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The oil resources and advantageous agricultural conditions of this central African nation have produced one of the strongest primary commodity economies in the region. During colonial times, Cameroon was divided into west (occupied by Britain) and east (occupied by France). At the time of independence in 1960, the northern part of British Cameroon joined Nigeria and the southern part joined French Cameroon to form the Republic of Cameroon as we know it today. Although there are 24 major African language groups, English and French are the official languages of Cameroon.
The Cameroon population has approximately 14.7 million people, most of which are Cameroon Highlanders, and the rest are Equatorial Bantu, Kirdi, Fulani, Northwestern Bantu, Eastern Nigritic, and of other African and non-African descent. The average male life expectancy is 54 years, and the average female life expectancy is at 56 years. Of the population that is over the age of 15, 73.6% is literate. This accounts for 75% of the males, and 52.1% of the females.
The average GDP per capita of Cameroon is approximately US$2,000. The main products of importation are machines and electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, and food. The major export commodities include crude oil, petroleum products, lumber, cocoa beans, aluminum, coffee, and cotton.
In terms of telephone network capacity, there are more than 75,200 telephone lines in the sub-Saharan African nation, most of which are located in the capital Yaounde. This averages into 0.52 lines per hundred people. Domestically, Cameroon has cable, microwave radio relay, and tropospheric scatter. Internationally, there are 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) satellite earth.
There are approximately 9 principle Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Cameroon. Camnet is the main one that is a government-owned operator undergoing privatization. ICCNet is privately-owned, and is the second largest provider in the country.
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