   |conventional_long_name      = Republic of Angola |common_name                 = Angola |image_flag                  =  Flag of Angola.svg |alt_flag                    = |image_coat                  = Coat of arms of Angola.svg |alt_coat                    = |symbol_type                 = Insignia |national_motto              = |national_anthem             = ''Angola Avante!''(Portuguese)''Forward Angola!'' |royal_anthem                = |motto                       = |other_symbol_type           = |other_symbol                = |image_map                   = Location Angola AU Africa.svg |alt_map                     = |map_caption                 = |image_map2                  = |alt_map2                    = |map_caption2                = |capital                     = Luanda |latd= 8 | latm= 50 | latNS = S |longd= 13 |longm= 20 |longEW = E |largest_city                = capital |official_languages          = Portuguese |national_languages          = Kikongo, Chokwe, Umbundu, Kimbundu |regional_languages          = |languages_type              = |languages                   = |ethnic_groups               = Ovimbundu, Ambundu, Bakongo, Lunda-Chokwe, Nyaneka-Nkhumbi, Ovambo, Ganguela, Xindonga, Herero, Khoisan |ethnic_groups_year          = |demonym                     = Angolan |government_type             = Presidential republic |leader_title1               = President |leader_name1                = José Eduardo dos Santos |leader_title2               = Vice President |leader_name2                = Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos |leader_title3               = |leader_name3                = |leader_title4               = |leader_name4                = |leader_title5               = |leader_name5                = |leader_title6               = |leader_name6                = |legislature                 = |upper_house                 = |lower_house                 = |sovereignty_type            = Independence |sovereignty_note            = from Portugal |established_event1          = Date |established_date1           = November 11, 1975 |established_event2          = |established_date2           = |established_event3          = |established_date3           = |established_event4          = |established_date4           = |established_event5          = |established_date5           =  |established_event9          = |established_date9           = |area_rank                   = 23rd |area_magnitude              = 1 E12 |area_km2                    = 1246700 |area_sq_mi                  = 481354 |area_footnote               = |percent_water               = negligible |area_dabodyalign            = |population_estimate         = 18,498,000[ Population Forecast to 2060 by International Futures hosted by Google Public Data Explorer] |population_estimate_rank    = |population_estimate_year    = 2009 |population_census           = (scheduled for 2012) |population_census_year      = |population_density_km2      = 14.8 |population_density_sq_mi    = 38.4 |population_density_rank     = 199th |GDP_PPP                     = $107.310 billion |GDP_PPP_rank                = |GDP_PPP_year                = 2010 |GDP_PPP_per_capita          = $5,632 |GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank     = |GDP_nominal                 = $85.312 billion |GDP_nominal_rank            = |GDP_nominal_year            = 2010 |GDP_nominal_per_capita      = $4,477 |GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = |Gini                        = 59 |Gini_rank                   = |Gini_year                   = 2000 |Gini_category               = high |HDI                         = 0.403 |HDI_rank                    = 146th |HDI_year                    = 2010 |HDI_category                = low |currency                    = Kwanza |currency_code               = AOA |time_zone                   = WAT |utc_offset                  = +1 |time_zone_DST               = ''not observed'' |antipodes                   = |date_format                 = |DST_note                    = |utc_offset_DST              = +1 |drives_on                   = right |cctld                       = .ao |iso3166code                 = |calling_code                = +244 |image_map3                  = |alt_map3                    = |footnotes                   = |footnote1                   = |footnote2                   = |footnote7                   = }} '''Angola''', officially the '''Republic of Angola''' (, ;This is the pronunciation in Portugal; in Angola it is pronounced as it is written Kikongo, Kimbundu, Umbundu: Repubilika ya Ngola), is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city. The exclave province of Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Angola was a Portuguese colony from the 16th century to 1975. After independence, Angola was the scene of an intense civil war from 1975 to 2002. The country has vast mineral and petroleum reserves; however, its life expectancy and infant mortality rates are both among the worst-ranked in the world. [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html,  Life expectancy at birth], www.cia.gov (2009)  == History ==   === Early migrations and political units === , Angola]] Khoisan hunter-gatherers are the earliest known modern human inhabitants of the area. They were largely replaced by Bantu tribes during the Bantu migrations, though small numbers remain in parts of southern Angola to the present day. The Bantu came from the north, probably from somewhere near the present-day Republic of Cameroon. When they reached what is now Angola, they encountered the Khoisan, Bushmen and other groups considerably less technologically advanced than themselves, whom they easily dominated with their superior knowledge of metal-working, ceramics and agriculture. The establishment of the Bantu took many centuries and gave rise to various groups who took on different ethnic characteristics.  During this period of time, the Bantu established a number of political units (&quot;kingdoms&quot;, &quot;empires&quot;) in most parts of what today is Angola. The best known of these is the Kingdom of the Kongo that had its centre in the northwest of contemporary Angola, but included important regions in the west of present day Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of Congo as well as in southern Gabon.  It established trade routes with other trading cities and civilizations up and down the coast of southwestern and West Africa and even with the Great Zimbabwe Mutapa Empire, but engaged in little or no transoceanic trade.  === Portuguese rule ===   The geographical areas now designated as Angola first became subject to incursions by the Portuguese in the late 15th century. In 1483, when Portugal established relations with the Kongo State, Ndongo and Lunda existed. The Kongo State stretched from modern Gabon in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. Angola became a link in European trade with India and Southeast Asia. The Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias de Novais founded Luanda in 1575 as &quot;São Paulo de Loanda&quot;, with a hundred families of settlers and four hundred soldiers.  Benguela, a Portuguese fort from 1587 which became a town in 1617, was another important early settlement they founded and ruled. The Portuguese would establish several settlements, forts and trading posts along the coastal strip of current-day Angola, which relied on slave trade, commerce in raw materials, and exchange of goods for survival. The African slave trade provided a large number of black slaves to Europeans and their African agents. For example, in what is now Angola, the Imbangala economy was heavily focused on the slave trade. [[Queen Nzinga in peace negotiations with the Portuguese governor in Luanda, 1657.]] European traders would export manufactured goods to the coast of Africa where they would be exchanged for slaves. Within the Portuguese Empire, most black African slaves were traded to Portuguese merchants who bought them to sell as cheap labour for use on Brazilian agricultural plantations. This trade would last until the first half of the 19th century. According to John Iliffe, &quot;Portuguese records of Angola from the 16th century show that a great famine occurred on average every seventy years; accompanied by epidemic disease, it might kill one-third or one-half of the population, destroying the demographic growth of a generation and forcing colonists back into the river valleys.&quot;John Iliffe (2007) [ ''Africans: the history of a continent'']. Cambridge University Press. p.68. ISBN 0521682975  The Portuguese gradually took control of the coastal strip during the 16th century by a series of treaties and wars forming the Portuguese colony of Angola. Taking advantage of the Portuguese Restoration War, the Dutch occupied Luanda from 1641 to 1648, where they allied with local peoples, consolidating their colonial rule against the remaining Portuguese resistance. In 1648, a fleet under the command of Salvador de Sá retook Luanda for Portugal and initiated a conquest of the lost territories, which restored Portugal to its former possessions by 1650. Treaties regulated relations with Kongo in 1649 and Njinga's Kingdom of Matamba and Ndongo in 1656. The conquest of Pungo Andongo in 1671 was the last great Portuguese expansion, as attempts to invade Kongo in 1670 and Matamba in 1681 failed. Portugal expanded its territory behind the colony of Benguela in the 18th century, and began the attempt to occupy other regions in the mid-19th century.  The process resulted in few gains until the 1880s. Development of the hinterland began after the Berlin Conference in 1885 fixed the colony's borders, and British and Portuguese investment fostered mining, railways, and agriculture based on various forced labour systems. Full Portuguese administrative control of the hinterland did not occur until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1951, the colony was designated as an overseas province, called Overseas Province of Angola. Portugal had a presence in Angola for nearly five hundred years, and the population's initial reaction to calls for independence was mixed. More overtly political organisations first appeared in the 1950s, and began to make organised demands for their rights, especially in international forums such as the Non-Aligned Movement.  The Portuguese regime, meanwhile, refused to accede to the nationalists' demands for independence, provoking an armed conflict that started in 1961 when black guerrillas attacked both white and black civilians in cross-border operations in northeastern Angola. The war came to be known as the Colonial War. In this struggle, the principal protagonists were the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), founded in 1956, the FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola), which appeared in 1961, and UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), founded in 1966. After many years of conflict, Angola gained its independence on 11 November 1975, after the 1974 coup d'état in Lisbon, Portugal, which overthrew the Portuguese regime headed by Marcelo Caetano.  