Gabon is a country in Central Africa located along the equator between the Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea. It has a population of over 1.7 million people who primarily speak French. The economy relies heavily on petroleum extraction and refining. Demographics show high rates of poverty, unemployment, and infant mortality alongside a GDP per capita of $22,900. Traditional tribal wives live in the rainforest and engage in subsistence activities, while non-tribal wives in cities participate more in markets, education, and work outside the home. Marriage combines French civil law and customary tribal law.

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Gabon: Examining Citizenship, Demographics, and Marriage
By: Melissa S. Bleininger
For: Family Patterns World Perspective
Location, Size, Population,
and Language
• Central Africa
• Equator, between Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea
• Land Mass
• 257,667 km
• Almost size of Colorado.
• Population
• 1,705,336.
• Main language is French.
Background
• 1839 – Treaty with France giving it limited power.
• 1885 – France awarded the territory, by Berlin Conference.
• 1910 – Became part of French Equatorial Africa.
• 1960 – Gained independence from France.
• 1961 – Constitution for presidential style government.
• 1967 – Omar Bongo elected president
• 1967-2009.
• 2009 – Ali Bongo elected president.
Economy
• Agriculture
• Cocoa, coffee, sugar, palm oil, cattle, okoume, and fish.
• Industry
• Petroleum extraction and refining, manganese, gold, chemicals, ship
repair, food and beverages, textiles, lumbering and plywood, and cement.
• By Sector
• Agriculture – 3.7%
• Industry – 61.7%
• Services – 34.6%
• By Labor Force
• Agriculture – 60%
• Industry – 15%
• Services – 25%
• National Income
• Gas and Oil comprises 25% of nation’s wealth.
Demographics
• GDP per capita - $22,900
• Household income for bottom 10% - 2.5% ($572.50)
• Poverty Rate – 33%
• Unemployment Rate – 21%
• Life Expectancy – 52.04 years
• Males – 51.56 years
• Females – 52.53 years
• Fertility Rate – 4.46 pregnancies per woman
• Birth Rate – 34.49 per 1,000 women
• Infant Mortality Rate – 46.07 per 1,000 women
• 53.11 per 1,000 are males
• 38.81 per 1,000 are females
Infrastructure, Disease, and
Statistics
Types of Families and
Marriage
References
• Education
• Literacy Rates – 83.2%
• Males – 85.3%
• Females – 81%
• Drinking Water
• Rural – 33.3% no improvement
• Urban – 2.8% no improvement
• Sanitation
• Rural – 68.5% lack proper sanitation
• Urban – 56.6% lack proper sanitation
• Diseases at significant risk for due to improper sanitation
• Bacterial Diarrhea
• Hepatitis A
• Typhoid Fever
• Schistosomiasis
• HIV/AIDS
• Prevalence of adults living with HIV/AIDS – 3.91% (47,500)
• Average annual deaths – 1,500
• Non-tribal Wives
• Live in cities and villages
• Structured educational system
• Use of markets and medical facilities
• Care for family
• Make work outside of home
• Tribal Wives
• Traditional culture (more original culture of Gabonese)
• Live in rainforest
• Gather and prepare food
• Care for family
• Does not work outside of where tribe
lives.
• Marriage
• Combination of French civil law and customary law
• The government has in recent history controlled three aspects of marriage
and sex
• legal – marriage and divorce
• moral – female infidelity and punishment
• political economies – conflict between sexes due to bride wealth
• Anonymous Tribal Wives-Tribes in Africa-Gabon. Retrieved September, 2015
• (https://youtube.com/watch?v=4ZYXtOSmvWI).
• C.I.A. 2015. “The World Factbook.” Retrieved November, 2015.
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/print_gb.html)
• Gray, Christopher J. 1998. "Cultivating Citizenship through Xenophobia in Gabon, 1960- 1995."
• Africa Today 45(3):389-409. Retrieved September, 2015
• (http://www.jstor.org/stable/4187235).
• Jean-Baptiste, Rachel. 2009. "'these Laws should be made by US': Customary Marriage Law,
• Codification, and Political Authority in Twentieth-Century Colonial Gabon." The Journal of
• African History 49(2):217-240. Retrieved September, 2015
• (http://www.jstor.org/stable/40206640).
• Nossiter, Adam. 2009. "Underneath Palatial Skin, Corruption Rules Gabon." The New York
• Times, September 14, 2009, World. Retrieved September, 2015
• (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/9/15/world/africa/15libreville.html).
• Rich, Jeremy M. 2009. "Independence Comes to the Chief's Daughters: A Gabonese Family
• Story of Marriage and Decolonization." Africa Today 56(2):26-42. Retrieved September, 2015
• (http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/aft.2009.56.2.26).
• Rose, Lydia. 2015. “Oligarchy.” Family Patterns: World Perspective. Lecture. Retrieved
• September 2015.