8 Besides the International Airport of Bangui M’poko, the country has airports in each Prefecture. Two harbours, one in Bangui and the other in Salo in the Sangha Mbaéré District take care of the river traffic. In an effort to open up the country, a determined effort is being made to set up telecommunication networks gradually in all the cities of the country. g Demography The last general census held in 2004 in Central Africa indicated a total population of 3,895,139 inhabitants. In 1988 total population figures stood at 2,500,000 inhabitants. Thus, in seventeen years, the population has grown by 1,395,139 representing an annual growth rate of 2.60%. The population of Central Africa is made up of a variety of ethnic groups including the Gbaya in the West and North of the country with sub-groups consisting of the Ali, the Gbaka-mandja, Mandja, Gbanou in the centre of the country, the Banda in the CentreEast; the Zandé, the Yakoma and the Nzakara in the East; the Mboum, the Karé , the Kaba and the Dagba in the North. It is worthy to note that amongst this population there are pygmy minorities in Lobaye and Sangha-Mbaéré, the Ndris in the Boali SubPrefecture and the Fulani in the animal husbandry zones. This entire population mixture communicates by means of the Sango, a language which is spoken and understood everywhere in the country. Although Sango has become an official language, only French is used in schools and offices. 5.1. Demography It should therefore be spelt out that this population is unevenly distributed throughout the territory. According to the data obtained from the general population census of 2004 which is divided into: 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6/ the overall population. the urban population. the rural population. the population by gender. the population by region. the population by Prefecture. 1/ The overall population Out of a total of 3,895,139 inhabitants, in the entire national territory there are: Men = 1,939,326 Women = 1,955,813 Namely, there are more women than men. 2/ The urban population Out of a total of 1,475,315 inhabitants: