Z (part 14)

Legislative branch:
unicameral Parliament or Fale I Fono, also called House of Assembly
(15 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 25 July 2002 (next to be held NA 2006)
election results: percent of vote - NA; seats - independents 15

Judicial branch:
High Court (a chief justice visits twice a year to preside over its
sessions; its rulings can be appealed to the Court of Appeal in
Fiji); eight Island Courts (with limited jurisdiction)

Political parties and leaders: there are no political parties but members of Parliament usually align themselves in informal groupings

Political pressure groups and leaders:
none

International organization participation:
ACP, AsDB, C, FAO, IFRCS (observer), IMO, ITU, OPCW, PIF, Sparteca,
UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPU, WHO

Diplomatic representation in the US: Tuvalu does not have an embassy in the US - the country's only diplomatic post is in Fiji - Tuvalu does, however, have a UN office located at 800 2nd Avenue, Suite 400D, New York, New York 10017, telephone: (212) 490-0534

Diplomatic representation from the US:
the US does not have an embassy in Tuvalu; the US ambassador to
Fiji is accredited to Tuvalu

Flag description:
light blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side
quadrant; the outer half of the flag represents a map of the country
with nine yellow five-pointed stars symbolizing the nine islands

Economy Tuvalu

Economy - overview:
Tuvalu consists of a densely populated, scattered group of nine
coral atolls with poor soil. The country has no known mineral
resources and few exports. Subsistence farming and fishing are the
primary economic activities. Fewer than 1,000 tourists, on average,
visit Tuvalu annually. Government revenues largely come from the
sale of stamps and coins and worker remittances. About 1,000
Tuvaluans work in Nauru in the phosphate mining industry. Nauru has
begun repatriating Tuvaluans, however, as phosphate resources
decline. Substantial income is received annually from an
international trust fund established in 1987 by Australia, NZ, and
the UK and supported also by Japan and South Korea. Thanks to wise
investments and conservative withdrawals, this Fund has grown from
an initial $17 million to over $35 million in 1999. The US
government is also a major revenue source for Tuvalu, because of
payments from a 1988 treaty on fisheries. In an effort to reduce its
dependence on foreign aid, the government is pursuing public sector
reforms, including privatization of some government functions and
personnel cuts of up to 7%. In 1998, Tuvalu began deriving revenue
from use of its area code for "900" lines and in 2000, from the
lease of its ".tv" Internet domain name. Royalties from these new
technology sources could increase substantially over the next
decade. With merchandise exports only a fraction of merchandise
imports, continued reliance must be placed on fishing and
telecommunications license fees, remittances from overseas workers,
official transfers, and investment income from overseas assets.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $12.2 million NA (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,100 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: NA
industry: NA
services: NA

Population below poverty line:
NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5% (2000 est.)

Labor force:
7,000 (2001 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
people make a living mainly through exploitation of the sea, reefs,
and atolls and from wages sent home by those abroad (mostly workers
in the phosphate industry and sailors)

Unemployment rate:
NA

Budget:
revenues: $22.5 million
expenditures: $11.2 million, including capital expenditures of $4.2
million (2000 est.)

Agriculture - products:
coconuts; fish

Industries:
fishing, tourism, copra

Industrial production growth rate:
NA

Exports:
$1 million f.o.b. (2002)

Exports - commodities:
copra, fish

Exports - partners:
UK 37.5%, Poland 19.1%, Philippines 9.2%, Australia 9.1%, Fiji 6.2%
(2003)

Imports:
$79 million c.i.f. (2002)

Imports - commodities:
food, animals, mineral fuels, machinery, manufactured goods

Imports - partners:
Fiji 47.3%, Australia 13.9%, Poland 10.8%, Germany 10.2%, Japan 8%,
New Zealand 6.2% (2003)

Debt - external:
NA

Economic aid - recipient:
$13 million ; note - major donors are Australia, Japan, and the US
(1999 est.)

Currency:
Australian dollar (AUD); note - there is also a Tuvaluan dollar

Currency code:
AUD

Exchange rates:
Tuvaluan dollars or Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.5419,
(2003), 1.8406 (2002), 1.9320 (2001), 1.7173 (2000), 1.5497 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Tuvalu

Telephones - main lines in use:
700 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
0 (1994)

Telephone system:
general assessment: serves particular needs for internal
communications
domestic: radiotelephone communications between islands
international: country code - 688

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1999)

Radios:
4,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
0 (1997)

Televisions:
800

Internet country code:
.tv

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2000)

Internet users:
1,300 (2002)

Transportation Tuvalu

Highways: total: 8 km paved: 0 km unpaved: 8 km (1999 est.)

Ports and harbors:
Funafuti, Nukufetau

Merchant marine:
total: 6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 54,993 GRT/86,048 DWT
by type: cargo 3, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 1, specialized
tanker 1
foreign-owned: Germany 4, Singapore 1, Thailand 1 (2004 est.)

Airports:
1 (2003 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2004 est.)

Military Tuvalu

Military branches:
no regular military forces; Police Force (includes Maritime
Surveillance Unit for search and rescue missions and surveillance
operations)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
NA

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
NA

Transnational Issues Tuvalu

Disputes - international: none

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Uganda

Introduction Uganda

Background:
Uganda achieved independence from the UK in 1962. The dictatorial
regime of Idi AMIN (1971-79) was responsible for the deaths of some
300,000 opponents; guerrilla war and human rights abuses under
Milton OBOTE (1980-85) claimed at least another 100,000 lives.
During the 1990s, the government promulgated non-party presidential
and legislative elections.

Geography Uganda

Location:
Eastern Africa, west of Kenya

Geographic coordinates:
1 00 N, 32 00 E

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 236,040 sq km
water: 36,330 sq km
land: 199,710 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Oregon

Land boundaries:
total: 2,698 km
border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 765 km, Kenya 933
km, Rwanda 169 km, Sudan 435 km, Tanzania 396 km

Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)

Climate:
tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to
February, June to August); semiarid in northeast

Terrain:
mostly plateau with rim of mountains

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Lake Albert 621 m highest point: Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley 5,110 m

Natural resources:
copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone, salt, arable land

Land use:
arable land: 25.88%
permanent crops: 10.65%
other: 63.47% (2001)

Irrigated land:
90 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
draining of wetlands for agricultural use; deforestation;
overgrazing; soil erosion; water hyacinth infestation in Lake
Victoria; poaching is widespread

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection,
Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

Geography - note:
landlocked; fertile, well-watered country with many lakes and rivers

People Uganda

Population:
26,404,543
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the
effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower
life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of
population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 50.6% (male 6,696,193; female 6,653,764)
15-64 years: 47.1% (male 6,199,732; female 6,233,678)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 269,990; female 351,186) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 14.8 years
female: 14.9 years (2004 est.)
male: 14.7 years

Population growth rate:
2.97% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
46.31 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
16.61 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: according to the UNHCR, by the end of 2001, Uganda was host to
178,815 refugees from a number of neighboring countries, including:
Sudan 155,996, Rwanda 14,375, and Democratic Republic of the Congo
7,459 (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 86.15 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 78.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 93.58 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 45.28 years
male: 43.76 years
female: 46.83 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
6.64 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
4.1% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
600,000 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
84,000 (2001 est.)

Major infectious diseases:
typhoid fever, malaria, trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis
overall degree of risk: very high (2004)

Nationality:
noun: Ugandan(s)
adjective: Ugandan

Ethnic groups:
Baganda 17%, Ankole 8%, Basoga 8%, Iteso 8%, Bakiga 7%, Langi 6%,
Rwanda 6%, Bagisu 5%, Acholi 4%, Lugbara 4%, Batoro 3%, Bunyoro 3%,
Alur 2%, Bagwere 2%, Bakonjo 2%, Jopodhola 2%, Karamojong 2%, Rundi
2%, non-African (European, Asian, Arab) 1%, other 8%

Religions:
Roman Catholic 33%, Protestant 33%, Muslim 16%, indigenous beliefs
18%

Languages:
English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used
in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts),
Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages,
preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be
taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan
languages, Swahili, Arabic

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 69.9%
male: 79.5%
female: 60.4% (2003 est.)

Government Uganda

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Uganda
conventional short form: Uganda

Government type:
republic

Capital:
Kampala

Administrative divisions:
56 districts; Adjumani, Apac, Arua, Bugiri, Bundibugyo, Bushenyi,
Busia, Gulu, Hoima, Iganga, Jinja, Kabale, Kabarole, Kaberamaido,
Kalangala, Kampala, Kamuli, Kamwenge, Kanungu, Kapchorwa, Kasese,
Katakwi, Kayunga, Kibale, Kiboga, Kisoro, Kitgum, Kotido, Kumi,
Kyenjojo, Lira, Luwero, Masaka, Masindi, Mayuge, Mbale, Mbarara,
Moroto, Moyo, Mpigi, Mubende, Mukono, Nakapiripirit, Nakasongola,
Nebbi, Ntungamo, Pader, Pallisa, Rakai, Rukungiri, Sembabule,
Sironko, Soroti, Tororo, Wakiso, Yumbe

Independence:
9 October 1962 (from UK)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 9 October (1962)

Constitution:
8 October 1995; adopted by the interim, 284-member Constituent
Assembly, charged with debating the draft constitution that had been
proposed in May 1993; the Constituent Assembly was dissolved upon
the promulgation of the constitution in October 1995

Legal system:
in 1995, the government restored the legal system to one based on
English common law and customary law; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI (since
seizing power 26 January 1986); note - the president is both chief
of state and head of government
head of government: President Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI (since
seizing power 29 January 1986); Prime Minister Apollo NSIBAMBI
(since 5 April 1999); note - the president is both chief of state
and head of government; the prime minister assists the president in
the supervision of the cabinet
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president from among elected
legislators
elections: president reelected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election last held 12 March 2001 (next to be held NA 2006); note -
first popular election for president since independence in 1962 was
held in 1996; prime minister appointed by the president
election results: Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI elected president;
percent of vote - Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI 69.3%, Kizza
BESIGYE 27.8%

Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly (303 members - 214 directly elected by
popular vote, 81 nominated by legally established special interest
groups [women 56, army 10, disabled 5, youth 5, labor 5], 8 ex
officio members; members serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 26 June 2001 (next to be held May or June 2006);
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party -
NA; note - election campaigning by party was not permitted

Judicial branch:
Court of Appeal (judges are appointed by the president and approved
by the legislature); High Court (judges are appointed by the
president)

Political parties and leaders:
only one political organization, the Movement (formerly the
NRM)[President MUSEVENI, chairman] is allowed to operate unfettered;
note - the president maintains that the Movement is not a political
party, but a mass organization, which claims the loyalty of all
Ugandans
note: the constitution requires the suspension of political parties
while the Movement organization is in governance; of the political
parties that exist but are prohibited from sponsoring candidates,
the most important are the Ugandan People's Congress or UPC [Milton
OBOTE]; Democratic Party or DP [Paul SSEMOGERERE]; Conservative
Party or CP [Ken LUKYAMUZI]; Justice Forum [Muhammad Kibirige
MAYANJA]; and National Democrats Forum [Chapaa KARUHANGA]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Popular Resistance Against a Life President or PRALP

International organization participation:
ACP, AfDB, AU, C, EADB, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU,
ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC,
IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, PCA, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO,
WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Edith Grace SSEMPALA chancery: 5911 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20011 FAX: (202) 726-1727 telephone: (202) 726-7100 through 7102, 0416

Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Jimmy KOLKER embassy: 1577 Ggaba Rd., Kampala mailing address: P. O. Box 7007, Kampala telephone: (41) 234-142 FAX: (41) 258-451

Flag description:
six equal horizontal bands of black (top), yellow, red, black,
yellow, and red; a white disk is superimposed at the center and
depicts a red-crested crane (the national symbol) facing the hoist
side

Economy Uganda

Economy - overview:
Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils,
regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt.
Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing
over 80% of the work force. Coffee accounts for the bulk of export
revenues. Since 1986, the government - with the support of foreign
countries and international agencies - has acted to rehabilitate and
stabilize the economy by undertaking currency reform, raising
producer prices on export crops, increasing prices of petroleum
products, and improving civil service wages. The policy changes are
especially aimed at dampening inflation and boosting production and
export earnings. During 1990-2001, the economy turned in a solid
performance based on continued investment in the rehabilitation of
infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports,
reduced inflation, gradually improved domestic security, and the
return of exiled Indian-Ugandan entrepreneurs. Corruption within the
government and slippage in the government's determination to press
reforms raise doubts about the continuation of strong growth. In
2000, Uganda qualified for enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC) debt relief worth $1.3 billion and Paris Club debt relief
worth $145 million. These amounts combined with the original HIPC
debt relief added up to about $2 billion. Growth for 2001-02 was
solid despite continued decline in the price of coffee, Uganda's
principal export. Solid growth in 2003 reflected an upturn in
Uganda's export markets.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $36.1 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4.4% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,400 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 36.1% industry: 21.2% services: 42.8% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
20.3% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
35% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 4%
highest 10%: 21% (2000)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
37.4 (1996)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
7.9% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
12.09 million (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 82%, industry 5%, services 13% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate:
NA (2002 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.123 billion
expenditures: $1.433 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(FY98/99 est.) (2003)

Public debt:
62.2% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products: coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, cassava (tapioca), potatoes, corn, millet, pulses; beef, goat meat, milk, poultry, cut flowers

Industries:
sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles, cement

Industrial production growth rate:
5% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
1.928 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
1.62 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
174 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
1 million kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
8,750 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Current account balance:
$-237 million (2003)

Exports:
$495 million f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
coffee, fish and fish products, tea; gold, cotton, flowers,
horticultural products

Exports - partners:
Kenya 14.7%, Switzerland 13.7%, Netherlands 9.2%, UK 6.4%, South
Africa 5.6% (2003)

Imports:
$1.179 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
capital equipment, vehicles, petroleum, medical supplies; cereals

Imports - partners:
Kenya 26%, India 7.4%, South Africa 7.2%, Japan 6.6%, UK 6.3%, UAE
5.8%, US 5.7%, China 5.1% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$1.08 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$3.818 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$1.4 billion (2000)

Currency:
Ugandan shilling (UGX)

Currency code:
UGX

Exchange rates:
Ugandan shillings per US dollar - 1,963.72 (2003), 1,797.55 (2002),
1,755.66 (2001), 1,644.48 (2000), 1,454.83 (1999)

Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June

Communications Uganda

Telephones - main lines in use:
61,000 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
776,200 (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: seriously inadequate; two cellular systems have
been introduced, but a sharp increase in the number of main lines is
essential; e-mail and Internet services are available
domestic: intercity traffic by wire, microwave radio relay, and
radiotelephone communication stations, fixed and mobile cellular
systems for short-range traffic
international: country code - 256; satellite earth stations - 1
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat; analog links to Kenya and
Tanzania

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 7, FM 33, shortwave 2 (2001)

Radios:
5 million (2001)

Television broadcast stations:
8 (plus one low-power repeater) (2001)

Televisions:
500,000 (2001)

Internet country code:
.ug

Internet hosts:
2,692 (2004)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
2 (2000)

Internet users:
125,000 (2003)

Transportation Uganda

Railways: total: 1,241 km narrow gauge: 1,241 km 1.000-m gauge (2003)

Highways: total: 27,000 km paved: 1,809 km unpaved: 25,191 km (1999 est.)

Waterways:
300 km (on Lake Victoria, 200 km on Lake Albert, Lake Kyoga, and
parts of Albert Nile) (2004 est.)

Ports and harbors:
Entebbe, Jinja, Port Bell

Merchant marine:
total: 3 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 5,091 GRT/5,943 DWT
by type: roll on/roll off 3 (2003 est.)

Airports:
27 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 4 over 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 25 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 7 (2004 est.)

Military Uganda

Military branches:
Ugandan Peoples' Defense Force (UPDF): Army, Marine Unit, Air Wing

Military manpower - military age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military duty; the government has stated that recruitment below that age could occur with proper consent and that "no person under the apparent age of 13 years shall be enrolled in the armed forces"

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 5,678,649 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 3,085,053 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$128.2 million (2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.1% (2003)

Transnational Issues Uganda

Disputes - international:
Tutsi, Hutu, Lendu, Hema, and other ethnic groups, associated
political rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government
forces continue fighting in the Great Lakes region, transcending the
boundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and
Uganda to gain control over populated areas and natural resources;
government heads pledge to end conflict, but localized violence
continues despite UN peacekeeping efforts; civil conflict in Sudan
has extended Sudanese rebel forces and refugees into Uganda and
given shelter to Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army soldiers in Sudan;
Kenya and Uganda are working together to stem cattle rustling and
violence by Lord's Resistance Army along the border

Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 184,731 (Sudan), 18,000 (Rwanda) IDPs: 1.4 million (ongoing LRA rebellion, mainly in the north; LRA frequently attacks IDP camps) (2004)

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Ukraine

Introduction Ukraine

Background:
Ukraine was the center of the first Slavic state, Kievan Rus, which
during the 10th and 11th centuries was the largest and most powerful
state in Europe. Weakened by internecine quarrels and Mongol
invasions, Kievan Rus was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania and eventually into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The cultural and religious legacy of Kievan Rus laid the foundation
for Ukrainian nationalism through subsequent centuries. A new
Ukrainian state, the Cossack Hetmanate, was established during the
mid-17th century after an uprising against the Poles. Despite
continuous Muscovite pressure, the Hetmanate managed to remain
autonomous for well over 100 years. During the latter part of the
18th century, most Ukrainian ethnographic territory was absorbed by
the Russian Empire. Following the collapse of czarist Russia in
1917, Ukraine was able to bring about a short-lived period of
independence (1917-1920), but was reconquered and forced to endure a
brutal Soviet rule that engineered two artificial famines (1921-22
and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died. In World War II, German
and Soviet armies were responsible for some 7 to 8 million more
deaths. Although final independence for Ukraine was achieved in 1991
with the dissolution of the USSR, democracy remained elusive as the
legacy of state control and endemic corruption stalled efforts at
economic reform, privatization, and civil liberties. A peaceful mass
protest "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the
authorites to overturn a rigged presidential election and to allow a
new internationally monitored vote that swept into power a reformist
slate under Viktor YUSHCHENKO. The new government presents its
citizens with hope that the country may at last attain true freedom
and prosperity.

Geography Ukraine

Location:
Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Romania,
and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east

Geographic coordinates:
49 00 N, 32 00 E

Map references:
Asia, Europe

Area:
total: 603,700 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 603,700 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries:
total: 4,663 km
border countries: Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km,
Poland 526 km, Romania (south) 169 km, Romania (west) 362 km, Russia
1,576 km, Slovakia 97 km

Coastline:
2,782 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation

Climate:
temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean
coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west
and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from cool
along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; summers are warm across
the greater part of the country, hot in the south

Terrain:
most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus,
mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the
Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Black Sea 0 m
highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m

Natural resources:
iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur,
graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber,
arable land

Land use:
arable land: 56.21%
permanent crops: 1.61%
other: 42.18% (2001)

Irrigated land:
24,540 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water pollution;
deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986
accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulfur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic
Compounds

Geography - note:
strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia;
second-largest country in Europe

People Ukraine

Population:
47,732,079 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 15.9% (male 3,883,485; female 3,715,668)
15-64 years: 68.7% (male 15,692,388; female 17,096,611)
65 years and over: 15.4% (male 2,472,023; female 4,871,904) (2004
est.)

