March 5 (Reuters) - Ghana, the first country in Sub-Saharan black Africa to become free from colonial rule, marks 50 years of its independence from Britain on March 6.

Here are a few facts on Ghana:

GEOGRAPHY: Area is 239,460 sq. km. (92,440 sq. miles) and it is bordered by Burkina Faso (to the north), Ivory Coast (west), and Togo (east). The Atlantic Ocean lies to the south.

LANGUAGE: English is the official language, but Ga is the main local language. Fanta, Haussa, Fanteewe, Gaadanhe, Akan, Dagbandim and Mamprussi are also spoken.

POPULATION: 22.6 million.

ETHNIC GROUPS: There are seven main ethnic groups, including the Akan (Ashanti and Fanti), 44 percent, in the mid-southern part of the country. There are Mossi-Dagomba, Ewe and Ga-Adangbe minorities, among others.

RELIGION: Christianity 50 percent, traditional African religions 32 percent, Islam 13 percent.

ECONOMY: Ghana is the world's second-largest cocoa producer and its track record of economic reform over the past few years has boosted growth. It is also Africa's second biggest gold producer after South Africa.

-- Outlining the 2007 budget, late in 2006, Finance Minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu raised the 2006 economic growth forecast to 6.2 percent this year and estimated 6.5 percent for 2007.

He forecast the value of cocoa exports would jump by 40 percent in 2006 to $1.27 billion.

-- The West African country also benefitted from $4.2 billion of multilateral debt relief after the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

SOME HISTORY:

* Ghana took its name from a powerful West African empire that came to an end in the 12th century. That empire, like its 19th-century Ashanti successor within modern Ghana's borders, based its power on gold.

* On March 6, 1957, the former British colony of Gold Coast became the first country in black Sub-Saharan Africa to shake off colonial rule, inspiring liberation struggles around the continent.

* Independence leader Kwame Nkrumah was a founding father of Pan-Africanism and a figurehead among Africa's independence leaders with his concept of African socialism.

* Hailed as Osagyefo or "Redeemer" at independence, Nkrumah's initial popularity waned as the economy collapsed and he gained a reputation as an authoritarian leader. Many celebrated in the streets of Accra when he was overthrown by a coup in 1966 while he was on a state visit to China.

* In the years following Nkrumah, Ghana tottered from one military coup to the next before holding its first democratic elections in 1992. The cocoa sector, a key export together with gold, took years to recover from Nkrumah's stewardship.

* Former President Jerry John Rawlings, who seized control in a coup in 1979 and again in 1981, left office in 2000, when current President John Kufuor was elected. He will stand down at elections in 2008.

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