TOGO consists of a strip of land on Africa’s west coast, sandwiched between Ghana to the west and Benin to the east. Although it covers an area of 57,000 sq. km, its Atlantic coastline is just 56 km long. Last year political tension erupted into violence when President Gnassingbe Eyadema died after 38 years in power. The army installed his son, Faure Gnassingbe, as his successor but he soon bowed to pressure and held elections – which he won, amid opposition claims that they had not been conducted fairly. Since then the political parties have agreed to form a government of national unity, and in September the opposition party leader Yawovi Agboyibo was appointed prime minister.

Economy – Togo has a weak economy and is among the poorest countries in the world.

Population – 5.1 million (UN, 2005).

Health – Life expectancy is 52 years for men and 56 years for women (UN).

HIV/AIDS – UN estimates put the total number of deaths due to AIDS at 9,000 and the number of people living with HIV at 110,000. Children aged from 0 to 14 who are living with HIV are thought to number 97,000. There are some 88,000 children aged between 0 and 17 who have been orphaned by the epidemic.
Source: http://www.unaids.org/en/Regions_Countries/Countries/togo.asp

Religion – According to Operation World, almost exactly 50 per cent of Togo’s population are Christian and the rest are equally divided between Islam and traditional religions. The largest Christian group are Roman Catholics (25 per cent). Some 20 Protestant denominations together make up 12 per cent and independents 53 per cent of the population.