Country Guide

Niger is a relatively large country, about the size of Egypt, but with a small and sparse population.

Situated in the middle of North Africa, it has land borders with seven countries and includes a large part of the Sahara desert. The southern part of the country is in the Sahel belt of interior West Africa and has a sparse to moderate, but rather unreliable, rainfall.

The general features of the weather and climate of this part of Africa are described for Mali.

The table for Niamey is representative of the southern part of Niger and here the climate is very similar to that of northern Nigeria.

There is a marked rainy season at the period of high sun. Average rainfall is moderate but rather unreliable. Between this southern region and the northern border, rainfall progressively decreases both in amount and reliability. The northern districts are virtually rainless.

Weather and climate here are well represented by the tables for Faya in Chad and In Salah in Algeria.

In the centre of the country where rainfall is sparse and unreliable, conditions are represented by the table for Tombouctou in Mali.