Median age: total: 38.1 years male: 34.8 years female: 41.1 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
-0.66% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
10.21 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
16.41 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.39 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.51 male(s)/female
total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 20.61 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 19.28 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 21.87 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 66.68 years
male: 61.35 years
female: 72.27 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.37 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
2% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
250,000 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
11,000 (2001 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Ukrainian(s)
adjective: Ukrainian

Ethnic groups:
Ukrainian 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Belarusian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%,
Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%,
Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8% (2001)

Religions:
Ukrainian Orthodox - Kiev Patriarchate 19%, Ukrainian Orthodox -
Moscow Patriarchate 9%, Ukrainian Greek Catholic 6%, Ukrainian
Autocephalous Orthodox 1.7%, Protestant, Jewish, none 38% (2004 est.)

Languages:
Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
female: 99.6% (2003 est.)
male: 99.8%
total population: 99.7%

People - note:
the sex trafficking of Ukrainian women is a serious problem that
has only recently been addressed

Government Ukraine

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Ukraine
local long form: none
former: Ukrainian National Republic, Ukrainian State, Ukrainian
Soviet Socialist Republic
local short form: Ukrayina

Government type:
republic

Capital:
Kiev (Kyyiv)

Administrative divisions:
24 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast'), 1 autonomous republic*
(avtonomna respublika), and 2 municipalities (mista, singular -
misto) with oblast status**; Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Crimea
or Avtonomna Respublika Krym* (Simferopol'), Dnipropetrovs'k,
Donets'k, Ivano-Frankivs'k, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmel'nyts'kyy,
Kirovohrad, Kiev (Kyyiv)**, Kyyiv, Luhans'k, L'viv, Mykolayiv,
Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sevastopol'**, Sumy, Ternopil', Vinnytsya,
Volyn' (Luts'k), Zakarpattya (Uzhhorod), Zaporizhzhya, Zhytomyr
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their
administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center
name following in parentheses)

Independence:
24 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 24 August (1991); the date of 22 January (1918),
the day Ukraine first declared its independence (from Soviet
Russia), is now celebrated as Unity Day

Constitution:
adopted 28 June 1996

Legal system:
based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Viktor A. YUSHCHENKO (since 23 January
2005)
head of government: Prime Minister Yuliya TYMOSHENKO (since 4
February 2005); First Deputy Prime Minister - Anatoliy KINAKH (since
4 February 2005)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president and
approved by the Supreme Council
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
note - a special repeat runoff presidential election between Viktor
YUSHCHENKO and Viktor YANUKOVYCH took place on 26 December 2004
after the earlier 21 November 2004 contest - won by Mr. YANUKOVYCH -
was invalidated by the Ukrainian Supreme Court because of widespread
and significant violations; prime minister and deputy prime
ministers appointed by the president and approved by the Supreme
Council
election results: Viktor YUSHCHENKO elected president; percent of
vote - Viktor YUSHCHENKO 51.99%, Viktor YANUKOVYCH 44.2%
note: there is also a National Security and Defense Council or NSDC
originally created in 1992 as the National Security Council, but
significantly revamped and strengthened under former-President
KUCHMA; the NSDC staff is tasked with developing national security
policy on domestic and international matters and advising the
president; a Presidential Administration that helps draft
presidential edicts and provides policy support to the president;
and a Council of Regions that serves as an advisory body

Legislative branch:
unicameral Supreme Council or Verkhovna Rada (450 seats; under
recent amendments to Ukraine's election law, the Rada's seats are
allocated on a proportional basis to those parties that gain 3% or
more of the national electoral vote; members serve four-year terms)
election results: percent of vote by party/bloc - Our Ukraine 24%,
CPU 20%, United Ukraine 12%, SPU 7%, Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc 7%,
United Social Democratic Party 6%, other 24%; seats by party/bloc -
Our Ukraine 101, Regions of Ukraine 61, CPU 59, Working Ukraine 14,
United Social Democratic Party 33, Agrarian Party 22, SPU 20, Yuliya
Tymoshenko Bloc 19, United Ukraine 19, People's Democratic
Party-Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs 16, Center Group 15,
Democratic Initiatives 14, unaffiliated 57 (December 2004)
note: following the election, United Ukraine splintered into the
Agrarian Party, European Choice, People's Choice, People's
Democratic Party, Regions of Ukraine, and Working
Ukraine-Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; these factions have since
undergone a number of changes
elections: last held 31 March 2002 (next to be held March 2006)

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court; Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders:
Agrarian Party [Volodymyr LYTVYN]; Communist Party of Ukraine or
CPU [Petro SYMONENKO]; Democratic Initiatives [Stepan HAVRYSH];
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs [Anatoliy KINAKH]; Our Ukraine bloc
(comprised of several parties the most prominent of which are Rukh,
the Ukrainian People's Party, Reforms and Order, and Solidarity)
[Viktor YUSHCHENKO]; People's Democratic Party or PDP [Valeriy
PUSTOVOYTENKO]; Regions of Ukraine [Viktor YANUKOVYCH]; Socialist
Party of Ukraine or SPU [Oleksandr MOROZ, chairman]; United Social
Democratic Party [Viktor MEDVEDCHUK]; Working Ukraine [Serhiy
TYHYPKO]; Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc [Yuliya TYMOSHENKO]
note: as well as numerous smaller parties; United Ukraine and Center
Group are not actual political parties, but rather deputy groups
(factions not based on a party)

Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA

International organization participation:
BSEC, CE, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, FAO, GUUAM, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS
(observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMEE, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNMOVIC, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WCO,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer), ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Mykhailo B. REZNIK
FAX: (202) 333-0817
consulate(s) general: Chicago and New York
telephone: (202) 349-2920
chancery: 3350 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador John E. HERBST
embassy: 10 Yuriia Kotsiubynskoho Street, 04053 Kiev
mailing address: 5850 Kiev Place, Washington, DC 20521-5850
telephone: (44) 490-4000
FAX: (44) 490-4085

Flag description:
two equal horizontal bands of azure (top) and golden yellow
represent grainfields under a blue sky

Economy Ukraine

Economy - overview:
After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most
important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing
about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its
fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet
agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities
of meat, milk, grain, and vegetables to other republics. Likewise,
its diversified heavy industry supplied the unique equipment (for
example, large diameter pipes) and raw materials to industrial and
mining sites (vertical drilling apparatus) in other regions of the
former USSR. Ukraine depends on imports of energy, especially
natural gas, to meet some 85% of its annual energy requirements.
Shortly after independence in December 1991, the Ukrainian
Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for
privatization, but widespread resistance to reform within the
government and the legislature soon stalled reform efforts and led
to some backtracking. Output by 1999 had fallen to less than 40% of
the 1991 level. Loose monetary policies pushed inflation to
hyperinflationary levels in late 1993. Ukraine's dependence on
Russia for energy supplies and the lack of significant structural
reform have made the Ukrainian economy vulnerable to external
shocks. President KUCHMA had pledged to reduce the number of
government agencies, streamline the regulatory process, create a
legal environment to encourage entrepreneurs, and enact a
comprehensive tax overhaul. Reforms in the more politically
sensitive areas of structural reform and land privatization are
still lagging. Outside institutions - particularly the IMF - have
encouraged Ukraine to quicken the pace and scope of reforms. GDP in
2000 showed strong export-based growth of 6% - the first growth
since independence - and industrial production grew 12.9%. The
economy continued to expand in 2001 as real GDP rose 9% and
industrial output grew by over 14%. Growth of 4.6% in 2002 was more
moderate, in part a reflection of faltering growth in the developed
world. In general, growth has been undergirded by strong domestic
demand, low inflation, and solid consumer and investor confidence.
Growth was a sturdy 9.3% in 2003 and a remarkable 12% in 2004,
despite a loss of momentum in needed economic reforms.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $260.4 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
9.4% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $5,400 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 18.8% industry: 44.8% services: 36.4% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
21% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
29% (2003 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.7% highest 10%: 23.2% (1999)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
29 (1999)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.2% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
21.29 million (2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 24%, industry 32%, services 44% (1996)

Unemployment rate:
3.7% officially registered; large number of unregistered or
underemployed workers (2003)

Budget:
revenues: $14.1 billion
expenditures: $14.19 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003 est.)

Public debt:
28.7% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables; beef, milk

Industries:
coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and
transport equipment, chemicals, food processing (especially sugar)

Industrial production growth rate:
15.8% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
164.7 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
152.4 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
800 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
86,490 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
290,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
197.5 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
18.2 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
74.1 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
55.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
560.7 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$2.891 billion (2003)

Exports:
$23.63 billion (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products,
chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, food products

Exports - partners:
Russia 17.8%, Germany 5.9%, Italy 5.3%, China 4.1% (2003)

Imports:
$23.58 billion (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
energy, machinery and equipment, chemicals

Imports - partners:
Russia 35.9%, Germany 9.4%, Turkmenistan 7.2% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$6.937 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$16.13 billion (2003)

Economic aid - recipient: $637.7 million (1995); IMF Extended Funds Facility $2.2 billion (1998)

Currency:
hryvnia (UAH)

Currency code:
UAH

Exchange rates:
hryvnia per US dollar - 5.3327 (2003), 5.3266 (2002), 5.3722
(2001), 5.4402 (2000), 4.1304 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Ukraine

Telephones - main lines in use:
10,833,300 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
4.2 million (2002)

Telephone system:
general assessment: Ukraine's telecommunication development plan,
running through 2005, emphasizes improving domestic trunk lines,
international connections, and the mobile cellular system
domestic: at independence in December 1991, Ukraine inherited a
telephone system that was antiquated, inefficient, and in disrepair;
more than 3.5 million applications for telephones could not be
satisfied; telephone density is now rising slowly and the domestic
trunk system is being improved; the mobile cellular telephone system
is expanding at a high rate
international: country code - 380; two new domestic trunk lines are
a part of the fiber-optic Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) system and three
Ukrainian links have been installed in the fiber-optic
Trans-European Lines (TEL) project that connects 18 countries;
additional international service is provided by the
Italy-Turkey-Ukraine-Russia (ITUR) fiber-optic submarine cable and
by earth stations in the Intelsat, Inmarsat, and Intersputnik
satellite systems

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 134, FM 289, shortwave 4 (1998)

Radios:
45.05 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: at least 33 (plus 21 repeaters that relay broadcasts from Russia) (1997)

Televisions:
18.05 million (1997)

Internet country code:
.ua

Internet hosts:
94,345 (2004)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
260 (2001)

Internet users:
900,000 (2002)

Transportation Ukraine

Railways: total: 22,473 km broad gauge: 22,473 km 1.524-m gauge (9,250 km electrified) (2003)

Highways: total: 169,491 km paved: 163,898 km unpaved: 5,593 km (2000)

Waterways:
1,672 km (most on Dnieper River) (2004)

Pipelines:
gas 20,069 km; oil 4,540 km; refined products 4,169 km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
Berdyans'k, Feodosiya, Illichivs'k, Izmayil, Kerch, Kherson, Kiev
(Kyyiv), Kiliya, Mariupol', Mykolayiv, Odesa, Reni, Sevastopol',
Yalta, Yuzhnyy

Merchant marine:
total: 140 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 675,904 GRT/709,802 DWT
by type: bulk 7, cargo 92, container 7, liquefied gas 2, passenger
11, passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 10, rail car carrier 2,
refrigerated cargo 2, roll on/roll off 3, short-sea/passenger 1
foreign-owned: Belize 2, Canada 1, Cyprus 1, Hungary 2, Italy 1,
Russia 4, Turkey 3
registered in other countries: 87 (2004 est.)

Airports:
702 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 174
over 3,047 m: 13
2,438 to 3,047 m: 57
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 70 (2003 est.)
1,524 to 2,437 m: 30

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 528
under 914 m: 469 (2003 est.)
over 3,047 m: 4
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
914 to 1,523 m: 35
1,524 to 2,437 m: 17

Heliports:
8 (2003 est.)

Military Ukraine

Military branches:
Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air and Air Defense Forces, Ministry
of Internal Affairs (MVS) Troops, Border Troops

Military manpower - military age and obligation: 18-27 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation - 18 months for Army and Air Force, 24 months for Navy (2004)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 12,196,319 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 9,565,088 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 386,945 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$617.9 million (FY02)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.4% (FY02)

Transnational Issues Ukraine

Disputes - international:
1997 boundary treaty with Belarus remains unratified due to
unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and reducing
border security; delimitation of land boundary with Russia is
complete but boundary through the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait
remains unresolved despite a December 2003 framework agreement and
on-going expert-level discussions; Ukraine protests Russia's
construction of a causeway in the direction of
Ukrainian-administered Tuzla Island in the Kerch Strait;
difficulties with Moldova's Transnistria region complicate
controlling border crossing and customs regimes despite concordance
on the 2003 delimitation and customs protocols and OSCE assistance;
has not resolved Romanian claims to Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy
(Snake) Island and Black Sea maritime boundary despite ongoing talks
based on 1997 friendship treaty to find a solution in two years;
ongoing dispute between Ukraine and Romania over the Danube River
delta

Illicit drugs:
limited cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly for CIS
consumption; some synthetic drug production for export to the West;
limited government eradication program; used as transshipment point
for opiates and other illicit drugs from Africa, Latin America, and
Turkey to Europe and Russia; Ukraine has improved
anti-money-laundering controls, resulting in its removal from the
Financial Action Task Force's (FATF's) Noncooperative Countries and
Territories List in February 2004; Ukraine's anti-money-laundering
regime continues to be monitored by FATF

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@United Arab Emirates

Introduction United Arab Emirates

Background:
The Trucial States of the Persian Gulf coast granted the UK control
of their defense and foreign affairs in 19th century treaties. In
1971, six of these states - Abu Zaby, 'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash
Shariqah, Dubayy, and Umm al Qaywayn - merged to form the United
Arab Emirates (UAE). They were joined in 1972 by Ra's al Khaymah.
The UAE's per capita GDP is on par with those of leading West
European nations. Its generosity with oil revenues and its moderate
foreign policy stance have allowed the UAE to play a vital role in
the affairs of the region.

Geography United Arab Emirates

Location:
Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf,
between Oman and Saudi Arabia

Geographic coordinates:
24 00 N, 54 00 E

Map references:
Middle East

Area:
total: 82,880 sq km
land: 82,880 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Maine

Land boundaries: total: 867 km border countries: Oman 410 km, Saudi Arabia 457 km

Coastline:
1,318 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
desert; cooler in eastern mountains

Terrain:
flat, barren coastal plain merging into rolling sand dunes of vast
desert wasteland; mountains in east

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
highest point: Jabal Yibir 1,527 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas

Land use: arable land: 0.6% permanent crops: 2.25% other: 97.15% (2001)

Irrigated land:
720 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
frequent sand and dust storms

Environment - current issues: lack of natural freshwater resources compensated by desalination plants; desertification; beach pollution from oil spills

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea

Geography - note:
strategic location along southern approaches to Strait of Hormuz, a
vital transit point for world crude oil

People United Arab Emirates

Population:
2,523,915
note: includes an estimated 1,606,079 non-nationals; the 17 December
1995 census presents a total population figure of 2,377,453, and
there are estimates of 3.44 million for 2002 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 25.9% (male 333,661; female 320,368)
15-64 years: 70.9% (male 1,103,385; female 685,281)
65 years and over: 3.2% (male 58,862; female 22,358) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 27.7 years
male: 35.7 years
female: 22.4 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.57% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
18.65 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
4.14 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
1.03 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.61 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 2.63 male(s)/female
total population: 1.46 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 15.06 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 12.29 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 17.71 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.99 years
male: 72.51 years
female: 77.6 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
3.02 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.18% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality:
noun: Emirati(s)
adjective: Emirati

Ethnic groups:
Emirati 19%, other Arab and Iranian 23%, South Asian 50%, other
expatriates (includes Westerners and East Asians) 8% (1982)
note: less than 20% are UAE citizens (1982)

Religions:
Muslim 96% (Shi'a 16%), Christian, Hindu, and other 4%

Languages:
Arabic (official), Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77.9%
male: 76.1%
female: 81.7% (2003 est.)

Government United Arab Emirates

Country name:
conventional long form: United Arab Emirates
conventional short form: none
local long form: Al Imarat al Arabiyah al Muttahidah
abbreviation: UAE
former: Trucial Oman, Trucial States
local short form: none

Government type:
federation with specified powers delegated to the UAE federal
government and other powers reserved to member emirates

Capital:
Abu Dhabi

Administrative divisions:
7 emirates (imarat, singular - imarah); Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi),
'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Shariqah (Sharjah), Dubayy (Dubai), Ra's al
Khaymah, Umm al Qaywayn

Independence:
2 December 1971 (from UK)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 2 December (1971)

Constitution:
2 December 1971 (made permanent in 1996)

Legal system:
federal court system introduced in 1971; applies to all emirates
except Dubayy (Dubai) and Ra's al Khaymah, which are not fully
integrated into the federal system; all emirates have secular courts
to adjudicate criminal, civil, and commercial matters and Islamic
courts to review family and religious disputes

Suffrage:
none

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Sheikh KHALIFA bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan
(since 3 November 2004), ruler of Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi) (since 4
November 2004) and Vice President MAKTUM bin Rashid al-Maktum (since
8 October 1990), ruler of Dubayy (Dubai)
note: there is also a Federal Supreme Council (FSC) composed of the
seven emirate rulers; the FSC is the highest constitutional
authority in the UAE; establishes general policies and sanctions
federal legislation; meets four times a year; Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi)
and Dubayy (Dubai) rulers have effective veto power
head of government: Prime Minister MAKTUM bin Rashid al-Maktum
(since 8 October 1990), ruler of Dubayy (Dubai); Deputy Prime
Minister SULTAN bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan (since 20 November 1990);
Deputy Prime Minister HAMDAN bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan (since 20 October
2003)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president
elections: president and vice president elected by the FSC (composed
of rulers of the seven emirates) for five-year terms; election last
held 3 November 2004 upon the death of the UAE's Founding Father and
first President ZAYID bin Sultan Al Nuhayyan (next to be held 2009);
prime minister and deputy prime minister appointed by the president
election results: KHALIFA bin Sultan Al Nuhayyan elected president
by a unanimous vote of the FSC; MAKTUM bin Rashid al-Maktum
unanimously reaffirmed vice president

Legislative branch:
unicameral Federal National Council (FNC) or Majlis al-Ittihad
al-Watani (40 seats; members appointed by the rulers of the
constituent states to serve two-year terms)
elections: none
note: reviews legislation, but cannot change or veto

Judicial branch:
Union Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president)

Political parties and leaders:
none

Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA

International organization participation:
ABEDA, AFESD, AMF, FAO, G-77, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt
(signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Asri Said Ahmad al-DHAHIRI note: also a consulate or representative office in New York, NY FAX: (202) 243-2432 telephone: (202) 243-2400 chancery: 3522 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Michele SISON
embassy: Embassies District, Plot 38 Sector W59-02, Street No. 4,
Abu Dhabi
mailing address: P. O. Box 4009, Abu Dhabi
telephone: (2) 414-2200
FAX: (2) 414-2469
consulate(s) general: Dubai

Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and black with
a wider vertical red band on the hoist side

Economy United Arab Emirates

Economy - overview:
The UAE has an open economy with a high per capita income and a
sizable annual trade surplus. Its wealth is based on oil and gas
output (about 33% of GDP), and the fortunes of the economy fluctuate
with the prices of those commodities. Since 1973, the UAE has
undergone a profound transformation from an impoverished region of
small desert principalities to a modern state with a high standard
of living. At present levels of production, oil and gas reserves
should last for more than 100 years. The government has increased
spending on job creation and infrastructure expansion and is opening
up its utilities to greater private sector involvement.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $57.7 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5.2% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $23,200 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 4% industry: 58.5% services: 37.5% (2002 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
22% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.2% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
2.16 million
note: 73.9% of the population in the 15-64 age group is non-national
(2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 7%, industry 15%, services 78% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate:
2.4% (2001)

Budget:
revenues: $17.35 billion
expenditures: $23.85 billion, including capital expenditures of $3.4
billion (2003 est.)

Public debt:
18.1% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
dates, vegetables, watermelons; poultry, eggs, dairy products; fish

Industries:
petroleum, fishing, petrochemicals, construction materials, some
boat building, handicrafts, pearling

Industrial production growth rate:
4% (2000)

Electricity - production:
37.74 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
35.1 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
2.566 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
310,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
80.31 billion bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
44.94 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
37.86 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
7.08 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
5.892 trillion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$12.47 billion (2003)

Exports:
$56.73 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
crude oil 45%, natural gas, reexports, dried fish, dates

Exports - partners:
Japan 26.2%, South Korea 10.5%, Iran 3.8% (2003)

Imports:
$37.16 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food

Imports - partners:
China 10%, Japan 7.2%, Germany 7.2%, US 7%, France 6.9%, UK 5.9%,
Italy 4.4%, South Korea 4.4%, India 4.1% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$15.79 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$20.71 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - donor:
NA

Currency:
Emirati dirham (AED)

Currency code:
AED

Exchange rates:
Emirati dirhams per US dollar - 3.67 (2003), 3.6725 (2002), 3.6725
(2001), 3.6725 (2000), 3.6725 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications United Arab Emirates

Telephones - main lines in use:
1,135,800 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
2,972,300 (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: modern fiber-optic integrated services; digital
network with rapidly growing use of mobile cellular telephones; key
centers are Abu Dhabi and Dubai
domestic: microwave radio relay, fiber optic and coaxial cable
international: country code - 971; satellite earth stations - 3
Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat;
submarine cables to Qatar, Bahrain, India, and Pakistan;
tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi
Arabia

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 13, FM 8, shortwave 2 (2004)

Radios:
820,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
15 (2004)

Televisions:
310,000 (1997)

Internet country code:
.ae

Internet hosts:
56,283 (2004)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2000)

Internet users:
1,110,200 (2003)

Transportation United Arab Emirates

Highways:
total: 1,088 km
paved: 1,088 km (including 253 km of expressways)
unpaved: 0 km (1999 est.)

Pipelines:
condensate 469 km; gas 2,655 km; liquid petroleum gas 300 km; oil
2,936 km; oil/gas/water 5 km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Das Island, Khawr Fakkan, Mina' Jabal 'Ali,
Mina' Khalid, Mina' Rashid, Mina' Saqr, Mina' Zayid, Umm al Qaywayn

Merchant marine:
total: 59 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 578,477 GRT/739,823 DWT
by type: cargo 12, chemical tanker 5, container 7, liquefied gas 1,
petroleum tanker 21, roll on/roll off 8, short-sea/passenger 4,
specialized tanker 1 (2004 est.)

Airports:
35 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 22
over 3,047 m: 8
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 3 (2004 est.)
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 13
under 914 m: 4 (2004 est.)
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 3

Heliports:
2 (2003 est.)

Military United Arab Emirates

Military branches:
Army, Navy (including Marines and Coast Guard), Air and Air Defense
Force, paramilitary forces (includes Federal Police Force)

Military manpower - military age and obligation:
18 years of age (est.); no conscription (2001)

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 764,413 note: includes non-nationals (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 412,490 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 29,183 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$1.6 billion (FY00)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.1% (FY00)

Transnational Issues United Arab Emirates

Disputes - international:
because the treaties have not been made public, the exact alignment
of the boundary with Saudi Arabia is still unknown and labeled
approximate; boundary agreement signed and ratified with Oman in
2003 for entire border, including Oman's Musandam Peninsula and Al
Madhah enclaves; UAE engage in direct talks and solicit Arab League
support to resolve disputes over Iran's occupation of Lesser and
Greater Tunb Islands and Abu Musa Island

Illicit drugs:
the UAE is a drug transshipment point for traffickers given its
proximity to southwest Asian drug producing countries; the UAE's
position as a major financial center makes it vulnerable to money
laundering; anti-money-laundering controls improving

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@United Kingdom

Introduction United Kingdom

Background:
Great Britain, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the
19th century, played a leading role in developing parliamentary
democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith,
the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the earth's surface.
The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously
depleted in two World Wars. The second half witnessed the
dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern
and prosperous European nation. As one of five permanent members of
the UN Security Council, a founding member of NATO, and of the
Commonwealth, the UK pursues a global approach to foreign policy; it
currently is weighing the degree of its integration with continental
Europe. A member of the EU, it chose to remain outside the European
Monetary Union for the time being. Constitutional reform is also a
significant issue in the UK. The Scottish Parliament, the National
Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly were
established in 1999, but the latter is suspended due to bickering
over the peace process.

Geography United Kingdom

Location:
Western Europe, islands including the northern one-sixth of the
island of Ireland between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North
Sea, northwest of France

Geographic coordinates:
54 00 N, 2 00 W

Map references:
Europe

Area:
total: 244,820 sq km
water: 3,230 sq km
note: includes Rockall and Shetland Islands
land: 241,590 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Oregon

Land boundaries: total: 360 km border countries: Ireland 360 km

Coastline:
12,429 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: as defined in continental shelf orders or in
accordance with agreed upon boundaries

Climate:
temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North
Atlantic Current; more than one-half of the days are overcast

Terrain:
mostly rugged hills and low mountains; level to rolling plains in
east and southeast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: The Fens -4 m
highest point: Ben Nevis 1,343 m

Natural resources:
coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, lead, zinc, gold, tin,
limestone, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, potash, silica sand, slate,
arable land

Land use:
arable land: 23.46%
permanent crops: 0.21%
other: 76.33% (2001)

Irrigated land:
1,080 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
winter windstorms; floods

Environment - current issues:
continues to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (has met Kyoto
Protocol target of a 12.5% reduction from 1990 levels and intends to
meet the legally binding target and move towards a domestic goal of
a 20% cut in emissions by 2010); by 2005 the government aims to
reduce the amount of industrial and commercial waste disposed of in
landfill sites to 85% of 1998 levels and to recycle or compost at
least 25% of household waste, increasing to 33% by 2015; between
1998-99 and 1999-2000, household recycling increased from 8.8% to
10.3%

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources,
Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants

Geography - note:
lies near vital North Atlantic sea lanes; only 35 km from France
and now linked by tunnel under the English Channel; because of
heavily indented coastline, no location is more than 125 km from
tidal waters

People United Kingdom

Population:
60,270,708 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 18% (male 5,560,489; female 5,293,871)
15-64 years: 66.3% (male 20,193,876; female 19,736,516)
65 years and over: 15.7% (male 4,027,721; female 5,458,235) (2004
est.)

Median age: total: 38.7 years male: 37.6 years female: 39.8 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
0.29% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
10.88 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
10.19 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
2.19 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 5.22 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.58 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 5.83 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.27 years
male: 75.84 years
female: 80.83 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.66 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.1% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
34,000 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
less than 500 (2003 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Briton(s), British (collective plural)
adjective: British

Ethnic groups:
English 81.5%, Scottish 9.6%, Irish 2.4%, Welsh 1.9%, Ulster 1.8%,
West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%

Religions:
Anglican and Roman Catholic 40 million, Muslim 1.5 million,
Presbyterian 800,000, Methodist 760,000, Sikh 500,000, Hindu
500,000, Jewish 350,000

Languages:
English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish
form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over has completed five or more years of
schooling
total population: 99% (2000 est.)
male: NA
female: NA

Government United Kingdom

Country name:
conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland; note - Great Britain includes the countries of
England, Scotland, and Wales
conventional short form: United Kingdom
abbreviation: UK

Government type:
constitutional monarchy

Capital:
London

Administrative divisions:
England - 47 boroughs, 36 counties, 29 London boroughs, 12 cities
and boroughs, 10 districts, 12 cities, 3 royal boroughs
: boroughs: Barnsley, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton,
Bournemouth, Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, Bury, Calderdale,
Darlington, Doncaster, Dudley, Gateshead, Halton, Hartlepool,
Kirklees, Knowsley, Luton, Medway, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes,
North Tyneside, Oldham, Poole, Reading, Redcar and Cleveland,
Rochdale, Rotherham, Sandwell, Sefton, Slough, Solihull,
Southend-on-Sea, South Tyneside, St. Helens, Stockport,
Stockton-on-Tees, Swindon, Tameside, Thurrock, Torbay, Trafford,
Walsall, Warrington, Wigan, Wirral, Wolverhampton
: counties: Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire,
Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex,
Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire,
Isle of Wight, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire,
Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire,
Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire,
Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Worcestershire
: districts: Bath and North East Somerset, East Riding of Yorkshire,
North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Somerset,
Rutland, South Gloucestershire, Telford and Wrekin, West Berkshire,
Wokingham
: cities: City of Bristol, Derby, City of Kingston upon Hull,
Leicester, City of London, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth,
Portsmouth, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, York
: cities and boroughs: Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Leeds,
Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Salford, Sheffield,
Sunderland, Wakefield, Westminster
: London boroughs: Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent,
Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney,
Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon,
Hounslow, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge,
Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham
Forest, Wandsworth
: royal boroughs: Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames,
Windsor and Maidenhead
: districts: Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge,
Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Down,
Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Magherafelt, Moyle,
Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh, Strabane
: cities and counties: Cardiff, Swansea
: counties: Isle of Anglesey, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire,
Denbighshire, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Powys, The
Vale of Glamorgan
: county boroughs: Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Conwy,
Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Rhondda Cynon
Taff, Torfaen, Wrexham
: Wales - 11 county boroughs, 9 counties, 2 cities and counties
: Scotland - 32 council areas: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus,
Argyll and Bute, The Scottish Borders, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries
and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East
Lothian, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife,
Glasgow City, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North
Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross,
Renfrewshire, Shetland Islands, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire,
Stirling, West Dunbartonshire, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), West
Lothian;
: counties: County Antrim, County Armagh, County Down, County
Fermanagh, County Londonderry, County Tyrone
: cities: Belfast, Derry
: Northern Ireland - 24 districts, 2 cities, 6 counties

Dependent areas:
Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin
Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey,
Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena and
Ascension, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and
Caicos Islands

Independence:
England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the
union between England and Wales, begun in 1284 with the Statute of
Rhuddlan, was not formalized until 1536 with an Act of Union; in
another Act of Union in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to
permanently join as Great Britain; the legislative union of Great
Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the adoption of
the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the
Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six
northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as
Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927

National holiday:
the UK does not celebrate one particular national holiday

Constitution:
unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice

Legal system:
common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental
influences; has judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the
Human Rights Act of 1998; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with
reservations

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); Heir
Apparent Prince CHARLES (son of the queen, born 14 November 1948)
elections: none; the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative
elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the
majority coalition is usually the prime minister
head of government: Prime Minister Anthony (Tony) BLAIR (since 2 May
1997)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister

Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament comprised of House of Lords (consists of
approximately 500 life peers, 92 hereditary peers and 26 clergy) and
House of Commons (659 seats; members are elected by popular vote to
serve five-year terms unless the House is dissolved earlier)
note: in 1998 elections were held for a Northern Ireland Assembly
(because of unresolved disputes among existing parties, the transfer
of power from London to Northern Ireland came only at the end of
1999 and has been suspended four times the latest occurring in
October 2002); in 1999 there were elections for a new Scottish
Parliament and a new Welsh Assembly
elections: House of Lords - no elections (note - in 1999, as
provided by the House of Lords Act, elections were held in the House
of Lords to determine the 92 hereditary peers who would remain
there; pending further reforms, elections are held only as vacancies
in the hereditary peerage arise); House of Commons - last held 7
June 2001 (next to be held by NA May 2006)
election results: House of Commons - percent of vote by party -
Labor 42.1%, Conservative and Unionist 32.7%, Liberal Democrats
18.8%, other 6.4%; seats by party - Labor 412, Conservative and
Unionist 166, Liberal Democrat 52, other 29; note - seating as of 12
October 2004: Labor 407, Conservative 163, Liberal Democrats 55,
other 34

Judicial branch:
House of Lords (highest court of appeal; several Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary are appointed by the monarch for life); Supreme Courts of
England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (comprising the Courts of
Appeal, the High Courts of Justice, and the Crown Courts);
Scotland's Court of Session and Court of the Justiciary

Political parties and leaders:
Conservative and Unionist Party [Michael HOWARD]; Democratic
Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [Rev. Ian PAISLEY]; Labor Party
[Anthony (Tony) BLAIR]; Liberal Democrats [Charles KENNEDY]; Party
of Wales (Plaid Cymru) [Dafydd IWAN]; Scottish National Party or SNP
[Alex SALMOND]; Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland) [Gerry ADAMS]; Social
Democratic and Labor Party or SDLP (Northern Ireland) [Mark DURKAN];
Ulster Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [David TRIMBLE]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Confederation of British
Industry; National Farmers' Union; Trades Union Congress

International organization participation:
AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, C, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD,
EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G- 8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF,
IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO,
NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, UN, UN
Security Council, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO,
UNITAR, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNMOVIC, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UPU, WCO, WEU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador David G. MANNING
chancery: 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
FAX: (202) 588-7870
telephone: (202) 588-6500
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los
Angeles, New York, and San Francisco
consulate(s): Dallas, Denver, Miami, Puerto Rico, and Seattle

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires David T.
JOHNSON
embassy: 24/31 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1AE
mailing address: PSC 801, Box 40, FPO AE 09498-4040
telephone: (0) 20 7499-9000
FAX: (0) 20 7629-9124
consulate(s) general: Belfast, Edinburgh

Flag description:
blue field with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of
England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of
Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on
the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland);
properly known as the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union
Jack; the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been
the basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth
countries and their constituent states or provinces, as well as
British overseas territories

Economy United Kingdom

Economy - overview:
The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the
quartet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the
past two decades the government has greatly reduced public ownership
and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is
intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards,
producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labor force.
The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy
production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any
industrial nation. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and
business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP
while industry continues to decline in importance. GDP growth
slipped in 2001-03 as the global downturn, the high value of the
pound, and the bursting of the "new economy" bubble hurt
manufacturing and exports. Still, the economy is one of the
strongest in Europe; inflation, interest rates, and unemployment
remain low. The relatively good economic performance has complicated
the BLAIR government's efforts to make a case for Britain to join
the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Critics point out,
however, that the economy is doing well outside of EMU, and they
point to public opinion polls that continue to show a majority of
Britons opposed to the euro. Meantime, the government has been
speeding up the improvement of education, transport, and health
services, at a cost in higher taxes. The war in March-April 2003
between a US-led coalition and Iraq, together with the subsequent
problems of restoring the economy and the polity, involve a heavy
commitment of British military forces.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $1.666 trillion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2.2% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $27,700 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 0.9% industry: 26.5% services: 72.6% (2003)

Investment (gross fixed):
16.2% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
17% (2002 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.3% highest 10%: 27.7% (1995)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
36.8 (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.4% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
29.6 million (2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 1%, industry 25%, services 74% (1999)

Unemployment rate:
5% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $688.9 billion
expenditures: $746.1 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003)

Public debt:
51% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry; fish

Industries:
machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment,
railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles and
parts, electronics and communications equipment, metals, chemicals,
coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food processing,
textiles, clothing, and other consumer goods

Industrial production growth rate:
-0.7% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
360.9 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
346.1 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
264 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
10.66 billion kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
2.541 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
1.71 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
2.205 million bbl/day (2001)

Oil - imports:
1.418 million bbl/day (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
4.741 billion bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
105.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
92.85 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
15.75 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
2.7 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
714.9 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$-7.556 billion (2003)

Exports:
$304.5 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco

Exports - partners:
US 15.7%, Germany 10.5%, France 9.5%, Netherlands 6.9%, Ireland
6.5%, Belgium 5.6%, Spain 4.4%, Italy 4.4% (2003)

Imports:
$363.6 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
manufactured goods, machinery, fuels; foodstuffs

Imports - partners:
Germany 13.5%, US 10.2%, France 8.1%, Netherlands 6.3%, Belgium
4.9%, Italy 4.7% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$46.05 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
NA (2002 est.)

Economic aid - donor:
ODA, $4.5 billion (2000)

Currency:
British pound (GBP)

Currency code:
GBP

Exchange rates:
British pounds per US dollar - 0.55 (2004), 0.61 (2003), 0.67
(2002), 0.69 (2001), 0.66 (2000), 0.62 (1999)

Fiscal year:
6 April - 5 April

Communications United Kingdom

Telephones - main lines in use:
34.898 million (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
49.677 million (2002)

Telephone system:
general assessment: technologically advanced domestic and
international system
domestic: equal mix of buried cables, microwave radio relay, and
fiber-optic systems
international: country code - 44; 40 coaxial submarine cables;
satellite earth stations - 10 Intelsat (7 Atlantic Ocean and 3
Indian Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region), and 1 Eutelsat;
at least 8 large international switching centers

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 219, FM 431, shortwave 3 (1998)

Radios:
84.5 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
228 (plus 3,523 repeaters) (1995)

Televisions:
30.5 million (1997)

Internet country code:
.uk

Internet hosts:
3,398,708 (2004)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
more than 400 (2000)

Internet users:
25 million (2002)

Transportation United Kingdom

Railways:
total: 17,186 km
standard gauge: 16,726 km 1.435-m gauge (5,243 km electrified)
broad gauge: 460 km 1.600-m gauge (in Northern Ireland) (2003)

Highways:
total: 371,913 km
paved: 371,913 km (including 3,358 km of expressways)
unpaved: 0 km (1999)

Waterways:
3,200 km (620 km used for commerce) (2004)

Pipelines:
condensate 370 km; gas 21,446 km; liquid petroleum gas 59 km; oil
6,420 km; oil/gas/water 63 km; refined products 4,474 km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Dover, Falmouth, Felixstowe,
Glasgow, Grangemouth, Hull, Leith, Liverpool, London, Manchester,
Peterhead, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Ramsgate, Scapa Flow, Southampton,
Sullom Voe, Teesport, Tyne

Merchant marine:
total: 384 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 9,181,284 GRT/9,566,275 DWT
by type: bulk 20, cargo 50, chemical tanker 28, combination ore/oil
1, container 130, liquefied gas 23, livestock carrier 1,
multi-functional large load carrier 1, passenger 20, petroleum
tanker 45, refrigerated cargo 18, roll on/roll off 34,
short-sea/passenger 11, specialized tanker 1, vehicle carrier 1
foreign-owned: Australia 2, Croatia 4, Cyprus 1, Denmark 42, Finland
1, Germany 52, Greece 36, Hong Kong 16, Italy 3, Japan 1, Monaco 13,
Nigeria 1, Norway 32, South Africa 2, Sweden 13, Taiwan 7, United
registered in other countries: 522 (2004 est.)