Portugal's new revolutionary leaders began a process of democratic change at home and acceptance of its former colonies' independence abroad. These events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Portuguese Angola and Mozambique), creating over a million destitute Portuguese refugees&amp;nbsp;— the ''retornados''.[ Dismantling the Portuguese Empire], Time Magazine (Monday, July 07, 1975)  === Independence and civil war ===    After independence in November 1975, Angola faced a devastating civil war which lasted several decades and claimed millions of lives and refugees.[ The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire by Norrie MacQueen – Mozambique since Independence: Confronting Leviathan by Margaret Hall, Tom Young – Author of Review: Stuart A. Notholt African Affairs, Vol. 97, No. 387 (Apr., 1998), pp. 276–278], JSTOR Following negotiations held in Portugal, itself under severe social and political turmoil and uncertainty due to the April 1974 revolution, Angola's three main guerrilla groups agreed to establish a transitional government in January 1975.  Within two months, however, the FNLA, MPLA and UNITA were fighting each other and the country was well on its way to being divided into zones controlled by rival armed political groups. The superpowers were quickly drawn into the conflict, which became a flash point for the Cold War. The United States, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa supported the FNLA and UNITA. The Soviet Union and Cuba supported the MPLA.  During most of this period, 1975–1990, the MPLA organised and maintained a political regime inspired by the &quot;socialist countries&quot; then in existence, as well as a centrally planned economy. Despite the ongoing civil war, the model functioned to a certain degree, although it was foreseeable that it would eventually fail.M.R. Bhagavan, ''Angola's Political Economy 1975 - 1985'', Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1986.  === Ceasefire with UNITA ===  On February 22, 2002, Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA, was killed in combat with government troops, and a cease-fire was reached by the two factions. UNITA gave up its armed wing and assumed the role of major opposition party. Although the political situation of the country began to stabilize, President Dos Santos has so far refused to institute regular democratic processes. Among Angola's major problems are a serious humanitarian crisis (a result of the prolonged war), the abundance of minefields, and the continuation of the political, and to a much lesser degree, military activities in favour of the independence of the northern exclave of Cabinda, carried out in the contexto of the protracted Cabinda Conflict by the  Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda. While most of the internally displaced have now returned home, the general situation for most Angolans remains desperate, and the development facing the government challenging as a consequence.Lari (2004), Human Rights Watch (2005)  == Politics == [[Embassy of Angola in Washington, D.C.]]    Angola's motto is ''Virtus Unita Fortior'', a Latin phrase meaning &quot;Virtue is stronger when united.&quot; The executive branch of the government is composed of the President, the Vice-Presidents and the Council of Ministers. For decades, political power has been concentrated in the Presidency.  Governors of the 18 provinces are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the president. The Constitutional Law of 1992 establishes the broad outlines of government structure and delineates the rights and duties of citizens. The legal system is based on Portuguese and customary law but is weak and fragmented, and courts operate in only 12 of more than 140 municipalities. A Supreme Court serves as the appellate tribunal; a Constitutional Court with powers of judicial review has not been constituted until 2010, despite statutory authorization.  After the end of the Civil War the regime came under pressure from within as well as from the international environment, to become more democratic and less authoritarian. Its reaction was to operate a number of changes without substantially changing its character.See Didier Péclard (ed.), ''L'Angola dans la paix: Autoritarisme et reconversions'', special issue of ''Politique africains'' (Paris), 110, 2008.  Parliamentary elections held on 5 September 2008, announced MPLA as the winning party with 81% of votes. The closest opposition party was UNITA with 10%. These elections were the first since 1992 and were described as only partly free but certainly not as fair. A White Book on the elections in 2008 lists up all irregularities surrounding the Parliamentary elections of 2008.  Angola scored poorly on the 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance. It was ranked 44 from 48 sub-Saharan African countries, scoring particularly badly in the areas of Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development. The Ibrahim Index uses a number of different variables to compile its list which reflects the state of governance in Africa.  The new constitution, adopted in 2010, further sharpened the authoritarian character of the regime. In the future, there will be no presidential elections: the president and the vice-president of the political party which comes out strongest in the parliamentary elections become automatically president and vice-president of Angola.In this manner, José Eduardo dos Santos is now finally in a legal situation. As he had obtained a relative, but not the absolute majority of votes in the 1992 presidential election, a second round  - opposing him to Jonas Savimbi  - was constitutionally necessary to make his election effective, but he preferred never to hold this second round. Through a variety of mechanisms, the state president controls all the other organs of the state, so that the principle of the division of power is not maintained. As a consequence, Angola has no longer a presidential system, in the sense of the systems existing e.g. in the USA or in France. In terms of the classifications used in constitutional law, its regime falls now in the same category as the &quot;cesarist&quot; monarchy of Napoléon Bonaparte in France, as António de Oliveira Salazar's &quot;corporatist&quot; system established by the Portuguese constitution of 1933, as the Brazilian military dictatorship based on the constitution of 1967/69, or as several authoritarian regimes in contemporary Africa.See Jorge Miranda, ''A Constituição de Angola de 2010'', published in the academic journal ''O Direito'' (Lisbon), vol. 142, 2010 - 1 (June).  == Military == Tazua Falls, Rio Cuango. One of Angola's richest sources of gem [[diamonds.]]  The Angolan Armed Forces (AAF) is headed by a Chief of Staff who reports to the Minister of Defense. There are three divisions—the Army (Exército), Navy (Marinha de Guerra, MGA), and National Air Force (Força Aérea Nacional, FAN). Total manpower is about 110,000. Its equipment includes Russian-manufactured fighters, bombers, and transport planes. There are also Brazilian-made EMB-312 Tucano for training role, Czech-made L-39 for training and bombing role, Czech Zlin for training role and a variety of western made aircraft such as C-212\Aviocar, Sud Aviation Alouette III, etc. A small number of AAF personnel are stationed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa) and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville).  == Police == The National Police departments are: Public Order, Criminal Investigation, Traffic and Transport, Investigation and Inspection of Economic Activities, Taxation and Frontier Supervision, Riot Police and the Rapid Intervention Police. The National Police are in the process of standing up an air wing, which will provide helicopter support for police operations. The National Police are also developing their criminal investigation and forensic capabilities. The National Police has an estimated 6,000 patrol officers, 2,500 Taxation and Frontier Supervision officers, 182 criminal investigators and 100 financial crimes detectives and around 90 Economic Activity Inspectors.  The National Police have implemented a modernization and development plan to increase the capabilities and efficiency of the total force. In addition to administrative reorganization; modernization projects include procurement of new vehicles, aircraft and equipment, construction of new police stations and forensic laboratories, restructured training programs and the replacement of AKM rifles with 9&amp;nbsp;mm UZIs for police officers in urban areas.  == Administrative divisions == Map of Angola with the provinces numbered  Angola is divided into eighteen provinces (''províncias'') and 163 municipalities. The provinces are:  Bengo Benguela Bié Cabinda Cuando Cubango Cuanza Norte Cuanza Sul Cunene Huambo  Huila Luanda Lunda Norte Lunda Sul Malanje Moxico Namibe Uíge Zaire   === Exclave of Cabinda ===  With an area of approximately , the Northern Angolan province of Cabinda is unique in being separated from the rest of the country by a strip, some  wide, of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) along the lower Congo river. Cabinda borders the Congo Republic to the north and north-northeast and the DRC to the east and south. The town of Cabinda is the chief population center.  According to a 1995 census, Cabinda had an estimated population of 600,000, approximately 400,000 of whom live in neighboring countries. Population estimates are, however, highly unreliable. Consisting largely of tropical forest, Cabinda produces hardwoods, coffee, cocoa, crude rubber and palm oil. The product for which it is best known, however, is its oil, which has given it the nickname, &quot;the Kuwait of Africa&quot;. Cabinda's petroleum production from its considerable offshore reserves now accounts for more than half of Angola's output. Most of the oil along its coast was discovered under Portuguese rule by the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company (CABGOC) from 1968 onwards.  Ever since Portugal handed over sovereignty of its former overseas province of Angola to the local independentist groups (MPLA, UNITA, and FNLA), the territory of Cabinda has been a focus of separatist guerrilla actions opposing the Government of Angola (which has employed its military forces, the FAA&amp;nbsp;– Forças Armadas Angolanas) and Cabindan separatists. The Cabindan separatists, FLEC-FAC, announced a virtual Federal Republic of Cabinda under the Presidency of N'Zita Henriques Tiago. One of the characteristics of the Cabindan independence movement is its constant fragmentation, into smaller and smaller factions, in a process which although not totally fomented by the Angolan government, is undoubtedly encouraged and duly exploited by it.  == Transport == Luanda, Angola  Transport in Angola consists of: * Three separate railway systems totalling 2,761&amp;nbsp;km (1,715&amp;nbsp;mi) *  of highway of which  is paved * 1,295 navigable inland waterways * Eight major sea ports * 243 airports, of which 32 are paved.  