Liberia

THE REPUBLIC OF Liberia, located in West Africa, an independent country since 1847, has a land area of 43,000 sq. mi. (111,369 sq. km.), a population of 3,750,000 (2006 est.), and a population density of 75 people per sq. mi. (29 people per sq. km.). The economy of the country came largely from rubber, but since 1989 there has been extensive fighting in much of the country, leading to the installation of President Charles Taylor, and later his ejection from the country.

Some 39 percent of the country is forested, with 1 percent of the land arable, and a further 29 percent used for meadows and pasture. All of the country's electricity production comes from fossil fuels, with only the capital, Monrovia, covered by the country's ...