Airports:
471 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 334 over 3,047 m: 8 2,438 to 3,047 m: 33 914 to 1,523 m: 86 under 914 m: 57 (2004 est.) 1,524 to 2,437 m: 150

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 137 2438 to 3047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 112 (2004 est.) 914 to 1,523 m: 23

Heliports: 11 (2003 est.)

Military United Kingdom

Military branches:
Army, Royal Navy (including Royal Marines), Royal Air Force

Military manpower - military age and obligation:
16 years of age for voluntary military service (January 2004)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 14,943,016 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 12,393,785 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$42,836.5 million (2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.4% (2003)

Transnational Issues United Kingdom

Disputes - international:
since Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum in
2003 against a "total shared sovereignty" arrangement, talks between
the UK and Spain over the fate of the 300-year old UK colony have
stalled; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater
autonomy; Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago
(British Indian Ocean Territory), and its former inhabitants since
their eviction in 1965; most reside chiefly in Mauritius, and in
2001 were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation; UK
continues to reject sovereignty talks requested by Argentina, which
still claims the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia
and the South Sandwich Islands; Rockall continental shelf dispute
involving Denmark and Iceland remains dormant; territorial claim in
Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine claim
and partially overlaps Chilean claim; disputes with Iceland,
Denmark, and Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf
boundary outside 200 nm

Illicit drugs:
producer of limited amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic
precursor chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin
American cocaine, and synthetic drugs; money-laundering center

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@United States

Introduction United States

Background:
Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776
and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of
America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and
20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the original 13 as the
nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a
number of overseas possessions. The two most traumatic experiences
in the nation's history were the Civil War (1861-65) and the Great
Depression of the 1930s. Buoyed by victories in World Wars I and II
and the end of the Cold War in 1991, the US remains the world's most
powerful nation state. The economy is marked by steady growth, low
unemployment and inflation, and rapid advances in technology.

Geography United States

Location:
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the
North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico

Geographic coordinates:
38 00 N, 97 00 W

Map references:
North America

Area:
total: 9,631,418 sq km
land: 9,161,923 sq km
water: 469,495 sq km
note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia

Area - comparative:
about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of
Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger
than Brazil); slightly larger than China; about two and a half times
the size of Western Europe

Land boundaries:
total: 12,034 km
border countries: Canada 8,893 km (including 2,477 km with Alaska),
Mexico 3,141 km
note: US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is leased by the US and
is part of Cuba; the base boundary is 29 km

Coastline:
19,924 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: not specified

Climate:
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in
Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River,
and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter
temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in
January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes
of the Rocky Mountains

Terrain:
vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in
east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged,
volcanic topography in Hawaii

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Death Valley -86 m
highest point: Mount McKinley 6,194 m

Natural resources:
coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold,
iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum,
natural gas, timber

Land use:
arable land: 19.13%
other: 80.65% (2001)
permanent crops: 0.22%

Irrigated land:
214,000 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquake activity around Pacific Basin;
hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts; tornadoes
in the midwest and southeast; mud slides in California; forest fires
in the west; flooding; permafrost in northern Alaska, a major
impediment to development

Environment - current issues:
air pollution resulting in acid rain in both the US and Canada; the
US is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning
of fossil fuels; water pollution from runoff of pesticides and
fertilizers; limited natural fresh water resources in much of the
western part of the country require careful management;
desertification

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources,
Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping,
Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Biodiversity,
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Hazardous Wastes

Geography - note:
world's third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada) and
by population (after China and India); Mt. McKinley is highest point
in North America and Death Valley the lowest point on the continent

People United States

Population:
293,027,571 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 20.8% (male 31,122,974; female 29,713,748)
15-64 years: 66.9% (male 97,756,380; female 98,183,309)
65 years and over: 12.4% (male 15,078,204; female 21,172,956) (2004
est.)

Median age: total: 36 years male: 34.7 years female: 37.4 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
0.92% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
14.13 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
8.34 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
3.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 6.63 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 7.31 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.43 years
male: 74.63 years
female: 80.36 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.07 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.6% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
950,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
14,000 (2003 est.)

Nationality:
noun: American(s)
adjective: American

Ethnic groups:
white 77.1%, black 12.9%, Asian 4.2%, Amerindian and Alaska native
1.5%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.3%, other 4%
(2000)
note: a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the US
Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin American
descent (including persons of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican
origin) living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic group
(white, black, Asian, etc.)

Religions:
Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim
1%, other 10%, none 10% (2002 est.)

Languages:
English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97%
male: 97%
female: 97% (1999 est.)

Government United States

Country name:
conventional long form: United States of America
conventional short form: United States
abbreviation: US or USA

Government type:
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition

Capital:
Washington, DC

Administrative divisions:
50 states and 1 district*; Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia*,
Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia,
Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Dependent areas:
American Samoa, Baker Island, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis Island,
Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island,
Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll, Puerto Rico, Virgin
Islands, Wake Island
note: from 18 July 1947 until 1 October 1994, the US administered
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. It entered into a
political relationship with all four political units: the Northern
Mariana Islands is a commonwealth in political union with the US
(effective 3 November 1986); Palau concluded a Compact of Free
Association with the US (effective 1 October 1994); the Federated
States of Micronesia signed a Compact of Free Association with the
US (effective 3 November 1986); the Republic of the Marshall Islands
signed a Compact of Free Association with the US (effective 21
October 1986)

Independence:
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 4 July (1776)

Constitution:
17 September 1787, effective 4 March 1789

Legal system:
federal court system based on English common law; each state has
its own unique legal system, of which all but one (Louisiana's) is
based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts;
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President George W. BUSH (since 20 January 2001);
note - the president is both the chief of state and head of
government
head of government: President George W. BUSH (since 20 January 2001)
; note - the president is both the chief of state and head of
government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president with Senate approval
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket
by a college of representatives who are elected directly from each
state; president and vice president serve four-year terms; election
last held 2 November 2004 (next to be held November 2008)
election results: George W. BUSH reelected president; percent of
popular vote - George W. BUSH (Republican Party) 50.9%, John KERRY
(Democratic Party) 48.1%, other 1.0%

Legislative branch:
bicameral Congress consists of the Senate (100 seats, one-third are
renewed every two years; two members are elected from each state by
popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the House of
Representatives (435 seats; members are directly elected by popular
vote to serve two-year terms)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by
party - Republican Party 55, Democratic Party 44, independent 1;
House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by
party - Republican Party 231, Democratic Party 200, undecided 4
elections: Senate - last held 2 November 2004 (next to be held
November 2006); House of Representatives - last held 2 November 2004
(next to be held November 2006)

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (its nine justices are appointed for life on
condition of good behavior by the president with confirmation by the
Senate); United States Courts of Appeal; United States District
Courts; State and County Courts

Political parties and leaders:
Democratic Party [Terence McAULIFFE]; Green Party [leader NA];
Libertarian Party [Steve DASBACH]; Republican Party [Edward
GILLESPIE]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA

International organization participation:
AfDB, ANZUS, APEC, ARF, AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), Australia
Group, BIS, CE (observer), CERN (observer), CP, EAPC, EBRD, FAO,
G-5, G-7, G- 8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory),
ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MINUSTAH, NAM (guest), NATO,
NEA, NSG, OAS, OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, UN, UN Security
Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIK, UNMIL,
UNMOVIC, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Flag description:
13 equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating
with white; there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner
bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset
horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows
of five stars; the 50 stars represent the 50 states, the 13 stripes
represent the 13 original colonies; known as Old Glory; the design
and colors have been the basis for a number of other flags,
including Chile, Liberia, Malaysia, and Puerto Rico

Economy United States

Economy - overview: The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $37,800. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. US business firms enjoy considerably greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, to lay off surplus workers, and to develop new products. At the same time, they face higher barriers to entry in their rivals' home markets than the barriers to entry of foreign firms in US markets. US firms are at or near the forefront in technological advances, especially in computers and in medical, aerospace, and military equipment; their advantage has narrowed since the end of World War II. The onrush of technology largely explains the gradual development of a "two-tier labor market" in which those at the bottom lack the education and the professional/technical skills of those at the top and, more and more, fail to get comparable pay raises, health insurance coverage, and other benefits. Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households. The years 1994-2000 witnessed solid increases in real output, low inflation rates, and a drop in unemployment to below 5%. The year 2001 saw the end of boom psychology and performance, with output increasing only 0.3% and unemployment and business failures rising substantially. The response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 showed the remarkable resilience of the economy. Moderate recovery took place in 2002 with the GDP growth rate rising to 2.4%. A major short-term problem in first half 2002 was a sharp decline in the stock market, fueled in part by the exposure of dubious accounting practices in some major corporations. The war in March/April 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq shifted resources to the military. In 2003, growth in output and productivity and the recovery of the stock market to above 10,000 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were promising signs. Unemployment stayed at the 6% level, however, and began to decline only at the end of the year. Long-term problems include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade and budget deficits, and stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $10.99 trillion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3.1% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $37,800 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 1.4% industry: 26.2% services: 72.5% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
15.2% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
12% (2003 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.8% highest 10%: 30.5% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
45 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2.3% (2003)

Labor force:
147.4 million (includes unemployed) (2003)

Labor force - by occupation: managerial, professional, and technical 34.9%, sales and office 25.5%, manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts 22.7%, other services 16.3%, farming, forestry, and fishing 0.7% note: figures exclude the unemployed (2004)

Unemployment rate:
6% (2003)

Budget:
revenues: $1.782 trillion
expenditures: $2.156 trillion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003)

Public debt:
62.4% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork,
poultry, dairy products; forest products; fish

Industries:
leading industrial power in the world, highly diversified and
technologically advanced; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles,
aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food
processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining

Industrial production growth rate:
0.3% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
3.719 trillion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
3.602 trillion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
18.17 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
38.48 billion kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
8.054 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
19.65 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
22.45 billion bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
548.1 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
640.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
11.16 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
114.1 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
5.195 trillion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$-541.8 billion (2003)

Exports:
$714.5 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
capital goods, automobiles, industrial supplies and raw materials,
consumer goods, agricultural products

Exports - partners:
Canada 23.4%, Mexico 13.5%, Japan 7.2%, UK 4.7%, Germany 4% (2003)

Imports:
$1.26 trillion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
crude oil and refined petroleum products, machinery, automobiles,
consumer goods, industrial raw materials, food and beverages

Imports - partners:
Canada 17.4%, China 12.5%, Mexico 10.7%, Japan 9.3%, Germany 5.3%
(2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$85.94 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$1.4 trillion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - donor:
ODA, $6.9 billion (1997)

Currency:
US dollar (USD)

Currency code:
USD

Exchange rates:
British pounds per US dollar - 0.6139 (2003), 0.6661 (2002), 0.6944
(2001), 0.6596 (2000), 0.6180 (1999), Canadian dollars per US dollar
- 1.4045 (2003), 1.5693 (2002), 1.5488 (2001), 1.4851 (2000), 1.4857
(1999), Japanese yen per US dollar - 116.08 (2003), 125.39 (2002),
121.53 (2001), 107.77 (2000), 113.91 (1999), euros per US dollar -
0.8866 (2003), 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.08540 (2000), 0.93863
(1999)

Fiscal year:
1 October - 30 September

Communications United States

Telephones - main lines in use:
181,599,900 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
158.722 million (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: a large, technologically advanced, multipurpose
communications system
domestic: a large system of fiber-optic cable, microwave radio
relay, coaxial cable, and domestic satellites carries every form of
telephone traffic; a rapidly growing cellular system carries mobile
telephone traffic throughout the country
international: country code - 1; 24 ocean cable systems in use;
satellite earth stations - 61 Intelsat (45 Atlantic Ocean and 16
Pacific Ocean), 5 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region), and 4
Inmarsat (Pacific and Atlantic Ocean regions) (2000)

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 4,762, FM 5,542, shortwave 18 (1998)

Radios:
575 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: more than 1,500 (including nearly 1,000 stations affiliated with the five major networks - NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and PBS; in addition, there are about 9,000 cable TV systems) (1997)

Televisions:
219 million (1997)

Internet country code:
.us

Internet hosts:
115,311,958 (2002)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
7,000 (2002 est.)

Internet users:
159 million (2002)

Transportation United States

Railways: total: 228,464 km standard gauge: 228,464 km 1.435-m gauge (2003)

Highways:
total: 6,406,296 km
paved: 4,148,395 km (including 74,898 km of expressways)
unpaved: 2,257,902 km (2002)

Waterways:
41,009 km (19,312 km used for commerce)
note: Saint Lawrence Seaway of 3,769 km, including the Saint
Lawrence River of 3,058 km, shared with Canada (2004)

Pipelines:
petroleum products 244,620 km; natural gas 548,665 km (2003)

Ports and harbors:
Anchorage, Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Duluth, Hampton
Roads, Honolulu, Houston, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, New Orleans,
New York, Philadelphia, Port Canaveral, Portland (Oregon), Prudhoe
Bay, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, Tampa, Toledo

Merchant marine:
total: 466 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 12,436,658 GRT/14,630,116 DWT
by type: barge carrier 8, bulk 69, cargo 75, chemical tanker 12,
combination bulk 2, combination ore/oil 1, container 100,
multi-functional large load carrier 3, passenger 12, passenger/cargo
2, petroleum tanker 81, refrigerated cargo 3, roll on/roll off 83,
short-sea/passenger 3, vehicle carrier 12
foreign-owned: Australia 2, Canada 7, Denmark 17, Malaysia 1,
Netherlands 1, Norway 6, Singapore 3, United Kingdom 5
registered in other countries: 670 (2004 est.)

Airports:
14,807 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 5,128
over 3,047 m: 188
2,438 to 3,047 m: 221
914 to 1,523 m: 2,383
under 914 m: 961 (2004 est.)
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1,375

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 9,729
under 914 m: 7,843 (2004 est.)
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 1,718
1,524 to 2,437 m: 160

Heliports:
155 (2003 est.)

Military United States

Military branches:
Army, Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard (Coast
Guard administered in peacetime by the Department of Homeland
Security, but in wartime reports to the Department of the Navy)

Military manpower - military age and obligation:
18 years of age (2004 est.)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 73,597,731 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
NA (2004 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 2,124,164 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$370.7 billion (FY04 est.) (March 2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.3% (FY03 est.) (February 2004)

Transnational Issues United States

Disputes - international:
Prolonged drought, population growth, and outmoded practices and
infrastructure in the border region has strained water-sharing
arrangements with Mexico; undocumented nationals from Mexico and
Central America continue to enter the United States illegally; 1990
Maritime Boundary Agreement in the Bering Sea still awaits Russian
Duma ratification; managed maritime boundary disputes with Canada at
Dixon Entrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and around the
disputed Machias Seal Island and North Rock; The Bahamas have not
been able to agree on a maritime boundary; US Naval Base at
Guantanamo Bay is leased from Cuba and only mutual agreement or US
abandonment of the area can terminate the lease; Haiti claims
US-administered Navassa Island; US has made no territorial claim in
Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not
recognize the claims of any other state; Marshall Islands claims
Wake Island

Illicit drugs:
consumer of cocaine shipped from Colombia through Mexico and the
Caribbean; consumer of heroin, marijuana, and increasingly
methamphetamine from Mexico; consumer of high-quality Southeast
Asian heroin; illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana, depressants,
stimulants, hallucinogens, and methamphetamine; money-laundering
center

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Uruguay

Introduction Uruguay

Background:
A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement, the Tupamaros, launched
in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to agree to military
control of his administration in 1973. By yearend, the rebels had
been crushed, but the military continued to expand its hold
throughout the government. Civilian rule was not restored until
1985. Uruguay's political and labor conditions are among the freest
on the continent.

Geography Uruguay

Location:
Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between
Argentina and Brazil

Geographic coordinates:
33 00 S, 56 00 W

Map references:
South America

Area:
total: 176,220 sq km
land: 173,620 sq km
water: 2,600 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than the state of Washington

Land boundaries: total: 1,564 km border countries: Argentina 579 km, Brazil 985 km

Coastline: 660 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
warm temperate; freezing temperatures almost unknown

Terrain:
mostly rolling plains and low hills; fertile coastal lowland

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Cerro Catedral 514 m

Natural resources: arable land, hydropower, minor minerals, fisheries

Land use: arable land: 7.43% permanent crops: 0.23% other: 92.34% (2001)

Irrigated land:
1,800 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
seasonally high winds (the pampero is a chilly and occasional
violent wind which blows north from the Argentine pampas), droughts,
floods; because of the absence of mountains, which act as weather
barriers, all locations are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes
from weather fronts

Environment - current issues: water pollution from meat packing/tannery industry; inadequate solid/hazardous waste disposal

Environment - international agreements: party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation

Geography - note:
second-smallest South American country (after Suriname); most of
the low-lying landscape (three-quarters of the country) is
grassland, ideal for cattle and sheep raising

People Uruguay

Population:
3,399,237 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 23.5% (male 406,500; female 392,497)
15-64 years: 63.4% (male 1,066,464; female 1,087,100)
65 years and over: 13.1% (male 182,654; female 264,022) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 32.2 years
male: 30.7 years
female: 33.7 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
0.51% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
14.44 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
9.07 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.32 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 12.31 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 10.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 13.67 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 75.92 years
male: 72.71 years
female: 79.24 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.96 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.3% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
6,300 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
less than 500 (2003 est.)

Nationality: noun: Uruguayan(s) adjective: Uruguayan

Ethnic groups:
white 88%, mestizo 8%, black 4%, Amerindian, practically nonexistent

Religions:
Roman Catholic 66% (less than half of the adult population attends
church regularly), Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, nonprofessing or other
31%

Languages:
Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the
Brazilian frontier)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 97.6%
female: 98.4% (2003 est.)

Government Uruguay

Country name:
conventional long form: Oriental Republic of Uruguay
conventional short form: Uruguay
local short form: Uruguay
former: Banda Oriental, Cisplatine Province
local long form: Republica Oriental del Uruguay

Government type:
constitutional republic

Capital:
Montevideo

Administrative divisions:
19 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Artigas,
Canelones, Cerro Largo, Colonia, Durazno, Flores, Florida,
Lavalleja, Maldonado, Montevideo, Paysandu, Rio Negro, Rivera,
Rocha, Salto, San Jose, Soriano, Tacuarembo, Treinta y Tres

Independence:
25 August 1825 (from Brazil)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 25 August (1825)

Constitution:
27 November 1966, effective February 1967, suspended 27 June 1973,
new constitution rejected by referendum 30 November 1980; two
constitutional reforms approved by plebiscite 26 November 1989 and 7
January 1997

Legal system:
based on Spanish civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Jorge BATLLE Ibanez (since 1 March 2000)
and Vice President Luis HIERRO (since 1 March 2000); note - the
president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Jorge BATLLE Ibanez (since 1 March
2000) and Vice President Luis HIERRO (since 1 March 2000); note -
the president is both the chief of state and head of government
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president with
parliamentary approval
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket
by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 31 October
2004 (next to be held October 2009)
election results: Tabare VAZQUEZ elected president; percent of vote
- Tabare VAZQUEZ 50.7%, Jorge LARRANAGA 34.1%, Guillermo STIRLING
10.3%; note - VAZQUEZ will take office on 1 March 2005

Legislative branch:
bicameral General Assembly or Asamblea General consists of Chamber
of Senators or Camara de Senadores (30 seats; members are elected by
popular vote to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of
Representatives or Camara de Representantes (99 seats; members are
elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: Chamber of Senators - last held 31 October 2004 (next to
be held October 2009); Chamber of Representatives - last held 31
October 2004 (next to be held October 2009)
election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party -
NA%; seats by party - Encuentro Progresista 12, Colorado Party 10,
Blanco 7, New Sector/Space Coalition 1; Chamber of Representatives -
percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Encuentro
Progresista 40, Colorado Party 33, Blanco 22, New Sector/Space
Coalition 4

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (judges are nominated by the president and elected
for 10-year terms by the General Assembly)

Political parties and leaders:
Colorado Party [Jorge BATLLE Ibanez]; National Party or Blanco
[Luis Alberto LACALLE Herrera]; New Sector/Space Coalition or Nuevo
Espacio [Rafael MICHELINI]; Progressive Encounter/Broad Front
Coalition or Encuentro Progresista/Frente Amplio [Tabare VAZQUEZ]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Agrupacion UTE (powerful state worker's union), Rural Association
of Uruguay (rancher's association), Uruguayan Construction League,
Chamber of Uruguayan Industries (manufacturer's association),
Chemist and Pharmaceutical Association (professional organization),
Architect's Society of Uruguay (professional organization), the
Catholic Church, students

International organization participation:
FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA,
Mercosur, MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM (observer), OAS, ONUB,
OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO,
UNMEE, UNMOGIP, UNMOT, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Hugo FERNANDEZ-FAINGOLD
consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York
FAX: (202) 331-8142
telephone: (202) 331-1313 through 1316
chancery: 1913 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20006

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Martin J. SILVERSTEIN
embassy: Lauro Muller 1776, Montevideo 11200
mailing address: APO AA 34035
telephone: (2) 418-7777
FAX: (2) 418-8611

Flag description:
nine equal horizontal stripes of white (top and bottom) alternating
with blue; there is a white square in the upper hoist-side corner
with a yellow sun bearing a human face known as the Sun of May and
16 rays alternately triangular and wavy

Economy Uruguay

Economy - overview:
Uruguay's well-to-do economy is characterized by an export-oriented
agricultural sector, a well-educated workforce, and high levels of
social spending. After averaging growth of 5% annually during
1996-98, in 1999-2002 the economy suffered a major downturn,
stemming largely from the spillover effects of the economic problems
of its large neighbors, Argentina and Brazil. For instance, in
2001-02 massive withdrawals by Argentina of dollars deposited in
Uruguayan banks led to a plunge in the Uruguyan peso and a massive
rise in unemployment. Total GDP in these four years dropped by
nearly 20%, with 2002 the worst year due to the serious banking
crisis. Unemployment rose to nearly 20% in 2002, inflation surged,
and the burden of external debt doubled. Cooperation with the IMF
and the US has limited the damage. The debt swap with private
creditors carried out in 2003, which extended the maturity dates on
nearly half of Uruguay's $11.3 billion in public debt, substantially
alleviated the country's amortization burden in the coming years and
restored public confidence. The economy is expected to resume growth
in 2004 (perhaps 4% or more) as a result of high commodity prices
for Uruguayan exports, the weakness of the dollar against the euro,
growth in the region, low international interest rates, and greater
export competitiveness. On the negative side, in December 2003 the
electorate voted to repeal the law permitting a cautious
liberalization of the energy industry.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $43.67 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2.5% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $12,800 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 7.4% industry: 26.6% services: 66% (2003)

Investment (gross fixed):
9.7% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
23.7% (2002)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.7% highest 10%: 25.8% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
44.8 (1999)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
19.4% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
1.56 million (2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 14%, industry 16%, services 70%

Unemployment rate:
16% (2003)

Budget:
revenues: $2.934 billion
expenditures: $3.425 billion, including capital expenditures of $193
million (2003)

Agriculture - products:
rice, wheat, corn, barley; livestock; fish

Industries:
food processing, electrical machinery, transportation equipment,
petroleum products, textiles, chemicals, beverages

Industrial production growth rate:
0.7% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
7.963 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
6.152 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
1.377 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
123 million kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
41,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
40 million cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
40 million cu m (2001 est.)

Current account balance:
$76 million (2003)

Exports:
$2.164 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
meat, rice, leather products, wool, fish, dairy products

Exports - partners:
Brazil 21.4%, US 11.4%, Argentina 7.1%, Germany 6.6%, China 4.3%,
Mexico 4.1%, Italy 4.1%, Canada 4% (2003)

Imports:
$1.989 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery, chemicals, road vehicles, crude petroleum

Imports - partners:
Argentina 26.1%, Brazil 21%, Russia 11.7%, US 7.6% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$2.087 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$10.73 billion (2003)

Economic aid - recipient:
NA

Currency:
Uruguayan peso (UYU)

Currency code:
UYU

Exchange rates:
Uruguayan pesos per US dollar - 28.2091 (2003), 21.257 (2002),
13.3191 (2001), 12.0996 (2000), 11.3393 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Uruguay

Telephones - main lines in use:
946,500 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
652,000 (2002)

Telephone system:
general assessment: fully digitalized
domestic: most modern facilities concentrated in Montevideo; new
nationwide microwave radio relay network
international: country code - 598; satellite earth stations - 2
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2002)

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 91, FM 149, shortwave 7 (2001)

Radios:
1.97 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
23 (2002)

Televisions:
782,000 (1997)

Internet country code:
.uy

Internet hosts:
87,630 (2003)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
14 (2001)

Internet users:
400,000 (2002)

Transportation Uruguay

Railways:
total: 2,073 km
standard gauge: 2,073 km 1.435-m gauge
note: 461 km have been taken out of service and 460 km are in
partial use (2003)

Highways: total: 8,983 km paved: 8,081 km unpaved: 902 km (1999 est.)

Waterways:
1,600 km (2002)

Pipelines:
gas 192 km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
Colonia, Fray Bentos, Juan La Caze, La Paloma, Montevideo, Nueva
Palmira, Paysandu, Punta del Este, Piriapolis

Merchant marine:
total: 4 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 10,918 GRT/10,342 DWT
registered in other countries: 6 (2004 est.)
foreign-owned: Argentina 4, Greece 1
by type: chemical tanker 1, container 1, petroleum tanker 1, roll
on/roll off 1

Airports:
64 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 14 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 6 under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 50 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 17 under 914 m: 31 (2004 est.)

Military Uruguay

Military branches:
Army, Navy (includes Naval Air Arm, Marines, Maritime Prefecture in
wartime), Air Force

Military manpower - military age and obligation:
18 years of age for voluntary and compulsory military service (2001)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 838,195 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 677,315 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$217.9 million (2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2% (2003)

Transnational Issues Uruguay

Disputes - international:
uncontested dispute with Brazil over certain islands in the
Quarai/Cuareim and Invernada streams and the resulting tripoint with
Argentina

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Uzbekistan

Introduction Uzbekistan

Background:
Russia conquered Uzbekistan in the late 19th century. Stiff
resistance to the Red Army after World War I was eventually
suppressed and a socialist republic set up in 1924. During the
Soviet era, intensive production of "white gold" (cotton) and grain
led to overuse of agrochemicals and the depletion of water supplies,
which have left the land poisoned and the Aral Sea and certain
rivers half dry. Independent since 1991, the country seeks to
gradually lessen its dependence on agriculture while developing its
mineral and petroleum reserves. Current concerns include terrorism
by Islamic militants, economic stagnation, and the curtailment of
human rights and democratization.

Geography Uzbekistan

Location:
Central Asia, north of Afghanistan

Geographic coordinates:
41 00 N, 64 00 E

Map references:
Asia

Area:
total: 447,400 sq km
water: 22,000 sq km
land: 425,400 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than California

Land boundaries:
total: 6,221 km
border countries: Afghanistan 137 km, Kazakhstan 2,203 km,
Kyrgyzstan 1,099 km, Tajikistan 1,161 km, Turkmenistan 1,621 km

Coastline:
0 km (doubly landlocked); note - Uzbekistan includes the southern
portion of the Aral Sea with a 420 km shoreline

Maritime claims:
none (doubly landlocked)

Climate:
mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters;
semiarid grassland in east

Terrain:
mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; broad, flat
intensely irrigated river valleys along course of Amu Darya, Syr
Darya (Sirdaryo), and Zarafshon; Fergana Valley in east surrounded
by mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Sariqarnish Kuli -12 m
highest point: Adelunga Toghi 4,301 m

Natural resources:
natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead
and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum

Land use: arable land: 10.83% permanent crops: 0.83% other: 88.34% (2001)

Irrigated land:
42,810 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
shrinkage of the Aral Sea is resulting in growing concentrations of
chemical pesticides and natural salts; these substances are then
blown from the increasingly exposed lake bed and contribute to
desertification; water pollution from industrial wastes and the
heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides is the cause of many human
health disorders; increasing soil salination; soil contamination
from buried nuclear processing and agricultural chemicals, including
DDT

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
along with Liechtenstein, one of the only two doubly landlocked
countries in the world

People Uzbekistan

Population:
26,410,416 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34.1% (male 4,583,228; female 4,418,003)
15-64 years: 61.1% (male 7,990,233; female 8,157,136)
65 years and over: 4.8% (male 513,434; female 748,382) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 22.1 years
male: 21.4 years
female: 22.7 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.65% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
26.12 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
7.95 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
-1.72 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 71.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 67.39 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 75.03 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 64.09 years
male: 60.67 years
female: 67.69 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.97 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
less than 0.1% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
11,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
less than 500 (2003 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Uzbekistani
adjective: Uzbekistani

Ethnic groups:
Uzbek 80%, Russian 5.5%, Tajik 5%, Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak 2.5%,
Tatar 1.5%, other 2.5% (1996 est.)

Religions:
Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%

Languages:
Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1%

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.3%
male: 99.6%
female: 99% (2003 est.)

Government Uzbekistan

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Uzbekistan
conventional short form: Uzbekistan
local short form: Ozbekiston
former: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic
local long form: Ozbekiston Respublikasi

Government type:
republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power
outside the executive branch

Capital:
Tashkent (Toshkent)

Administrative divisions:
12 provinces (viloyatlar, singular - viloyat), 1 autonomous
republic* (respublika), and 1 city** (shahar); Andijon Viloyati,
Buxoro Viloyati, Farg'ona Viloyati, Jizzax Viloyati, Namangan
Viloyati, Navoiy Viloyati, Qashqadaryo Viloyati (Qarshi),
Qaraqalpog'iston Respublikasi* (Nukus), Samarqand Viloyati, Sirdaryo
Viloyati (Guliston), Surxondaryo Viloyati (Termiz), Toshkent
Shahri**, Toshkent Viloyati, Xorazm Viloyati (Urganch)
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their
administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center
name following in parentheses)

Independence:
1 September 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 1 September (1991)

Constitution:
new constitution adopted 8 December 1992

Legal system:
evolution of Soviet civil law; still lacks independent judicial
system

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Islom KARIMOV (since 24 March 1990, when
he was elected president by the then Supreme Soviet)
head of government: Prime Minister Shavkat MIRZIYAYEV (since 11
December 2003)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president with
approval of the Supreme Assembly
election results: Islom KARIMOV reelected president; percent of vote
- Islom KARIMOV 91.9%, Abdulkhafiz JALALOV 4.2%
elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term
(previously was a five-year term, extended by constitutional
amendment in 2002); election last held 9 January 2000 (next to be
held NA December 2007); prime minister and deputy ministers
appointed by the president

Legislative branch:
bicameral Supreme Assembly or Oliy Majlis consists of an Upper
House or Senate (100 seats; 84 members are elected by regional
governing councils to serve five-year terms and 16 are appointed by
the president) and a Lower House or Legislative Chamber (120 seats;
elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by
party - NA; Legislative Chamber - percent of vote by party - NA%;
seats by party - LDPU 41, NDP 32, Fidokorlar 17, MTP 11, Adolat 9,
unaffiliated 10
note: all parties in the Supreme Assembly support President KARIMOV
elections: last held 26 December 2004 and 9 January 2005 (next to be
held December 2009)

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (judges are nominated by the president and confirmed
by the Supreme Assembly)

Political parties and leaders:
Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party [Dilorom TOSHMUHAMMADOVA,
chairman]; Democratic National Rebirth Party (Milly Tiklanish) or
MTP [Xurshid DOSTMUHAMMADOV, chief]; Liberal Democratic Party of
Uzbekistan or LDPU [Adham SHODMONOV, chairman]; People's Democratic
Party or NDP (formerly Communist Party) [Asliddin RUSTAMOV, first
secretary]; Self-Sacrificers Party or Fidokorlar National Democratic
Party [Ahtam TURSUNOV, chief]; note - Fatherland Progress Party
merged with Self-Sacrificers Party

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Agrarian and Entrepreneurs' Party [Marat ZAHIDOV]; Birlik (Unity)
Movement [Abdurakhim POLAT, chairman]; Erk (Freedom) Democratic
Party [Muhammad SOLIH, chairman] was banned 9 December 1992; Ezgulik
Human Rights Society [Vasilia INOYATOVA]; Free Farmers' Party or
Ozod Dehqonlar [Nigara KHIDOYATOVA]; Human Rights Society of
Uzbekistan [Tolib YAKUBOV, chairman]; Independent Human Rights
Society of Uzbekistan [Mikhail ARDZINOV, chairman]; Mazlum [leader
NA]

International organization participation:
AsDB, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECO, FAO, GUUAM, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt
(signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC,
ISO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, SCO, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Abdulaziz KAMILOV
FAX: (202) 293-6804
consulate(s) general: New York
telephone: (202) 293-6803
chancery: 1746 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Jon PURNELL
embassy: 82 Chilanzarskaya, Tashkent 700115
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: (71) 120-5450
FAX: (71) 120-6335

Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and green
separated by red fimbriations with a white crescent moon and 12
white stars in the upper hoist-side quadrant

Economy Uzbekistan

Economy - overview:
Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which 11% consists of
intensely cultivated, irrigated river valleys. More than 60% of its
population lives in densely populated rural communities. Uzbekistan
is now the world's second-largest cotton exporter, a large producer
of gold and oil, and a regionally significant producer of chemicals
and machinery. Following independence in December 1991, the
government sought to prop up its Soviet-style command economy with
subsidies and tight controls on production and prices. Uzbekistan
responded to the negative external conditions generated by the Asian
and Russian financial crises by emphasizing import substitute
industrialization and by tightening export and currency controls
within its already largely closed economy. The government, while
aware of the need to improve the investment climate, sponsors
measures that often increase, not decrease, the government's control
over business decisions. A sharp increase in the inequality of
income distribution has hurt the lower ranks of society since
independence. In 2003, the government accepted the obligations of
Article VIII under the International Monetary Fund (IMF), providing
for full currency convertibility. However, strict currency controls
and tightening of borders have lessened the effects of
convertibility and have also lead to some shortages which have
further stifled economic activity.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $43.99 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3.1% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 38%
industry: 26.3%
services: 35.7% (2003 est.)

Population below poverty line:
NA (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.2% highest 10%: 32.8% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
44.7 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
13.1% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
14.2 million (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 44%, industry 20%, services 36% (1995)

Unemployment rate:
0.5% plus another 20% underemployed (2003)

Budget:
revenues: $2.176 billion
expenditures: $2.207 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003 est.)

Public debt:
42.3% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
cotton, vegetables, fruits, grain; livestock

Industries:
textiles, food processing, machine building, metallurgy, natural
gas, chemicals

Industrial production growth rate:
6.2% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
44.49 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
47.07 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
3.998 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
9.7 billion kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
142,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
142,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
297 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
63.1 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
45.2 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
17.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
937.3 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$462 million (2003)

Exports:
$2.83 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
cotton 41.5%, gold 9.6%, energy products 9.6%, mineral fertilizers,
ferrous metals, textiles, food products, automobiles (1998 est.)

Exports - partners:
Russia 22.4%, China 9.3%, Ukraine 7.5%, Tajikistan 6.2%, Bangladesh
4.7%, Turkey 4.6%, Japan 4.3%, Kazakhstan 4.2%, US 4.1% (2003)

Imports:
$2.31 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment 49.8%, foodstuffs 16.4%, chemicals, metals
(1998 est.)

Imports - partners:
Russia 22.3%, US 11.4%, South Korea 11%, Germany 9.5%, China 6.5%,
Kazakhstan 6.1%, Turkey 6.1% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$1.286 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$4.384 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$87.4 million from the US (2003)

Currency:
Uzbekistani sum (UZS)

Currency code:
UZS

Exchange rates:
Uzbekistani sums per US dollar - 115.9 (2003), 125.3 (2002), NA
(2001), 236.608 (2000), 124.625 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Uzbekistan

Telephones - main lines in use:
1,717,100 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
320,800 (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: antiquated and inadequate; in serious need of
modernization
domestic: the domestic telephone system is being expanded and
technologically improved, particularly in Tashkent (Toshkent) and
Samarqand, under contracts with prominent companies in
industrialized countries; moreover, by 1998, six cellular networks
had been placed in operation - four of the GSM type (Global System
for Mobile Communication), one D-AMPS type (Digital Advanced Mobile
Phone System), and one AMPS type (Advanced Mobile Phone System)
international: country code - 998; linked by landline or microwave
radio relay with CIS member states and to other countries by leased
connection via the Moscow international gateway switch; after the
completion of the Uzbek link to the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE)
fiber-optic cable, Uzbekistan will be independent of Russian
facilities for international communications; Inmarsat also provides
an international connection, albeit an expensive one; satellite
earth stations - NA (1998)

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 20, FM 7, shortwave 10 (1998)

Radios:
10.8 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 4 (plus two repeaters that relay Russian programs), 1 cable rebroadcaster in Tashkent; approximately 20 stations in regional capitals (2003)

Televisions:
6.4 million (1997)

Internet country code:
.uz

Internet hosts:
1,040 (2003)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
42 (2000)

Internet users:
492,000 (2003)

Transportation Uzbekistan

Railways: total: 3,950 km broad gauge: 3,950 km 1.520-m gauge (620 km electrified) (2003)

Highways: total: 81,600 km paved: 71,237 km unpaved: 10,363 km (1999 est.)

Waterways:
1,100 km (2004)

Pipelines:
gas 9,149 km; oil 869 km; refined products 33 km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
Termiz (Amu Darya)

Airports:
247 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 33 over 3,047 m: 5 2,438 to 3,047 m: 14 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 5 under 914 m: 4 (2003 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 214 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 9 under 914 m: 200 (2003 est.)

Military Uzbekistan

Military branches:
Army, Air and Air Defense Forces, National Guard

Military manpower - military age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - 12 months (2004)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 7,126,325 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 5,783,740 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 321,886 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$200 million (FY97)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2% (FY97)

Transnational Issues Uzbekistan

Disputes - international:
prolonged drought and cotton monoculture creates water-sharing
difficulties for Amu Darya river states; delimitation with
Kazakhstan complete with demarcation underway; delimitation is
underway with Kyrgyzstan but serious disputes around enclaves and
elsewhere continue to mar progress for some 130 km of border; talks
continue with Tajikistan to determine and delimit border

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 3,000 (forced population transfers by government from
villages near Tajikistan border) (2004)

Illicit drugs:
transit country for Afghan narcotics bound for Russian and, to a
lesser extent, Western European markets; limited illicit cultivation
of cannabis and small amounts of opium poppy for domestic
consumption; poppy cultivation almost wiped out by government crop
eradication program; transit point for heroin precursor chemicals
bound for Afghanistan

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Vanuatu

Introduction Vanuatu

Background:
The British and French, who settled the New Hebrides in the 19th
century, agreed in 1906 to an Anglo-French Condominium, which
administered the islands until independence in 1980.

Geography Vanuatu

Location:
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about
three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia

Geographic coordinates:
16 00 S, 167 00 E

Map references:
Oceania

Area:
total: 12,200 sq km
land: 12,200 sq km
note: includes more than 80 islands, about 65 of which are inhabited
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than Connecticut

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
2,528 km

Maritime claims:
measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
contiguous zone: 24 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate:
tropical; moderated by southeast trade winds from May to October;
moderate rainfall from November to April; may be affected by
cyclones from December to April

Terrain:
mostly mountainous islands of volcanic origin; narrow coastal plains

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Tabwemasana 1,877 m

Natural resources: manganese, hardwood forests, fish

Land use: arable land: 2.46% permanent crops: 7.38% other: 90.16% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
tropical cyclones or typhoons (January to April); volcanism causes
minor earthquakes; tsunamis

Environment - current issues:
a majority of the population does not have access to a potable and
reliable supply of water; deforestation

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
a Y-shaped chain of four main islands and 80 smaller islands;
several of the islands have active volcanoes

People Vanuatu

Population:
202,609 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34.1% (male 35,281; female 33,785)
15-64 years: 62.4% (male 64,669; female 61,829)
65 years and over: 3.5% (male 3,740; female 3,305) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 22.3 years
male: 22.3 years
female: 22.2 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.57% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
23.67 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
8.02 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.13 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 56.63 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 53.89 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 59.25 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 62.1 years
male: 60.64 years
female: 63.63 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.87 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality:
noun: Ni-Vanuatu (singular and plural)
adjective: Ni-Vanuatu

Ethnic groups:
indigenous Melanesian 98%, French, Vietnamese, Chinese, other
Pacific Islanders

Religions:
Presbyterian 36.7%, Anglican 15%, Roman Catholic 15%, indigenous
beliefs 7.6%, Seventh-Day Adventist 6.2%, Church of Christ 3.8%,
other 15.7% (including Jon Frum Cargo cult)

Languages:
three official languages: English, French, pidgin (known as Bislama
or Bichelama), plus more than 100 local languages

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 53%
male: 57%
female: 48% (1979 est.)

Government Vanuatu

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Vanuatu
conventional short form: Vanuatu
former: New Hebrides

Government type:
parliamentary republic

Capital:
Port-Vila (Efate)

Administrative divisions:
6 provinces; Malampa, Penama, Sanma, Shefa, Tafea, Torba

Independence:
30 July 1980 (from France and UK)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 30 July (1980)

Constitution:
30 July 1980

Legal system:
unified system being created from former dual French and British
systems

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Kalkot Matas KELEKELE (since 16 August
2004)
elections: president elected for a five-year term by an electoral
college consisting of Parliament and the presidents of the regional
councils; election for president last held 16 August 2004 (next to
be held in 2009); following legislative elections, the leader of the
majority party or majority coalition is usually elected prime
minister by Parliament from among its members; election for prime
minister last held 29 July 2004 (next to be held following general
elections in 2008)
election results: Kalkot Matas KELEKELE elected president, with 49
votes out of 56, after several ballots on 16 August 2004
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister,
responsible to Parliament
head of government: Prime Minister Ham LINI (since 11 December
2004); Deputy Prime Minister Sato KILMAN (since 11 December 2004);
Prime Minister Serge VOHOR ousted in no-confidence vote on 11
December 2004

Legislative branch:
unicameral Parliament (52 seats; members elected by popular vote to
serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 6 July 2004 (next to be held 2008)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
UMP 8, VP 8, NUP 10, VRP 4, MPP 3, VGP 3, other and independent 16;
note - political party associations are fluid
note: the National Council of Chiefs advises on matters of culture
and language

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (chief justice is appointed by the president after
consultation with the prime minister and the leader of the
opposition, three other justices are appointed by the president on
the advice of the Judicial Service Commission)

Political parties and leaders:
Jon Frum Movement [Song KEASPAI]; Melanesian Progressive Party or
MPP [Barak SOPE]; National United Party or NUP [NA]; Union of
Moderate Parties or UMP [Serge VOHOR]; Vanua'aku Pati (Our Land
Party) or VP [Edward NATAPEI]; Vanuatu Republican Party or VRP
[Maxime Carlot KORMAN]; Greens (Vanuatu) [Moana CARCASSES]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA

International organization participation:
ACCT, ACP, AsDB, C, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFC,
IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IOC, ITU, MIGA, NAM, PIF, Sparteca, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTrO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
Vanuatu does not have an embassy in the US; it does, however, have
a Permanent Mission to the UN

Diplomatic representation from the US:
the US does not have an embassy in Vanuatu; the ambassador to Papua
New Guinea is accredited to Vanuatu

Flag description:
two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and green with a black
isosceles triangle (based on the hoist side) all separated by a
black-edged yellow stripe in the shape of a horizontal Y (the two
points of the Y face the hoist side and enclose the triangle);
centered in the triangle is a boar's tusk encircling two crossed
namele leaves, all in yellow

Economy Vanuatu

Economy - overview:
This South Pacific island economy is based primarily on small-scale
agriculture, which provides a living for 65% of the population.
Fishing, offshore financial services, and tourism, with about 50,000
visitors in 1997, are other mainstays of the economy. Mineral
deposits are negligible; the country has no known petroleum
deposits. A small light industry sector caters to the local market.
Tax revenues come mainly from import duties. Economic development is
hindered by dependence on relatively few commodity exports,
vulnerability to natural disasters, and long distances from main
markets and between constituent islands. A severe earthquake in
November 1999 followed by a tsunami, caused extensive damage to the
northern island of Pentecote and left thousands homeless. Another
powerful earthquake in January 2002 caused extensive damage in the
capital, Port-Vila, and surrounding areas, and also was followed by
a tsunami. GDP growth rose less than 3% on average in the 1990s. In
response to foreign concerns, the government has promised to tighten
regulation of its offshore financial center. In mid-2002 the
government stepped up efforts to boost tourism. Agriculture,
especially livestock farming, is a second target for growth.
Australia and New Zealand are the main suppliers of tourists and
foreign aid. Growth expanded moderately in 2003.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $563 million (2002 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
-0.3% (2002 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $2,900 (2002 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 26%
industry: 12%
services: 62% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line:
NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2% (2002 est.)

Labor force:
NA

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 65%, industry 5%, services 30% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate:
NA

Budget:
revenues: $94.4 million
expenditures: $99.8 million, including capital expenditures of $30.4
million (1996 est.)

Agriculture - products: copra, coconuts, cocoa, coffee, taro, yams, coconuts, fruits, vegetables; fish, beef

Industries:
food and fish freezing, wood processing, meat canning

Industrial production growth rate:
1% (1997 est.)

Electricity - production:
43.46 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
40.42 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
600 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Exports:
$79 million f.o.b. (2002)

Exports - commodities:
copra, beef, cocoa, timber, kava, coffee

Exports - partners:
India 32.8%, Thailand 25.5%, Indonesia 9.6%, Japan 7.6%, Australia
4%, Poland 4% (2003)

Imports:
$138 million c.i.f. (2002)

Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, fuels

Imports - partners:
Australia 15.3%, Japan 10.6%, Singapore 7.4%, New Zealand 6%, Fiji
5.1% (2003)

Debt - external:
$65.8 million (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$45.8 million (1995)

Currency:
vatu (VUV)

Currency code:
VUV

Exchange rates:
vatu per US dollar - 122.189 (2003), 139.198 (2002), 145.312
(2001), 137.643 (2000), 129.075 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Vanuatu

Telephones - main lines in use:
6,500 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
7,800 (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA
international: country code - 678; satellite earth station - 1
Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 2, FM 2, shortwave 1 (2002)

Radios:
67,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
1 (2002)

Televisions:
2,300 (1999)

Internet country code:
.vu

Internet hosts:
512 (2003)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2000)

Internet users:
7,500 (2003)

Transportation Vanuatu

Highways: total: 1,070 km paved: 256 km unpaved: 814 km (1999 est.)

Ports and harbors:
Forari, Port-Vila, Santo (Espiritu Santo)

Merchant marine:
total: 51 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 1,192,474 GRT/1,560,828 DWT
registered in other countries: 1 (2004 est.)
foreign-owned: Australia 2, Canada 1, Estonia 1, Germany 1, Japan
25, Monaco 4, New Zealand 2, Panama 1, Poland 7, Switzerland 3,
United Kingdom 5, United States 2
by type: bulk 28, cargo 2, combination bulk 3, container 2,
liquefied gas 2, multi-functional large load carrier 1, refrigerated
cargo 6, roll on/roll off 2, vehicle carrier 5

Airports:
30 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1524 to 2437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 27 914 to 1,523 m: 10 under 914 m: 17 (2004 est.)

Military Vanuatu

Military branches:
no regular military forces; Vanuatu Police Force (VPF; including
the paramilitary Mobile Force or VMF)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
NA

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
NA

Transnational Issues Vanuatu

Disputes - international: Matthew and Hunter Islands east of New Caledonia claimed by Vanuatu and France

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Venezuela

Introduction Venezuela

Background:
Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse
of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Colombia and Ecuador).
For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled
by generally benevolent military strongmen, who promoted the oil
industry and allowed for some social reforms. Democratically elected
governments have held sway since 1959. Current concerns include: a
polarized political environment, a divided military, drug-related
conflicts along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug
consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price
fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations that are
endangering the rain forest and indigenous peoples.

Geography Venezuela

Location:
Northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North
Atlantic Ocean, between Colombia and Guyana

Geographic coordinates:
8 00 N, 66 00 W

Map references:
South America

Area:
total: 912,050 sq km
water: 30,000 sq km
land: 882,050 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly more than twice the size of California

Land boundaries: total: 4,993 km border countries: Brazil 2,200 km, Colombia 2,050 km, Guyana 743 km

Coastline: 2,800 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 15 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate:
tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands

Terrain:
Andes Mountains and Maracaibo Lowlands in northwest; central plains
(llanos); Guiana Highlands in southeast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Pico Bolivar (La Columna) 5,007 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals,
hydropower, diamonds

Land use: arable land: 2.95% other: 96.13% (2001) permanent crops: 0.92%

Irrigated land:
540 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
subject to floods, rockslides, mudslides; periodic droughts

Environment - current issues:
sewage pollution of Lago de Valencia; oil and urban pollution of
Lago de Maracaibo; deforestation; soil degradation; urban and
industrial pollution, especially along the Caribbean coast; threat
to the rainforest ecosystem from irresponsible mining operations

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life
Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands

Geography - note:
on major sea and air routes linking North and South America; Angel
Falls in the Guiana Highlands is the world's highest waterfall

People Venezuela

Population:
25,017,387 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 30.5% (male 3,930,413; female 3,687,744)
15-64 years: 64.5% (male 8,107,382; female 8,034,905)
65 years and over: 5% (male 571,289; female 685,654) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 25.2 years
male: 24.6 years
female: 25.8 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.44% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
19.34 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
4.9 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.04 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.08 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.83 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 22.99 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 19.57 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 26.18 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.06 years
male: 71.02 years
female: 77.32 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.31 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.5% - note: no country specific models provided (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
62,000 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
2,000 (2001 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Venezuelan(s)
adjective: Venezuelan

Ethnic groups:
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, African, indigenous
people

Religions:
nominally Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2%, other 2%

Languages:
Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 93.4%
male: 93.8%
female: 93.1% (2003 est.)

Government Venezuela

Country name:
conventional long form: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
conventional short form: Venezuela
local long form: Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela
local short form: Venezuela

Government type:
federal republic

Capital:
Caracas

Administrative divisions:
23 states (estados, singular - estado), 1 federal district*
(distrito federal), and 1 federal dependency** (dependencia
federal); Amazonas, Anzoategui, Apure, Aragua, Barinas, Bolivar,
Carabobo, Cojedes, Delta Amacuro, Dependencias Federales**, Distrito
Federal*, Falcon, Guarico, Lara, Merida, Miranda, Monagas, Nueva
Esparta, Portuguesa, Sucre, Tachira, Trujillo, Vargas, Yaracuy, Zulia
note: the federal dependency consists of 11 federally controlled
island groups with a total of 72 individual islands

Independence:
5 July 1811 (from Spain)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 5 July (1811)

Constitution:
30 December 1999

Legal system:
based on organic laws as of July 1999; open, adversarial court
system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Hugo CHAVEZ Frias (since 3 February
1999); Vice President Jose Vicente RANGEL (since 28 April 2002);
note - the president is both the chief of state and head of
government
head of government: President Hugo CHAVEZ Frias (since 3 February
1999); Vice President Jose Vicente RANGEL (since 28 April 2002);
note - the president is both the chief of state and head of
government
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president
election results: Hugo CHAVEZ Frias reelected president; percent of
vote - 60%
note: a special presidential recall vote on 15 August 2004 resulted
in a victory for CHAVEZ; percent of vote - 58% in favor of CHAVEZ
fulfilling the remaining two years of his term, 42% in favor of
terminating his presidency immediately
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term;
election last held 30 July 2000 (next to be held NA 2006)

Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional (165 seats;
members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms; three
seats reserved for the indigenous peoples of Venezuela)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
pro-government 108 (MVR 92, MAS 6, indigenous 3, other 7),
opposition 57 (AD 33, COPEI 6, Justice First 5, other 13)
elections: last held 30 July 2000 (next to be held July 2005)

Judicial branch:
Supreme Tribunal of Justice or Tribuna Suprema de Justicia
(magistrates are elected by the National Assembly for a single
12-year term)

Political parties and leaders:
Democratic Action or AD [Henry RAMOS Allup]; Fifth Republic
Movement or MVR [Hugo CHAVEZ]; Homeland for All or PPT [Jose
ALBORNOZ]; Justice First [Julio BORGES]; Movement Toward Socialism
or MAS [Hector MUJICA]; National Convergence or Convergencia [Juan
Jose CALDERA]; Radical Cause or La Causa R [Andres VELASQUEZ];
Social Christian Party or COPEI [Eduardo FERNANDEZ]; Venezuela
Project or PV [Henrique SALAS Romer]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
FEDECAMARAS, a conservative business group; VECINOS groups;
Venezuelan Confederation of Workers or CTV (labor organization
dominated by the Democratic Action)

International organization participation:
CAN, CDB, FAO, G-3, G-15, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol,
IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, NAM,
OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO,
UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Bernardo ALVAREZ
chancery: 1099 30th Street NW, Washington, DC 20007
consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New Orleans,
New York, San Francisco, and San Juan (Puerto Rico)
FAX: (202) 342-6820
telephone: (202) 342-2214

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador William R. BROWNFIELD
embassy: Calle F con Calle Suapure, Urbanizacion Colinas de Valle
Arriba, Caracas 1080
mailing address: P. O. Box 62291, Caracas 1060-A; APO AA 34037
telephone: (212) 975-9234, 975-6411
FAX: (212) 975-8991

Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of yellow (top), blue, and red with
the coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band and an arc of
seven white five-pointed stars centered in the blue band

Economy Venezuela

Economy - overview:
Venezuela continues to be highly dependent on the petroleum sector,
which accounts for roughly one-third of GDP, around 80% of export
earnings, and more than half of government operating revenues.
Despite higher oil prices at the end of 2002 and into 2003, domestic
political instability, culminating in a disastrous two-month
national oil strike from December 2002 to February 2003, temporarily
halted economic activity. The economy remained in depression in
2003, declining by 9.2% after an 8.9% fall in 2002. In late 2003,
President CHAVEZ committed himself to $1 billion in new social
programs, money the government does not have.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $117.9 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
-9.2% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $4,800 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 5% industry: 50% services: 45% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
12.6% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
47% (1998 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 0.8% highest 10%: 36.5% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
49.5 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
31.1% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
11.38 million (2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 13%, industry 23%, services 64% (1997 est.)

Unemployment rate:
18% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $19.33 billion
expenditures: $24.34 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.6
billion (2003)

Public debt:
38.8% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, bananas, vegetables, coffee; beef,
pork, milk, eggs; fish

Industries:
petroleum, iron ore mining, construction materials, food
processing, textiles, steel, aluminum, motor vehicle assembly

Industrial production growth rate:
-15.4% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
87.6 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
81.47 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
3.08 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
505,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
63.95 billion bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
31.71 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
31.71 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
4.202 trillion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$9.659 billion (2003)

Exports:
$25.86 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
petroleum, bauxite and aluminum, steel, chemicals, agricultural
products, basic manufactures

Exports - partners:
US 52.9%, Netherlands Antilles 5%, Dominican Republic 3% (2003)

Imports:
$10.71 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
raw materials, machinery and equipment, transport equipment,
construction materials

Imports - partners:
US 28.8%, Colombia 7%, Brazil 6.6%, Mexico 4.3% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$20.67 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$32.51 billion (2003)

Economic aid - recipient:
$74 million (2000)

Currency:
bolivar (VEB)

Currency code:
VEB

Exchange rates:
bolivares per US dollar - 1,607.79 (2003), 1,160.95 (2002), 723.666
(2001), 679.96 (2000), 605.717 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Venezuela

Telephones - main lines in use:
2,841,800 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
6,463,600 (2002)

Telephone system:
general assessment: modern and expanding
domestic: domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations; recent
substantial improvement in telephone service in rural areas;
substantial increase in digitalization of exchanges and trunk lines;
installation of a national interurban fiber-optic network capable of
digital multimedia services
international: country code - 58; 3 submarine coaxial cables;
satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1
PanAmSat; participating with Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia in
the construction of an international fiber-optic network

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 201, FM NA (20 in Caracas), shortwave 11 (1998)

Radios:
10.75 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
66 (plus 45 repeaters) (1997)

Televisions:
4.1 million (1997)

Internet country code:
.ve

Internet hosts:
35,301 (2003)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
16 (2000)

Internet users:
1,274,400 (2002)

Transportation Venezuela

Railways: total: 682 km standard gauge: 682 km 1.435-m gauge (2003)

Highways:
total: 96,155 km
paved: 32,308 km
unpaved: 63,847 km (1999 est.)