Travel on highways outside of towns and cities in Angola (and in some cases within) is often not best advised for those without four-by-four vehicles. Whilst a reasonable road infrastructure has existed within Angola, time and the war have taken their toll on the road surfaces, leaving many severely potholed, littered with broken asphalt. In many areas drivers have established alternate tracks to avoid the worst parts of the surface, although careful attention must be paid to the presence or absence of landmine warning markers by the side of the road. The Angolan government has contracted the restoration of many of the country's roads. The road between Lubango and Namibe, for example, was completed recently with funding from the European Union, and is comparable to many European main routes. Progress to complete the road infrastructure is likely to take some decades, but substantial efforts are already being made in the right directions.  == Geography == Coatinha beach in [[Benguela, Angola]] Miradouro da Lua (watchpoint or valley of the moon), situated at the coast 40&amp;nbsp;kilometers south of Luanda, Angola   At ,[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2147rank.html CIA - The World Factbook - Country Comparison :: Area] Angola is the world's twenty-third largest country (after Niger). It is comparable in size to Mali and is nearly twice the size of the US state of Texas, or five times the area of the United Kingdom. It lies mostly between latitudes 4° and 18°S, and longitudes 12° and 24°E.  Angola is bordered by Namibia to the south, Zambia to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north-east, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the west. The exclave of Cabinda also borders the Republic of the Congo to the north. Angola's capital, Luanda, lies on the Atlantic coast in the northwest of the country.  == Climate ==  Angola's average temperature on the coast is  in the winter and  in the summer. It has two seasons; dry season (May to October) and hot rainy season (November to April).   == Economy == An aerial view of [[Lubango, Angola]]   Angola's economy has undergone a period of transformation in recent years, moving from the disarray caused by a quarter century of civil war to being the fastest growing economy in Africa and one of the fastest in the world, with an average GDP growth of 20 percent between 2005 and 2007.[ During 2001-2010 Angola has the world's biggest Annual average GDP growth with 11.1 percent. In 2004, China's Eximbank approved a $2&amp;nbsp;billion line of credit to Angola. The loan is being used to rebuild Angola's infrastructure, and has also limited the influence of the International Monetary Fund in the country.   The Economist reported in 2008 that diamonds and oil make up 60 percent of Angola's economy, almost all of the country's revenue and are its dominate exports.The Economist. August 30, 2008 edition. U.S. Edition. Page 46. Article on Angola, &quot;marches toward riches and democracy?&quot;.  Growth is almost entirely driven by rising oil production which surpassed  in late-2005 and was expected to grow to  by 2007. Control of the oil industry is consolidated in Sonangol Group, a conglomerate which is owned by the Angolan government. In December 2006, Angola was admitted as a member of OPEC. The economy grew 18% in 2005, 26% in 2006 and 17.6% in 2007. However, due to the global recession the economy contracted an estimated -0.3% in 2009.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ao.html retrieved 2010-10-24 The security brought about by the 2002 peace settlement has led to the resettlement of 4&amp;nbsp;million displaced persons, thus resulting in large-scale increases in agriculture production.  [[Luanda is Angola's capital city and economic and commercial hub]]  Although the country's economy has developed very significantly since achieving political stability in 2002, mainly thanks to the fast-rising earnings of the oil sector, Angola faces huge social and economic problems. These are in part a result of the almost continual state of conflict from 1961 onwards, although the highest level of destruction and socio-economic damage took place after the 1975 independence, during the long years of civil war. However, high poverty rates and blatant social inequality are chiefly the outcome of a combination of a persistent political authoritarianism, of &quot;neo-patrimonial&quot; practices at all levels of the political, administrative, military, and economic apparatuses, and of a pervasive corruption.Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International rates Angola one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world. The main beneficiary of this situation is a social segment constituted since 1975, but mainly during the last decades, around the political, administrative, economic, and military power holders, which has accumulated (and continues accumulating) enormous wealth.This process is well analyzed by authors like Christine Messiant, Tony Hodges and others. For an eloquent illustratin, see now the Angolan magazine ''Infra-Estruturas África'' 7/2010. &quot;Secondary beneficiaries&quot; are the middle strata which are about to become social classes. However, overall almost half the population has to be considered as poor, but in this respect there are dramatic differences between the countryside and the cities (where by now slightly more than 50% of the people live). An inquiry carried out in 2008 by the Angolan Instituto Nacional de Estatística has it that in the rural areas roughly 58% must be classified as &quot;poor&quot;, according to UN norms, but in the urban areas only 19%, while the overall rate is 37%.See ''Angola Exame'' of 12/11/2010, online  In the cities, a majority of families, well beyond those officially classified as poor, have to adopt a variety of survival strategies.See Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues, ''O Trabalho Dignifica o Homem: Estratégias de Sobrevivência em Luanda'', Lisbon: Colibri: 2006. At the same time, in urban areas social inequality is most evident, and assumes extreme forms in the capital, Luanda.As an excellent illustration see ''Luanda: A vida na cidade dos extremos'', in: ''Visão'', 11/11/2010. In the Human Development Index Angola constantly ranks in the bottom group.The HDI 2010 lists Angola in the 146th position among 169 countries - one position below that of Haiti. See [ ''Human Development Index and its components.'']  