July 8 (Reuters) - Local elections held in Sierra Leone for only the second time in over three decades are being hailed as a yardstick of the West African nation's recovery from a 1991-2002 civil war that was a byword for brutality.

Here are some key facts about the country:

GEOGRAPHY: Sierra Leone covers 71,740 sq km (27,699 sq miles), slightly less than the Czech Republic. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea to the north and east and Liberia to the southeast.

CAPITAL: Freetown.

POPULATION: 5.7 million.

ETHNICITY: The Temne and Mende each account for almost one-third of the population. Lokko, Sherbro, Limba, Susso, Fulani, Kono and Krio are other important groups.

RELIGION: Most of the people practise traditional African religions. Nearly one-third are Muslims, who mainly live in the north. A Catholic minority is concentrated in the capital.

LANGUAGE: English is the official language but Temne, Mende and Krio (Creole) are also spoken. Krio serves as the commercial language in the capital.

ECONOMY: Diamonds, gold, bauxite and titanium ore accounted for about two-thirds of foreign exchange income before war and instability wrecked the economy.

-- More than 70 percent of Sierra Leone's people live below the poverty line and the country has the worst maternal and child mortality rates in the world.

-- President Ernest Bai Koroma has vowed to shift the small economy's emphasis from mining to agriculture and tourism. SOME HISTORY: It won independence from Britain in 1961 and suffered years of dictatorship, coup attempts and corrupt rule.

-- President Siaka Stevens made the country a one-party state in 1978, quit in 1985 aged 80 and chose former army chief Joseph Momoh as successor.

-- Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebelled against Momoh in 1991, starting a decade of war that ended in early 2002 after an estimated 50,000 people were killed.

-- A Special Court was set up by the government and the United Nations in 2002 to try those most responsible for human rights violations during the later stages of the war.

-- In September 2007 Ernest Bai Koroma was sworn in as president after beating the candidate of the then ruling Sierra Leone People's Party.

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