Luanda Map

• Around one-third of Angolans live in Luanda, 53% of whom live in poverty. Living conditions in Luanda are poor, with essential services such as safe drinking water still in short supply. Luanda is one of the world's most expensive cities for overseas foreigners. Manufacturing includes processed foods, beverages, textiles, cement and other building materials, plastic products, metalware, cigarettes, and shoes/clothes. Petroleum (found in nearby off-shore deposits) is refined in the city, although this facility was repeatedly damaged during the Angolan Civil War (1975–2002). Luanda has an excellent natural harbour; the chief exports are coffee, cotton, sugar, diamonds, iron, and salt. The city also has a thriving building industry, an effect of the nationwide economic boom experienced since 2002, when political stability returned with the end of the civil war. Economic growth is largely supported by oil extraction activities, although massive diversification is taking place. Large investment (domestic and international), along with strong economic growth, has dramatically increased construction of all economic sectors in the city of Luanda.

• A completely new satellite city, called Luanda Sul has been built. In Camama, Zango and Kilamba Kiaxi more high-rise developments are to be built. The capital Luanda is growing constantly - and in addition, increasingly beyond the official city limits and even provincial boundaries.

• Luanda is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop. It is also the location of most of Angola's educational institutions, including the private Catholic University of Angola and the public University of Agostinho Neto. It is also the home of the colonial Governor's Palace and the Estádio da Cidadela (the "Citadel Stadium"), Angola's main stadium, with a total seating capacity of 60,000.

• Under the Köppen climate classification, Luanda features a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh). The climate is hot and humid but surprisingly dry, owing to the cool Benguela Current, which prevents moisture from easily condensing into rain. Frequent fog prevents temperatures from falling at night even during the completely dry months from June to October. Luanda has an annual rainfall of 323 millimetres , but the variability is among the highest in the world, with a co-efficient of variation above 40 percent. The short rainy season in March and April depends on a northerly counter current bringing moisture to the city: it has been shown clearly that weakness in the Benguela current can increase rainfall about sixfold compared with years when that current is strong.

• Luanda is the starting point of the Luanda railway that goes due east to Malanje. The civil war left the railway non-functional, but a Chinese firm has taken up a contract to rebuild many Angolan railways, including the Luanda Railway which has almost been completed (Oct. 2009).

• The main airport of Luanda is Quatro de Fevereiro Airport, which is the largest in the country. Currently, a new international airport, Angola International Airport is under construction southeast of the city, a few miles beyond Viana, which was expected to be opened in 2011. However, as the Angolan government did not continue to make the payments due to the Chinese enterprise in charge of the construction, the firm has suspended its work in 2010.

• The port of Luanda currently serves as the largest port of Angola, and connects Angola to the rest of the world. Major expansion of this port is also taking place, with the completion of a new complex just last year, the port is expanding rapidly.

• Luanda's roads are currently in a poor state of repair, but are currently undergoing a massive reconstruction process by the government in order to relieve traffic congestion in the city. Major road repairs can be found taking place in nearly every neighborhood, including a major 6-lane highway connected Luanda to Viana, which is nearing partial completion in October. Many of the citizens of Luanda rely on privately owned combi taxis for transport, although recently the city has invested more into a public bus system.

• The inhabitants of Luanda are primarily members of African ethnic groups, mainly Ambundu, the Ovimbundu and the Bakongo. The official and the most widely used language is Portuguese, although several Bantu- languages are also used, chiefly Kimbundu, Umbundu, and Kikongo. There is a minority population of European origin, especially Portuguese, as well as Brazilians and other Latin Americans. Over the last decades, a significant Chinese community has formed, as has a (much smaller) Vietnamese community. There is a sprinkling of immigrants from other African countries including a small expatriate South African community.

• The population of Luanda has exploded in recent years, due in large part to war-time migration to the city, which is safe compared to the rest of the country. However, Luanda has recently seen an increase in violent crime, particularly in the shanty towns that surround the colonial urban core.