According to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative American think tank, oil production from Angola has increased so significantly that Angola now is China's biggest supplier of oil.  Before independence in 1975, Angola was a breadbasket of southern Africa and a major exporter of bananas, coffee and sisal, but three decades of civil war (1975–2002) destroyed the fertile countryside, leaving it littered with landmines and driving millions into the cities. The country now depends on expensive food imports, mainly from South Africa and Portugal, while more than 90 percent of farming is done at family and subsistence level. Thousands of Angolan small-scale farmers are trapped in poverty.Louise Redvers, [ POVERTY-ANGOLA: NGOs Sceptical of Govt's Rural Development Plans], [Inter Press Service News Agency] (June 6, 2009)  A serious structural problem of the Angolan economy are the enormous differences between the regions. This is best illustrated by the fact that about one third of the economic activities is concentrated in Luanda and the neighbouring Bengo province, while several areas of the interior are characterized by stagnation and even regression.See Manuel Alves da Rocha, ''Desigualdades e assimetrias regionais em Angola: Os factores da competitividade territorial'', Luanda: Centro de Estudos e Investigação Científica da Universidade Católica de Angola, 2010.  == Demographics == Map of Angola  for Angola]]   Angola's population is estimated  to be 18,498,000 (2009). It is composed of Ovimbundu (language Umbundu) 37%, Ambundu (language Kimbundu) 25%, Bakongo 13%, , and 32% other ethnic groups (including the Ovambo, the Ganguela and the Xindonga) as well as about 2% ''mestiços'' (mixed European and African) and 1% European See ethnic map and [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ao.html CIA – The World Factbook – Angola] The  Ambundu and Ovimbundu nations combined form a majority of the population, at 62%.As no reliable census data exist at this stage (2011), all these numbers are rough estimates only, subject to adjustments and updates.  The population is forecasted to grow to over 47 million people to 2060, nearly tripling [ Forecast provided] by International Futures and hosted by Google's Public Data Explorer]]  It is estimated that Angola was host to 12,100 refugees and 2,900 asylum seekers by the end of 2007. 11,400 of those refugees were originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) who arrived in the 1970s.[U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. &quot;World Refugee Survey 2008.&quot; Available Online at:  pp.37] As of 2008 there were an estimated 400,000 DRC migrant workers,[ World Refugee Survey 2008 – Angola], UNHCR. NB: This figure is highly doubtful, as it makes no clear distinction between migrant workers, refugees, and immigrants. at least 30,000 Portuguese,[ Angola], U.S. Department of State. NB: Estimations in 2011 put that number at 100,000, and add about 150,000 to 200,000 other Europeans and Latin Americans. and 20,000+ Chinese living in Angola.[ ANGOLA and reconstructing the country: Prevention made in China], PlusNews, November 12, 2008 Prior to independence in 1975, Angola had a community of approximately 350,000 Portuguese.See the carefully researched article by Gerald Bender &amp; Stanley Yoder, ''Whites in Angola on the Eve of Independence. The Poitics of Numbers'', in: ''Africa Today'', 21 (4), 1974, pp. 23-27. [ Flight from Angola], ''The Economist '', August 16, 1975 puts the number at 500,000, but this is an estimate lacking appropriate sources.  === Languages ===  The languages in Angola are those originally spoken by the different ethnic groups plus Portuguese due to its being a former Portuguese colony. The indigenous languages with the largest usage are Umbundu, Kimbundu, and Kikongo, in that order. Portuguese is the official language of the country.  However, in Angola the mastery of the official language is probably more extended than elsewhere in Africa, and this certainly applies to its use in everyday life. Moreover, and above all, the proportion of native (or near native) speakers of the official language is no doubt considerably higher than in any other African country.  There are three intertwined historical reasons for this situation. #In the Portuguese “bridgeheads” Luanda and Benguela, which existed on the coast of what today is Angola since the 15th and 16th century, respectively, Portuguese was not only spoken by the Portuguese and their ‘’mestiço’’ descendents, but – especially in and around Luanda – by a significant number of Africans, although these always remained native speakers of their local African language. #Since the Portuguese conquest of the present territory of Angola, and especially since its “effective occupation” in the mid 1920s, schooling in Portuguese was slowly developed by the colonial state as well as by Catholic and Protestant missions. The rhythm of this expansion was considerably accelerated during the late colonial period, 1961–1974, so that by the end of the colonial period children all over the territory (with relatively few exceptions) had at least some access to the Portuguese language.An illustration is Franz-Wilhelm Heimer, ‘’Educação e sociedade nas áreas rurais de Angola: Resultados de um inquérito’’, vol. 2, ‘’Análise do universo agrícola’’ (survey report), Serviços de Planeamento e Integração Económica de Angola, Luanda, 1974 #In the same late colonial period, the legal discrimination of the black population was abolished, and the state apparatus in fields like health, education, social work, and rural development was enlarged. This entailed a significant increase in jobs for Africans, under the condition that they spoke Portuguese.  As a consequence of all this, the African “lower middle class” which at that stage formed in Luanda and other cities began to often prevent their children from learning the local African language, in order to guarantee that they learned Portuguese as their native language. At the same time, the white and ‘’mestiço’’ population, where some knowledge of African languages could previously often been found, neglected this aspect more and more, to the point of frequently ignoring it totally. After independence, these tendencies continued, and were even strengthened, under the rule of the MPLA which has its main social roots exactly in those social segments where the mastery of Portuguese as well as the proportion of native Portuguese speakers was highest. This became a political side issue, as FNLA as well as UNITA, given their regional constituencies, came out in favour of a greater attention to the African languages, and as the FNLA favoured French over Portuguese.  The dynamics of the language situation, as described above, was additionally fostered by the massive migrations triggered off by the Civil War.  Ovimbundu, the most populous ethnic group and the most affected by the war, appeared in great numbers in urban areas outside their areas, especially in Luanda and surroundings. At the same time, a majority of the Bakongo who had fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the early 1960s, or of their children and grandchildren, returned to Angola, but mostly did not settle in their original ‘’habitat’’, but in the cities  - and again above all in Luanda. As a consequence, more than half the population is now living in the cities which, from the linguistic point of view, have become highly heterogeneous. This means, of course, that Portuguese as the overall language of communication is by now of paramount importance, and that the role of the African languages is steadily decreasing among the urban population - a trend which is beginning to spread into rural areas as well.  The exact numbers of those fluent in Portuguese or who speak Portuguese as a first language are unknown, although a census is expected to be carried out in 2013. Quite a number of voices demand the recognition of “Angolan Portuguese” as a specific variant, comparable to those spoken in Portugal or in Brazil. However, while there exists a certain number of idiomatic particularities in everyday Portuguese, as spoken by Angolans, it remains to be seen whether or not the Angolan government comes to the conclusion that these particularities constitute a configuration that justifies the claim to be a new language variant.  === Religion === Ethnic groups of Angola 1970   There are about 1000 mostly Christian religious communities in Angola.See Fátima Viegas, ''Panorama das Religiões em Angola Independente (1975 - 2008)'', Ministério da Cultura/Instituto Nacional para os Assuntos Religiosos, Luanda 2008 While reliable statistics are entirely nonexistent, estimates have it that more than half of the population are Roman Catholics, while about a quarter adhere to the protestant churches introduced during the colonial period: the Congregationalists mainly among the Ovimbundu of the Central Highlands and the coastal region to its West, the Methodists concentrating on the Kimbundu speaking strip from Luanda to Malanje, the Baptists almost exclusively among the Bakongo of the Northwest (now massively present in Luanda as well) and dispersed Adventists, Reformed and Lutherans.Benedict Schubert: ''Der Krieg und die Kirchen: Angola 1961 - 1991''. Exodus, Luzern/Switzerland, 1997; Lawrence W. Henderson, ''The Church in Angola: A river of many currents'', Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1989 In Luanda and region there subsists a nucleus of the &quot;syncretic&quot; Tocoists and in the Northwest a sprinkling of  Kimbanguism can be found, spreading from the Congo/Zaire. Since independence, hundreds of Pentecostal and similar communities have sprung up in the cities, where by now about 50% of the population is living; several of these communities/churches are of Brazilian origin. The  Muslims, practically all of them immigrants from West African and other countries and belonging to the Sunnite branch, represent only about 1%; because of their diversity, they do not form a community. Saudi Arabia is at present developing an effort to enlarge their numbers, and intends to build an Islamic university in Luanda. The proportion of non-believers is significant, but impossible to be estimated. &quot;Traditional African&quot; religions exist only residually, in the main confined to some remote rural areas.  