The vast majority of Botswana's people practice subsistence farming and cattle raising. Because subsistence farm products and livestock are primarily raised for local consumption and are not sold in the formal market, the value of this production is not included in the gross domestic product or formal employment figures. Although agricultural employment is estimated at 15.6 percent of the formal labor force , the true figure is more like 80 percent of the informal labor force. The mining and service sectors (especially government, finance, transportation, and communication) account for most of
Communications | |||||||||
Country | Newspapers | Radios | TV Sets a | Cable subscribers a | Mobile Phones a | Fax Machines a | Personal Computers a | Internet Hosts b | Internet Users b |
1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1998 | 1998 | 1998 | 1998 | 1999 | 1999 | |
Botswana | 27 | 156 | 20 | N/A | 15 | 2.3 | 25.5 | 6.00 | 12 |
United States | 215 | 2,146 | 847 | 244.3 | 256 | 78.4 | 458.6 | 1,508.77 | 74,100 |
South Africa | 32 | 317 | 125 | N/A | 56 | 3.5 | 47.4 | 33.36 | 1,820 |
Zimbabwe | 19 | 93 | 30 | N/A | 4 | N/A | 9.0 | 1.19 | 20 |
a Data are from International Telecommunication Union, World Telecommunication Development Report 1999and are per 1,000 people. | |||||||||
b Data are from the Internet Software Consortium ( http://www.isc.org ) and are per 10,000 people. | |||||||||
SOURCE : World Bank. World Development Indicators 2000. |
Botswana is one of the world's largest diamond producers. Debswana (an equal partnership of the South African company De Beers and the Botswanan government) controls most of the country's diamond industry. The Botswana government is currently trying reduce the country's dependence on diamonds by encouraging new manufacturing and service industries to locate in the country.
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: