A former French colony known as Upper Volta, the country achieved independence on 5 August 1960. After a period of democratic leadership under T. Sankara (1983-1987), who gave the country its name (“the land of honest people”, 4 August 1984), a coup d’état brought Captain B. Compaoré to power on 17 October 1987. He was forced to step down in 2014 following violent protests. After a transition period and a failed coup d’état, new elections were held in 2015. Since 2016, there have been serious attacks by various fundamentalist groups, which overlap with the conflict between the community of breeders and farmers. According to the Constitution of 1991, last amended in 2015, the President of the Republic is elected through a direct election for a term of five years and can only be re-elected once. The National Assembly is made up of 127 members, elected by direct suffrage for five-year terms. The judicial system is based on French law and local custom.

Population by age and gender (% - 2020)
	75+ 60-74 45-59 30-44 15-29 0-14
MALE	AGE	FEMALE

The violence has resulted in more than one million internally displaced people. There is steady emigration towards neighbouring countries and Europe.

Recurring droughts cause serious damage to agricultural output. The principle commercial crop is cotton. Livestock farming is practised mainly by the semi-nomadic Fulbe tribes in the north of the country. The main mineral resource is gold (at Essakane, Bissa, Mana, Inata, Taparko-Bouroum, Youga), which brings in foreign capital for mining and extraction, followed by zinc (near Koudougou). There are cotton mills at Koudougou, shoe factories, cement plants at Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, cigarette factories and breweries at Bobo-Dioulasso as well as sugar factories at Banfora.
The country also boasts electrical and telecommunications industries as well as oil plants. The construction of the Ziga dam has eased the chronic shortage of water in the capital. Burkina Faso exports gold, cotton, zinc, livestock, sesame, cashew nuts and timber. The CFA franc is pegged to the Euro at a fixed exchange rate.