In a study assessing nations' levels of religious regulation and persecution with scores ranging from 0–10 where 0 represented low levels of regulation or persecution, Angola was scored 0.8 on Government Regulation of Religion, 4.0 on Social Regulation of Religion, 0 on Government Favoritism of Religion and 0 on Religious Persecution.[ Angola: Religious Freedom Profile at the Association of Religion Data Archives] Brian J Grim and Roger Finke. &quot;International Religion Indexes: Government Regulation, Government Favoritism, and Social Regulation of Religion.&quot; Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. 2 (2006) Article 1: www.religjournal.com.  Foreign missionaries were very active prior to independence in 1975, although since the beginning of the anti-colonial fight in 1961 the Portuguese colonial authorities expelled a series of Protestant missionaries and closed mission stations based on the belief that the missionaries were inciting pro-independence sentiments. Missionaries have been able to return to the country since the early 1990s, although security conditions due to the civil war have prevented them until 2002 from restoring many of their former inland mission stations.  The Roman Catholic and some major Protestant denominations mostly keep to themselves in contrast to the &quot;New Churches&quot; which  actively proselytize. The Roman Cathloic as well as some major Protestant denominations provide help for the poor in the form of crop seeds, farm animals, medical care and education.[  == Health ==  A 2007 survey concluded that low and deficient niacin status was common in Angola. Epidemics of cholera, malaria, rabies and African hemorrhagic fevers like Marburg hemorrhagic fever, are common diseases in several parts of the country. Many regions in this country have high incidence rates of tuberculosis and high HIV prevalence rates. Dengue, filariasis, leishmaniasis, and onchocerciasis (river blindness) are other diseases carried by insects that also occur in the region. Angola has one of the highest infant mortality rate in the world and one of the world's lowest life expectancy. Demographic and Health Surveys is currently conducting several surveys in Angola on Malaria, Domestic Violence and more.[ Angola Surveys],  == Education == Bié, Angola|thumb|]] Luena, Moxico Province]]   Although by law, education in Angola is compulsory and free for 8 years, the government reports that a certain percentage of students are not attending school due to a lack of school buildings and teachers.&quot;Botswana&quot;. [ ''2005 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor'']. Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor (2006). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.  Students are often responsible for paying additional school-related expenses, including fees for books and supplies.  In 1999, the gross primary enrollment rate was 74 percent and in 1998, the most recent year for which data are available, the net primary enrollment rate was 61 percent. Gross and net enrollment ratios are based on the number of students formally registered in primary school and therefore do not necessarily reflect actual school attendance. There continue to be significant disparities in enrollment between rural and urban areas. In 1995, 71.2 percent of children ages 7 to 14 years were attending school. It is reported that higher percentages of boys attend school than girls. During the Angolan Civil War (1975–2002), nearly half of all schools were reportedly looted and destroyed, leading to current problems with overcrowding.  The Ministry of Education hired 20,000 new teachers in 2005, and continued to implement teacher trainings. Teachers tend to be underpaid, inadequately trained, and overworked (sometimes teaching two or three shifts a day). Some teachers may also reportedly demand payment or bribes directly from their students. Other factors, such as the presence of landmines, lack of resources and identity papers, and poor health also prevent children from regularly attending school. Although budgetary allocations for education were increased in 2004, the education system in Angola continues to be extremely under-funded.  Literacy is quite low, with 67.4% of the population over the age of 15 able to read and write in Portuguese.CIA world factbook 2010 82.9% of males and 54.2% of women are literate as of 2001. Since independence from Portugal in 1975, a number of Angolan students continued to be admitted every year at high schools, polytechnical institutes, and universities in Portugal, Brazil and Cuba through bilateral agreements; in general, these students belong to the Angolan elites.  == Culture == Sculpture representing a female figure. Chokwe peoples, Angola, early 20th century. Wood, brass tacks, glass beads, plant fiber, oil patina.   Portugal has been present in Angola for 400&amp;nbsp;years, occupied the territory in the 19th and early 20th century, and ruled over it for about 50 years. As a consequence, both countries share cultural aspects: language (Portuguese) and main religion (Roman Catholic Christianity). However, the Angolan culture is mostly native Bantu which was mixed with Portuguese culture. The diverse ethnic communities with their own cultural traits, traditions and native languages   include the Ovimbundu, Ambundu, Bakongo, Chokwe, and other peoples.  == Heritage == Angola has a rich subsoil heritage, from diamonds, oil, gold, copper. Also a non-commerciable rich wildlife (dramatically impoverished during the civil war), forest, and fossils.   