamadou ISSOUFOU]<br>Nigerien Patriotic Movement or MPN-Kishin Kassa [Ibrahim YACOUBA]<br>Nigerien Rally for Democracy and Peace<br>Patriotic Movement for the Republic or MPR-Jamhuriya [Albade ABOUBA]<br>Peace, Justice, Progress–Generation Doubara<br>Rally for Democracy and Progress-Jama'a or RDP-Jama'a [Hamid ALGABID]<br>Rally for Peace and Progress<br>Social Democratic Rally or RSD-Gaskiyya [Amadou CHEIFFOU]<br>Social Democratic Party or PSD-Bassira [Sanoussi MAREINI]</p>",
"note":"<strong>note 1: </strong>only parties with seats in the National Assembly are listed<br><strong><br>note 2:</strong> the SPLM and SPLM-DC are banned political parties"
"text":"three equal horizontal bands of orange (top), white, and green with a small orange disk centered in the white band; the orange band denotes the drier northern regions of the Sahara; white stands for purity and innocence; green symbolizes hope and the fertile and productive southern and western areas, as well as the Niger River; the orange disc represents the sun and the sacrifices made by the people",
"text":"<p>Niger is a landlocked, Sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. Agriculture contributes approximately 40% of GDP and provides livelihood for over 80% of the population. The UN ranked Niger as the second least developed country in the world in 2016 due to multiple factors such as food insecurity, lack of industry, high population growth, a weak educational sector, and few prospects for work outside of subsistence farming and herding.</p> <p></p> <p>Since 2011 public debt has increased due to efforts to scale-up public investment, particularly that related to infrastructure, as well as due to increased security spending. The government relies on foreign donor resources for a large portion of its fiscal budget. The economy in recent years has been hurt by terrorist activity near its uranium mines and by instability in Mali and in the Diffa region of the country; concerns about security have resulted in increased support from regional and international partners on defense. Low uranium prices, demographics, and security expenditures may continue to put pressure on the government’s finances.</p> <p></p> <p>The Government of Niger plans to exploit oil, gold, coal, and other mineral resources to sustain future growth. Although Niger has sizable reserves of oil, the prolonged drop in oil prices has reduced profitability. Food insecurity and drought remain perennial problems for Niger, and the government plans to invest more in irrigation. Niger’s three-year $131 million IMF Extended Credit Facility (ECF) agreement for the years 2012-15 was extended until the end of 2016. In February 2017, the IMF approved a new 3-year $134 million ECF. In June 2017, The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) granted Niger $1 billion over three years for IDA18, a program to boost the country’s development and alleviate poverty. A $437 million Millennium Challenge Account compact for Niger, commencing in FY18, will focus on large-scale irrigation infrastructure development and community-based, climate-resilient agriculture, while promoting sustainable increases in agricultural productivity and sales.</p> <p></p> <p>Formal private sector investment needed for economic diversification and growth remains a challenge, given the country’s limited domestic markets, access to credit, and competitiveness. Although President ISSOUFOU is courting foreign investors, including those from the US, as of April 2017, there were no US firms operating in Niger. In November 2017, the National Assembly passed the 2018 Finance Law that was geared towards raising government revenues and moving away from international support.</p>"
"text":"Niger is one of the largest countries in West Africa but also one of the poorest in the world; as with many African markets, a lack of fixed telecoms infrastructure has led to growth in mobile services; Niger’s mobile penetration is modest compared to other countries in the region, while fixed broadband penetration is negligible; recent international investment to complete the Trans-Saharan Dorsal optical fibre (SDR) network has extended the reach of fiber infrastructure in the country, and also increased international capacity; new cables linking the country with Chad and Burkina Faso have extended Niger’s connectivity with international cable infrastructure; following years of financial difficulties, the state-owned fixed line operator, Sonitel, was merged with its wholly owned mobile unit, SahelCom, in late 2016 to form a new entity, Niger Telecom; the merged company secured a global telecom license in November 2017 and is aiming to develop greater efficiency through sharing resources and infrastructure; the economic difficulties in the country in recent years, as well as a regulatory spat with authorities which saw its offices being shut down, encouraged Orange Group to sell its local business to its minority shareholder partner; the unit, once operating as Orange Niger, was rebranded as Zamani Telecom in December 2020; at the same time, the company secured funds to embark on a large-scale network upgrade program; Niger also hosts foreign investors Airtel, which leads the market, and Moov Africa, formerly Maroc Telecom. (2022)"
"text":"fixed-line less than 1 per 100 persons and mobile-cellular teledensity at nearly 41 per 100 persons; a rapidly increasing cellular subscribership base; small system of wire, radio telephone communications, and microwave radio relay links concentrated in southwestern Niger; domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations and 1 planned (2019)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced a downturn, particularly in mobile device production; progress toward 5G implementation has resumed, as well as upgrades to infrastructure; consumer spending on telecom services has increased due to the surge in demand for capacity and bandwidth; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home is still evident, and the spike in this area has seen growth opportunities for development of new tools and increased services"
"text":"state-run TV station; 3 private TV stations provide a mix of local and foreign programming; state-run radio has only radio station with national coverage; about 30 private radio stations operate locally; as many as 100 community radio stations broadcast; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available"
"text":"Nigerien Armed Forces (Forces Armees Nigeriennes, FAN): Army, Nigerien Air Force, Niger Gendarmerie (GN); Ministry of Interior: Niger National Guard (GNN), National Police (2022)",
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> the Gendarmerie has primary responsibility for rural security; the National Guard is responsible for domestic security and the protection of high-level officials and government buildings<br><br><strong>note 2: </strong>the National Police includes the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance, which is charged with border management<br><br>note 3: the National Guard was formerly known as the National Forces of Intervention and Security"
"text":"information varies; approximately 12,000 active FAN troops (8,000 Army; 200 Air Force; 4,000 Gendarmerie); approximately 3,000 National Guard (2022)"
"text":"the FAN's inventory consists of a wide variety of older weapons; since 2010, the FAN has received small amounts of mostly second-hand equipment and donations from several countries with the US as the top provider (2022)"
"text":"has conscription, although it is reportedly not always enforced; 18 is the legal minimum age for compulsory or voluntary military service; enlistees must be Nigerien citizens and unmarried; 2-year service term; women may serve in health care (2022)"
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> Niger is part of a four (formerly five)-nation anti-jihadist task force known as the G5 (now G4) Sahel Group, set up in 2014 with Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali (withdrew in 2022), and Mauritania; it has committed 1,100 troops and 200 gendarmes to the force; as of 2022, defense forces from each of the participating states were allowed to pursue terrorist fighters up to 100 km into neighboring countries; the force is backed by France, the UN, and the US<br><br><strong>note 2: </strong>Niger also has about 1,000 troops committed to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) against Boko Haram and other terrorist groups operating in the general area of the Lake Chad Basin and along Nigeria's northeast border; national MNJTF troop contingents are deployed within their own country territories, although cross‐border operations are conducted periodically"
"text":"as of 2022, the FAN was conducting counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations against Islamic militants on at least two fronts; in the Diffa region, the Nigeria-based Boko Haram terrorist group has conducted dozens of attacks on security forces, army bases, and civilians; on Niger’s western border with Mali, the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-West Africa (ISIS-WA) has conducted numerous attacks on security personnel; a series of ISIS-WA attacks on FAN forces near the Malian border in December of 2019 and January of 2020 resulted in the deaths of more than 170 soldiers; terrorist attacks continued into 2022 (2022)"
"text":"Boko Haram; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham in the Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS); Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham – West Africa (ISIS-WA); Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM); al-Mulathamun Battalion (al-Mourabitoun)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T"
"text":"<p><em>Niger-Benin-Nigeria</em>: location of Niger-Benin-Nigeria tripoint is unresolved</p> <p><em>Niger-Burkina Faso</em>: the dispute with Burkina Faso was referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2010; the ICJ ruled in 2013 that 786 sq km should go to Burkina Faso and 277 sq km to Niger; the ruling was implemented in 2015 and 2016, with Burkina Faso gaining 14 towns and Niger 4</p> <p><em>Niger-Cameroon-Nigeria</em>: only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty that also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries</p> <p><em>Niger-Libya</em>: Libya claims about 25,000 sq km in a currently dormant dispute in the Tummo region</p>"
"text":"376,809 (includes the regions of Diffa, Tillaberi, and Tahoua; unknown how many of the 11,000 people displaced by clashes between government forces and the Tuareg militant group, Niger Movement for Justice, in 2007 are still displaced; inter-communal violence; Boko Haram attacks in southern Niger, 2015) (2022)"
"text":"<p>a transit point for illicit drugs trafficked through the Sahara; drugs from South America, particularly cocaine, heroin, cannabis products, and synthetic drugs, transit en route to European and Middle Eastern markets; synthetic opioid tramadol is shipped from Nigeria through Niger to other African countries; hashish from Morocco is trafficked to Libya, Egypt, Europe, and the Middle East; traffickers are formalized networks of Arab, Tuareg, and Toubou transportation groups</p>"