Waterways:
7,100 km
note: Orinoco River and Lake de Maracaibo navigable by oceangoing
vessels, Orinoco for 400 km (2004)

Pipelines:
extra heavy crude 992 km; gas 5,262 km; oil 7,360 km; refined
products 1,681 km; unknown (oil/water) 141 km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
Amuay, Bajo Grande, El Tablazo, La Guaira, La Salina, Maracaibo,
Matanzas, Palua, Puerto Cabello, Puerto la Cruz, Puerto Ordaz,
Puerto Sucre, Punta Cardon

Merchant marine:
total: 48 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 740,919 GRT/1,191,483 DWT
registered in other countries: 4 (2004 est.)
foreign-owned: Belgium 1, Denmark 2, Greece 2, Spain 1, United
States 2
by type: bulk 6, cargo 7, container 2, liquefied gas 5,
multi-functional large load carrier 1, passenger 1, passenger/cargo
1, petroleum tanker 16, roll on/roll off 8, short-sea/passenger 1

Airports:
368 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 127 over 3,047 m: 5 2,438 to 3,047 m: 11 1,524 to 2,437 m: 31 914 to 1,523 m: 61 under 914 m: 19 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 242 1,524 to 2,437 m: 10 914 to 1,523 m: 88 under 914 m: 144 (2004 est.)

Military Venezuela

Military branches:
National Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Nacionales or FAN) includes
Ground Forces or Army (Fuerzas Terrestres or Ejercito), Naval Forces
(Fuerzas Navales or Armada - including marines and Coast Guard), Air
Force (Fuerzas Aereas or Aviacion), Armed Forces of Cooperation or
National Guard (Fuerzas Armadas de Cooperacion or Guardia Nacional)

Military manpower - military age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation - 30 months (2004)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 6,886,775 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 4,953,803 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 250,730 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$1,125.6 million (2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.3% (2003)

Transnational Issues Venezuela

Disputes - international:
claims all of the area west of the Essequibo River, preventing any
discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has expressed its
intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before UNCLOS that
the Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends
into their waters; maritime boundary dispute with Colombia in the
Gulf of Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea; US, France and the
Netherlands recognize Venezuela's claim to give full effect to Aves
Island, which creates a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending
over a large portion of the Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest
Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation and
other states' recognition of it

Illicit drugs:
small-scale illicit producer of opium and coca for the processing
of opiates and coca derivatives; however, large quantities of
cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transit the country from Colombia
bound for US and Europe; significant narcotics-related
money-laundering activity, especially along the border with Colombia
and on Margarita Island; active eradication program primarily
targeting opium; increasing signs of drug-related activities by
Colombian insurgents on border

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Vietnam

Introduction Vietnam

Background:
The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed
by 1884. It became part of French Indochina in 1887. Independence
was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule
until 1954 when they were defeated by Communist forces under Ho Chi
Minh, who took control of the North. US economic and military aid to
South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the
government, but US armed forces were withdrawn following a
cease-fire agreement in 1973. Two years later, North Vietnamese
forces overran the South. Despite the return of peace, for over two
decades the country experienced little economic growth because of
conservative leadership policies. Since 2001, Vietnamese authorities
have committed to economic liberalization and enacted structural
reforms needed to modernize the economy and to produce more
competitive, export-driven industries. The country continues to
experience protests from the Montagnard ethnic minority population
of the Central Highlands over loss of land to Vietnamese settlers
and religious persecution.

Geography Vietnam

Location:
Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin,
and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia

Geographic coordinates:
16 00 N, 106 00 E

Map references:
Southeast Asia

Area:
total: 329,560 sq km
land: 325,360 sq km
water: 4,200 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than New Mexico

Land boundaries: total: 4,639 km border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 2,130 km

Coastline:
3,444 km (excludes islands)

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
contiguous zone: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season
(mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October to
mid-March)

Terrain:
low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly,
mountainous in far north and northwest

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Fan Si Pan 3,144 m

Natural resources:
phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and
gas deposits, forests, hydropower

Land use: arable land: 19.97% permanent crops: 5.95% other: 74.08% (2001)

Irrigated land:
30,000 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding,
especially in the Mekong River delta

Environment - current issues:
logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices contribute to
deforestation and soil degradation; water pollution and overfishing
threaten marine life populations; groundwater contamination limits
potable water supply; growing urban industrialization and population
migration are rapidly degrading environment in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh
City

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
extending 1,650 km north to south, the country is only 50 km across
at its narrowest point

People Vietnam

Population:
82,689,518 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 29.4% (male 12,524,098; female 11,807,763)
15-64 years: 65% (male 26,475,156; female 27,239,543)
65 years and over: 5.6% (male 1,928,568; female 2,714,390) (2004
est.)

Median age: total: 24.9 years male: 24 years female: 25.9 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.3% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
19.58 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
6.14 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.45 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.08 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 29.88 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 25.77 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 33.71 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 70.35 years
male: 67.86 years
female: 73.02 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.22 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.4% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
220,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
9,000 (2003 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Vietnamese (singular and plural)
adjective: Vietnamese

Ethnic groups:
Vietnamese 85%-90%, Chinese, Hmong, Thai, Khmer, Cham, mountain
groups

Religions:
Buddhist, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Christian (predominantly Roman
Catholic, some Protestant), indigenous beliefs, Muslim

Languages:
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second
language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages
(Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 90.3%
male: 93.9%
female: 86.9% (2002)

Government Vietnam

Country name:
conventional long form: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
conventional short form: Vietnam
local long form: Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam
abbreviation: SRV
local short form: Viet Nam

Government type:
Communist state

Capital:
Hanoi

Administrative divisions:
59 provinces (tinh, singular and plural) and 5 municipalities (thu
do, singular and plural)
: provinces: An Giang, Bac Giang, Bac Kan, Bac Lieu, Bac Ninh, Ba
Ria-Vung Tau, Ben Tre, Binh Dinh, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Binh
Thuan, Ca Mau, Cao Bang, Dac Lak, Dac Nong, Dien Bien, Dong Nai,
Dong Thap, Gia Lai, Ha Giang, Hai Duong, Ha Nam, Ha Tay, Ha Tinh,
Hau Giang, Hoa Binh, Hung Yen, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Kon Tum, Lai
Chau, Lam Dong, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Long An, Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Ninh
Binh, Ninh Thuan, Phu Tho, Phu Yen, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang
Ngai, Quang Ninh, Quang Tri, Soc Trang, Son La, Tay Ninh, Thai Binh,
Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Tuyen
Quang, Vinh Long, Vinh Phuc, Yen Bai
: municipalities: Can Tho, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh

Independence:
2 September 1945 (from France)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 2 September (1945)

Constitution:
15 April 1992

Legal system:
based on communist legal theory and French civil law system

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Tran Duc Luong (since 24 September 1997)
head of government: Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (since 25 September
1997); First Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (since 29
September 1997); Deputy Prime Ministers Vu Khoan (8 August 2002) and
Pham Gia Khiem (since 29 September 1997)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the proposal of the
prime minister and ratification of the National Assembly
election results: Tran Duc Luong elected president; percent of
National Assembly vote - NA
elections: president elected by the National Assembly from among its
members for a five-year term; election last held 25 July 2002 (next
to be held when National Assembly meets following legislative
elections in 2007); prime minister appointed by the president from
among the members of the National Assembly; deputy prime ministers
appointed by the prime minister

Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly or Quoc-Hoi (498 seats; members
elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
election results: percent of vote by party - CPV 90%, other 10% (the
10% are not CPV members but are approved by the CPV to stand for
election); seats by party - CPV 447, CPV-approved 51
elections: last held 19 May 2002 (next to be held 2007)

Judicial branch:
Supreme People's Court (chief justice is elected for a five-year
term by the National Assembly on the recommendation of the president)

Political parties and leaders:
only party - Communist Party of Vietnam or CPV [Nong Duc Manh,
general secretary]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
none

International organization participation:
ACCT (observer), APEC, ARF, AsDB, ASEAN, CP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD,
ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM
(observer), ISO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO,
UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Nguyen Tam Chien chancery: 1233 20th Street NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036 consulate(s) general: San Francisco FAX: (202) 861-0917 telephone: (202) 861-0737

Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Michael W. MARINE embassy: 7 Lang Ha Road, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi mailing address: PSC 461, Box 400, FPO AP 96521-0002 telephone: (4) 772-1500 FAX: (4) 772-1510 consulate(s) general: Ho Chi Minh City

Flag description: red with a large yellow five-pointed star in the center

Economy Vietnam

Economy - overview:
Vietnam is a poor, densely-populated country that has had to
recover from the ravages of war, the loss of financial support from
the old Soviet Bloc, and the rigidities of a centrally-planned
economy. Substantial progress was achieved from 1986 to 1996 in
moving forward from an extremely low starting point - growth
averaged around 9% per year from 1993 to 1997. The 1997 Asian
financial crisis highlighted the problems in the Vietnamese economy,
but rather than prompting reform, reaffirmed the government's belief
that shifting to a market-oriented economy would lead to disaster.
GDP growth of 8.5% in 1997 fell to 6% in 1998 and 5% in 1999. Growth
then rose to 6% to 7% in 2000-02 even against the background of
global recession. These numbers mask some major difficulties in
economic performance. Many domestic industries, including coal,
cement, steel, and paper, have reported large stockpiles of
inventory and tough competition from more efficient foreign
producers. Since the Party elected new leadership in 2001,
Vietnamese authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to economic
liberalization and have moved to implement the structural reforms
needed to modernize the economy and to produce more competitive,
export-driven industries. The US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement
entered into force near the end of 2001 and is expected to
significantly increase Vietnam's exports to the US. The US is
assisting Vietnam with implementing the legal and structural reforms
called for in the agreement.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $203.7 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
7.2% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $2,500 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 21.8% industry: 39.7% services: 38.5% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
33% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
37% (1998 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.6% highest 10%: 29.9% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
36.1 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.1% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
45.74 million (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 63%, industry and services 37% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate:
6.1% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $8.689 billion
expenditures: $9.718 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.8
billion (2003 est.)

Public debt:
64.3% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
paddy rice, corn, potatoes, rubber, soybeans, coffee, tea, bananas,
sugar; poultry, pigs, fish

Industries:
food processing, garments, shoes, machine-building, mining, cement,
chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, coal, steel, paper

Industrial production growth rate:
16% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
29.8 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
27.71 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
356,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
185,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
1.4 billion bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
1.3 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
1.3 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
192.6 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$-1.781 billion (2003)

Exports:
$19.88 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
crude oil, marine products, rice, coffee, rubber, tea, garments,
shoes

Exports - partners:
US 21.9%, Japan 13.8%, Australia 6.8%, China 6.5%, Germany 5.8%,
Singapore 4.6%, UK 4.4% (2003)

Imports:
$22.5 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer, steel
products, raw cotton, grain, cement, motorcycles

Imports - partners:
China 13.7%, Taiwan 11.4%, Japan 11.3%, South Korea 11%, Singapore
10.4%, US 5.7%, Thailand 5.4%, Hong Kong 4.2% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$6.357 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$14.69 billion (2003)

Economic aid - recipient: $2.8 billion in credits and grants pledged by international donors for 2000 (2004)

Currency:
dong (VND)

Currency code:
VND

Exchange rates:
dong per US dollar - 15,279.5 (2003), 15,279.5 (2002), 14,725.2
(2001), 14,167.7 (2000), 13,943.2 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Vietnam

Telephones - main lines in use:
4.402 million (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
2.742 million (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: Vietnam is putting considerable effort into
modernization and expansion of its telecommunication system, but its
performance continues to lag behind that of its more modern neighbors
domestic: all provincial exchanges are digitalized and connected to
Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City by fiber-optic cable or
microwave radio relay networks; main lines have been substantially
increased, and the use of mobile telephones is growing rapidly
international: country code - 84; satellite earth stations - 2
Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region)

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 65, FM 7, shortwave 29 (1999)

Radios:
8.2 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
at least 7 (plus 13 repeaters) (1998)

Televisions:
3.57 million (1997)

Internet country code:
.vn

Internet hosts:
340 (2003)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
5 (2000)

Internet users:
3.5 million (2003)

Transportation Vietnam

Railways:
total: 2,600 km
standard gauge: 178 km 1.435-m gauge
dual gauge: 253 km three-rail track combining 1.435-m and 1.000-m
gauges (2003)
narrow gauge: 2,169 km 1.000-m gauge

Highways: total: 93,300 km paved: 23,418 km unpaved: 69,882 km (1999 est.)

Waterways:
17,702 km (5,000 km navigable by vessels up to 1.8 m draft) (2004)

Pipelines:
condensate/gas 432 km; gas 210 km; oil 3 km; refined products 206
km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
Cam Ranh, Da Nang, Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Long, Quy Nhon,
Nha Trang, Vinh, Vung Tau

Merchant marine:
total: 194 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 1,170,621 GRT/1,798,376 DWT
registered in other countries: 11 (2004 est.)
by type: bulk 16, cargo 135, chemical tanker 1, container 8,
liquefied gas 4, petroleum tanker 25, refrigerated cargo 3, roll
on/roll off 1, specialized tanker 1
foreign-owned: Cambodia 1, Germany 1, Japan 2, South Korea 1, United
Kingdom 3

Airports:
19 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 16
over 3,047 m: 6
2,438 to 3,047 m: 4
1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 (2003 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2003 est.)

Military Vietnam

Military branches:
People's Army of Vietnam: Ground Forces, People's Navy Command
(including Naval Infantry), Air and Air Defense Force, Coast Guard

Military manpower - military age and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service
obligation - 2 years (2004)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 23,438,858 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 14,694,574 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 853,197 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$650 million (FY98)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.5% (FY98)

Transnational Issues Vietnam

Disputes - international:
demarcation of the land boundary with China continues, but maritime
boundary and joint fishing zone agreement remains unimplemented;
Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese squatters and armed
encroachments along border; China occupies Paracel Islands also
claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; involved in complex dispute with
China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and possibly Brunei over the
Spratly Islands; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in
the South China Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally
binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants

Illicit drugs:
minor producer of opium poppy; probable minor transit point for
Southeast Asian heroin; domestic opium/heroin/methamphetamine
addiction problems

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Virgin Islands

Introduction Virgin Islands

Background: During the 17th century, the archipelago was divided into two territorial units, one English and the other Danish. Sugarcane, produced by slave labor, drove the islands' economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1917, the US purchased the Danish portion, which had been in economic decline since the abolition of slavery in 1848.

Geography Virgin Islands

Location:
Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic
Ocean, east of Puerto Rico

Geographic coordinates:
18 20 N, 64 50 W

Map references:
Central America and the Caribbean

Area:
total: 352 sq km
water: 3 sq km
land: 349 sq km

Area - comparative:
twice the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
188 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
subtropical, tempered by easterly trade winds, relatively low
humidity, little seasonal temperature variation; rainy season May to
November

Terrain:
mostly hilly to rugged and mountainous with little level land

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: Crown Mountain 474 m

Natural resources: sun, sand, sea, surf

Land use: arable land: 11.76% permanent crops: 2.94% other: 85.29% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
several hurricanes in recent years; frequent and severe droughts
and floods; occasional earthquakes

Environment - current issues:
lack of natural freshwater resources

Geography - note:
important location along the Anegada Passage - a key shipping lane
for the Panama Canal; Saint Thomas has one of the best natural
deepwater harbors in the Caribbean

People Virgin Islands

Population:
108,775 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 23.8% (male 13,116; female 12,770)
15-64 years: 66% (male 33,944; female 37,870)
65 years and over: 10.2% (male 4,855; female 6,220) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 35.9 years
male: 35.1 years
female: 36.7 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
-0.05% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
14.49 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
6.1 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
-8.94 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.9 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 0.91 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 8.21 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 7.04 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 9.31 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.75 years
male: 74.91 years
female: 82.82 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.21 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality:
noun: Virgin Islander(s)
adjective: Virgin Islander

Ethnic groups:
black 78%, white 10%, other 12%
note: West Indian 81% (49% born in the Virgin Islands and 32% born
elsewhere in the West Indies), US mainland 13%, Puerto Rican 4%,
other 2%

Religions:
Baptist 42%, Roman Catholic 34%, Episcopalian 17%, other 7%

Languages:
English (official), Spanish, Creole

Literacy: definition: NA total population: NA male: NA female: NA

Government Virgin Islands

Country name:
conventional long form: United States Virgin Islands
conventional short form: Virgin Islands
former: Danish West Indies

Dependency status:
organized, unincorporated territory of the US with policy relations
between the Virgin Islands and the US under the jurisdiction of the
Office of Insular Affairs, US Department of the Interior

Government type:
NA

Capital:
Charlotte Amalie

Administrative divisions:
none (territory of the US); there are no first-order administrative
divisions as defined by the US Government, but there are three
islands at the second order; Saint Croix, Saint John, Saint Thomas

National holiday:
Transfer Day (from Denmark to the US), 27 March (1917)

Constitution:
Revised Organic Act of 22 July 1954

Legal system:
based on US laws

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal; note - island residents are US citizens
but do not vote in US presidential elections

Executive branch:
chief of state: President George W. BUSH of the US (since 20
January 2001)
election results: Dr. Charles Wesley TURNBULL reelected governor;
percent of vote - Dr. Charles Wesley TURNBULL (Democrat) 50.5%, John
de JONGH 24.4%
elections: US president and vice president elected on the same
ticket for four-year terms; governor and lieutenant governor elected
on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election
last held 5 November 2002 (next to be held NA November 2006)
head of government: Governor Dr. Charles Wesley TURNBULL (since 5
January 1999)
cabinet: NA

Legislative branch:
unicameral Senate (15 seats; members are elected by popular vote to
serve two-year terms)
elections: last held 6 November 2002 (next to be held 2 November
2004)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party -
Democratic Party 10, ICM 2, independent 3
note: the Virgin Islands elects one non-voting representative to the
US House of Representatives; election last held 6 November 2002
(next to be held 2 November 2004); results - Donna M.
CHRISTIAN-CHRISTENSON (Democrat) reelected

Judicial branch:
US District Court of the Virgin Islands (under Third Circuit
jurisdiction); Territorial Court (judges appointed by the governor
for 10-year terms)

Political parties and leaders:
Democratic Party [Arturo WATLINGTON]; Independent Citizens'
Movement or ICM [Usie RICHARDS]; Republican Party [Gary SPRAUVE]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA

International organization participation:
Interpol (subbureau), IOC, UPU

Diplomatic representation in the US:
none (territory of the US)

Diplomatic representation from the US:
none (territory of the US)

Flag description:
white, with a modified US coat of arms in the center between the
large blue initials V and I; the coat of arms shows a yellow eagle
holding an olive branch in one talon and three arrows in the other
with a superimposed shield of vertical red and white stripes below a
blue panel

Economy Virgin Islands

Economy - overview:
Tourism is the primary economic activity, accounting for 80% of GDP
and employment. The islands normally host 2 million visitors a year.
The manufacturing sector consists of petroleum refining, textiles,
electronics, pharmaceuticals, and watch assembly. The agricultural
sector is small, with most food being imported. International
business and financial services are a small but growing component of
the economy. One of the world's largest petroleum refineries is at
Saint Croix. The islands are subject to substantial damage from
storms. The government is working to improve fiscal discipline, to
support construction projects in the private sector, to expand
tourist facilities, to reduce crime, and to protect the environment.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $2.5 billion (2002 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2% (2002 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $17,200 (2002 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1%
industry: 19%
services: 80% (2003 est.)

