ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Equatorial Guinea. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea is the continent's third largest oil producer and boasts one of the highest figures for per capita gross domestic product in Africa. The International Monetary Fund estimated that Equatorial Guinea's economy could grow by more than 50 percent in 2001. Equatorial Guinea's citizens are unable to change their government through peaceful, democratic means. The February 1996 presidential election was neither free nor fair, and was marred by official intimidation, a near total boycott by the political opposition, and very low voter turnout.