Population below poverty line:
NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2.2% (2003)

Labor force:
48,900 (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 1%, industry 19%, services 80% (2003 est.)

Unemployment rate:
9.3% (2003 est.)

Budget: revenues: $560 expenditures: NA (2003)

Agriculture - products:
fruit, vegetables, sorghum; Senepol cattle

Industries:
tourism, petroleum refining, watch assembly, rum distilling,
construction, pharmaceuticals, textiles, electronics

Industrial production growth rate:
NA

Electricity - production:
1.03 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
957.9 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
66,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Exports:
NA

Exports - commodities:
refined petroleum products

Exports - partners:
US, Puerto Rico

Imports:
NA

Imports - commodities:
crude oil, foodstuffs, consumer goods, building materials

Imports - partners:
US, Puerto Rico

Debt - external:
NA

Economic aid - recipient:
NA

Currency:
US dollar (USD)

Currency code:
USD

Exchange rates:
the US dollar is used

Fiscal year:
1 October - 30 September

Communications Virgin Islands

Telephones - main lines in use:
69,400 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
41,000 (2002)

Telephone system:
general assessment: NA
domestic: modern system with total digital switching, uses
fiber-optic cable and microwave radio relay
international: country code - 1-340; submarine cable and satellite
communications; satellite earth stations - NA

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 5, FM 11, shortwave 0 (2002)

Radios:
107,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
2 (2002)

Televisions:
68,000 (1997)

Internet country code:
.vi

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
50 (2000)

Internet users:
30,000 (2002)

Transportation Virgin Islands

Highways:
total: 856 km
paved: NA km
note: the only US possession where driving on the left side of the
road is practiced (2000)
unpaved: NA km

Ports and harbors:
Charlotte Amalie, Christiansted, Cruz Bay, Port Alucroix

Merchant marine:
none

Airports:
2 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 (2004 est.)

Military Virgin Islands

Military - note: defense is the responsibility of the US

Transnational Issues Virgin Islands

Disputes - international: none

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Wake Island

Introduction Wake Island

Background:
The US annexed Wake Island in 1899 for a cable station. An
important air and naval base was constructed in 1940-41. In December
1941, the island was captured by the Japanese and held until the end
of World War II. In subsequent years, Wake was developed as a
stopover and refueling site for military and commercial aircraft
transiting the Pacific. Since 1974, the island's airstrip has been
used by the US military and some commercial cargo planes, as well as
for emergency landings. There are over 700 landings a year on the
island.

Geography Wake Island

Location:
Oceania, atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the
way from Hawaii to the Northern Mariana Islands

Geographic coordinates:
19 17 N, 166 36 E

Map references:
Oceania

Area:
total: 6.5 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 6.5 sq km

Area - comparative:
about 11 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
19.3 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical

Terrain:
atoll of three coral islands built up on an underwater volcano;
central lagoon is former crater, islands are part of the rim

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location 6 m

Natural resources:
none

Land use: arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2001)

Irrigated land:
0 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
occasional typhoons

Environment - current issues:
NA

Geography - note:
strategic location in the North Pacific Ocean; emergency landing
location for transpacific flights

People Wake Island

Population:
no indigenous inhabitants
note: US military personnel have left the island, but contractor
personnel remain; as of October 2001, 200 contractor personnel were
present (July 2004 est.)

Government Wake Island

Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form: Wake Island

Dependency status:
unincorporated territory of the US; administered from Washington,
DC, by the Department of the Interior; activities on the island are
conducted by the US Army under a caretaker permit from the US Air
Force

Legal system:
the laws of the US, where applicable, apply

Flag description:
the flag of the US is used

Economy Wake Island

Economy - overview:
Economic activity is limited to providing services to contractors
located on the island. All food and manufactured goods must be
imported.

Electricity - production:
NA

Communications Wake Island

Telephone system:
general assessment: satellite communications; 1 DSN circuit off the
Overseas Telephone System (OTS)
domestic: NA
international: NA

Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM NA, shortwave NA note: Armed Forces Radio/Television Service (AFRTS) radio service provided by satellite (1998)

Television broadcast stations: 0 (1997)

Transportation Wake Island

Ports and harbors:
none; two offshore anchorages for large ships

Airports:
1 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 (2004 est.)

Transportation - note:
formerly an important commercial aviation base, now used by US
military, some commercial cargo planes, and for emergency landings

Military Wake Island

Military - note:
defense is the responsibility of the US; launch support facility is
part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
administered by US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC)

Transnational Issues Wake Island

Disputes - international: claimed by Marshall Islands

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Wallis and Futuna

Introduction Wallis and Futuna

Background:
Although discovered by the Dutch and the British in the 17th and
18th centuries, it was the French who declared a protectorate over
the islands in 1842. In 1959, the inhabitants of the islands voted
to become a French overseas territory.

Geography Wallis and Futuna

Location:
Oceania, islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of
the way from Hawaii to New Zealand

Geographic coordinates:
13 18 S, 176 12 W

Map references:
Oceania

Area:
total: 274 sq km
note: includes Ile Uvea (Wallis Island), Ile Futuna (Futuna Island),
Ile Alofi, and 20 islets
water: 0 sq km
land: 274 sq km

Area - comparative:
1.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
129 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical; hot, rainy season (November to April); cool, dry season
(May to October); rains 2,500-3,000 mm per year (80% humidity);
average temperature 26.6 degrees C

Terrain:
volcanic origin; low hills

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mont Singavi 765 m

Natural resources:
NEGL

Land use:
arable land: 5%
permanent crops: 25%
other: 70% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
deforestation (only small portions of the original forests remain)
largely as a result of the continued use of wood as the main fuel
source; as a consequence of cutting down the forests, the
mountainous terrain of Futuna is particularly prone to erosion;
there are no permanent settlements on Alofi because of the lack of
natural fresh water resources

Geography - note:
both island groups have fringing reefs

People Wallis and Futuna

Population: 15,880 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: NA 15-64 years: NA 65 years and over: NA

Population growth rate:
NA

Birth rate:
NA births/1,000 population

Death rate:
NA deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate:
NA migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: there has been steady emigration from Wallis and Futuna to New
Caledonia (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: NA
male: NA
female: NA

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: NA years
male: NA years
female: NA years

Total fertility rate:
NA children born/woman

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality:
noun: Wallisian(s), Futunan(s), or Wallis and Futuna Islanders
adjective: Wallisian, Futunan, or Wallis and Futuna Islander

Ethnic groups:
Polynesian

Religions:
Roman Catholic 99%, other 1%

Languages:
French, Wallisian (indigenous Polynesian language)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 50%
male: 50%
female: 50% (1969 est.)

Government Wallis and Futuna

Country name:
conventional long form: Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands
conventional short form: Wallis and Futuna
local short form: Wallis et Futuna
local long form: Territoire des Iles Wallis et Futuna

Dependency status:
overseas territory of France

Government type:
NA

Capital:
Mata-Utu (on Ile Uvea)

Administrative divisions:
none (overseas territory of France); there are no first-order
administrative divisions as defined by the US Government, but there
are three kingdoms at the second order named Alo, Sigave, Wallis

Independence:
none (overseas territory of France)

National holiday:
Bastille Day, 14 July (1789)

Constitution:
28 September 1958 (French Constitution)

Legal system:
French legal system

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Jacques CHIRAC of France (since 17 May
1995), represented by High Administrator Xavier DE FURST (since 18
January 2005)
elections: French president elected by popular vote for a five-year
term; high administrator appointed by the French president on the
advice of the French Ministry of the Interior; the presidents of the
Territorial Government and the Territorial Assembly are elected by
the members of the assembly
note: there are three traditional kings with limited powers
head of government: President of the Territorial Assembly Patalione
KANIMOA (since NA January 2001)
cabinet: Council of the Territory consists of three kings and three
members appointed by the high administrator on the advice of the
Territorial Assembly

Legislative branch:
unicameral Territorial Assembly or Assemblee Territoriale (20
seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 11 March 2002 (next to be held NA March 2007)
note: Wallis and Futuna elects one senator to the French Senate and
one deputy to the French National Assembly; French Senate -
elections last held 27 September 1998 (next to be held by NA
September 2007); results - percent of vote by party - NA; seats -
RPR (now UMP) 1; French National Assembly - elections last held 16
June 2002 (next to be held by NA 2007); results - percent of vote by
party - NA; seats - RPR (UMP) 1
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party -
RPR and affiliates 13, Socialists and affiliates 7

Judicial branch:
none; justice generally administered under French law by the high
administrator, but the three traditional kings administer customary
law and there is a magistrate in Mata-Utu

Political parties and leaders:
Lua Kae Tahi (Giscardians) [leader NA]; Mouvement des Radicaux de
Gauche or MRG [leader NA]; Rally for the Republic or RPR [Clovis
LOGOLOGOFOLAU]; Taumu'a Lelei [Soane Muni UHILA]; Union Populaire
Locale or UPL [Falakiko GATA]; Union Pour la Democratie Francaise or
UDF [leader NA]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA

International organization participation:
FZ, UPU

Diplomatic representation in the US:
none (overseas territory of France)

Diplomatic representation from the US:
none (overseas territory of France)

Flag description:
a large white modified Maltese cross - shifted a little off center
toward the fly and slightly downward - on a red background; the flag
of France outlined in white on two sides is in the upper hoist
quadrant; the flag of France is used for official occasions

Economy Wallis and Futuna

Economy - overview:
The economy is limited to traditional subsistence agriculture, with
about 80% labor force earnings from agriculture (coconuts and
vegetables), livestock (mostly pigs), and fishing. About 4% of the
population is employed in government. Revenues come from French
Government subsidies, licensing of fishing rights to Japan and South
Korea, import taxes, and remittances from expatriate workers in New
Caledonia.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $57.59 million (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
NA

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,700 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: NA
industry: NA
services: NA

Population below poverty line:
NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
NA

Labor force:
NA

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture, livestock, and fishing 80%, government 4% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate:
NA

Budget:
revenues: $20 million
expenditures: $17 million, including capital expenditures of NA
(1998 est.)

Agriculture - products:
breadfruit, yams, taro, bananas; pigs, goats

Industries:
copra, handicrafts, fishing, lumber

Industrial production growth rate:
NA

Electricity - production:
NA kWh

Electricity - consumption:
NA kWh

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)

Exports:
$250,000 f.o.b. (1999)

Exports - commodities:
copra, chemicals, construction materials

Exports - partners:
Italy 40%, Croatia 15%, US 14%, Denmark 13%

Imports:
$300,000 f.o.b. (1999)

Imports - commodities:
chemicals, machinery, passenger ships, consumer goods

Imports - partners:
France 97%, Australia 2%, New Zealand 1%

Debt - external:
NA

Economic aid - recipient:
assistance from France

Currency:
Comptoirs Francais du Pacifique franc (XPF)

Currency code:
XPF

Exchange rates:
Comptoirs Francais du Pacifique francs (XPF) per US dollar - 105.73
(2003), 126.72 (2002), 133.26 (2001), 129.43 (2000), 111.93 (1999),
107.25 (1998)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Wallis and Futuna

Telephones - main lines in use:
1,900 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
0 (1994)

Telephone system:
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA
international: country code - 681

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0 (2000)

Radios:
NA

Television broadcast stations:
2 (2000)

Televisions:
NA

Internet country code:
.wf

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2000)

Internet users:
900 (2002)

Transportation Wallis and Futuna

Highways:
total: 120 km (Ile Uvea 100 km, Ile Futuna 20 km)
paved: 16 km (all on Ile Uvea)
unpaved: 104 km (Ile Uvea 84 km, Ile Futuna 20 km)

Ports and harbors:
Leava, Mata-Utu

Merchant marine:
total: 6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 134,037 GRT/14,271 DWT
by type: passenger 6
foreign-owned: France 3, Greece 1, Monaco 1, United States 1 (2004
est.)

Airports:
2 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2004 est.)

Military Wallis and Futuna

Military - note: defense is the responsibility of France

Transnational Issues Wallis and Futuna

Disputes - international: none

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@West Bank

Introduction West Bank

Background:
The Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government
Arrangements (the DOP), signed in Washington on 13 September 1993,
provided for a transitional period not exceeding five years of
Palestinian interim self-government in the Gaza Strip and the West
Bank. Under the DOP, Israel agreed to transfer certain powers and
responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority, which includes the
Palestinian Legislative Council elected in January 1996, as part of
the interim self-governing arrangements in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. A transfer of powers and responsibilities for the Gaza Strip
and Jericho took place pursuant to the Israel-PLO 4 May 1994 Cairo
Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area and in additional
areas of the West Bank pursuant to the Israel-PLO 28 September 1995
Interim Agreement, the Israel-PLO 15 January 1997 Protocol
Concerning Redeployment in Hebron, the Israel-PLO 23 October 1998
Wye River Memorandum, and the 4 September 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh
Agreement. The DOP provides that Israel will retain responsibility
during the transitional period for external and internal security
and for public order of settlements and Israeli citizens. Direct
negotiations to determine the permanent status of Gaza and West Bank
that began in September 1999 after a three-year hiatus, were
derailed by a second intifadah that broke out in September 2000. The
resulting widespread violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
Israel's military response, and instability within the Palestinian
Authority continue to undermine progress toward a permanent
agreement. Following the death of longtime Palestinian leader Yasir
ARAFAT in November 2004, the election of his successor Mahmud ABBAS
in January 2005 could bring a turning point in the conflict.

Geography West Bank

Location:
Middle East, west of Jordan

Geographic coordinates:
32 00 N, 35 15 E

Map references:
Middle East

Area:
total: 5,860 sq km
note: includes West Bank, Latrun Salient, and the northwest quarter
of the Dead Sea, but excludes Mt. Scopus; East Jerusalem and
Jerusalem No Man's Land are also included only as a means of
depicting the entire area occupied by Israel in 1967
water: 220 sq km
land: 5,640 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Delaware

Land boundaries: total: 404 km border countries: Israel 307 km, Jordan 97 km

Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)

Climate:
temperate; temperature and precipitation vary with altitude, warm
to hot summers, cool to mild winters

Terrain:
mostly rugged dissected upland, some vegetation in west, but barren
in east

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m
highest point: Tall Asur 1,022 m

Natural resources:
arable land

Land use:
arable land: 16.9%
permanent crops: 18.97%
other: 64.13% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
droughts

Environment - current issues:
adequacy of fresh water supply; sewage treatment

Geography - note:
landlocked; highlands are main recharge area for Israel's coastal
aquifers; there are 244 West Bank settlements and 29 East Jerusalem
settlements in addition to at least 20 occupied outposts(August 2003
est.)

People West Bank

Population:
2,311,204
note: in addition, there are about 187,000 Israeli settlers in the
West Bank and fewer than 177,000 in East Jerusalem (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 43.8% (male 518,470; female 493,531)
15-64 years: 52.8% (male 623,785; female 595,376)
65 years and over: 3.5% (male 34,226; female 45,816) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 18 years
male: 17.8 years
female: 18.2 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
3.21% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
33.21 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
4.07 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
2.98 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female
total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 20.16 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 17.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 22.28 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 72.88 years
male: 71.14 years
female: 74.72 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
4.52 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality:
noun: NA
adjective: NA

Ethnic groups:
Palestinian Arab and other 83%, Jewish 17%

Religions:
Muslim 75% (predominantly Sunni), Jewish 17%, Christian and other 8%

Languages:
Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians),
English (widely understood)

Literacy: definition: NA total population: NA male: NA female: NA

Government West Bank

Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form: West Bank

Economy West Bank

Economy - overview:
Real per capita GDP for the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS)
declined by about one-third between 1992 and 1996 due to the
combined effect of falling aggregate incomes and rapid population
growth. The downturn in economic activity was largely the result of
Israeli closure policies - the imposition of border closures in
response to security incidents in Israel - which disrupted labor and
commodity market relationships between Israel and the WBGS. The most
serious social effect of this downturn was rising unemployment,
which in the WBGS during the 1980s was generally under 5%; by 1995
it had risen to over 20%. Israel's use of comprehensive closures
during the next three years decreased and, in 1998, Israel
implemented new policies to reduce the impact of closures and other
security procedures on the movement of Palestinian goods and labor.
These changes fueled an almost three-year-long economic recovery in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip; real GDP grew by 5% in 1998 and 6% in
1999. Recovery was upended in the last quarter of 2000 with the
outbreak of violence, which triggered tight Israeli closures of
Palestinian self-rule areas and severely disrupted trade and labor
movements. In 2001, and even more severely in 2002, Israeli military
measures in Palestinian Authority areas resulted in the destruction
of much capital plant and administrative structure, widespread
business closures, and a sharp drop in GDP. Including Gaza Strip,
the UN estimates that more than 100,000 Palestinians out of the
125,000 who used to work in Israel, in Israeli settlements, or in
joint industrial zones have lost their jobs. In addition, about
80,000 Palestinian workers inside the Territories are losing their
jobs. International aid of $2 billion in 2001-02 to the West Bank
and Gaza Strip prevented the complete collapse of the economy. In
2004, on-going border issues and the death of Yasser ARAFAT
continued to complicate the economic situation.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $1.7 billion (2002 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
-22% (2002 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $800 (2002 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 9% industry: 28% services: 63% note: includes Gaza Strip (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line:
60% (2003 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2.2% (includes Gaza Strip) (2001 est.)

Labor force:
NA

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 13%, industry 21%, services 66% (1996)

Unemployment rate:
50% (includes Gaza Strip) (2002 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $676.6 million
expenditures: $1.155 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(includes Gaza Strip) (2003 est.)

Agriculture - products:
olives, citrus, vegetables; beef, dairy products

Industries:
generally small family businesses that produce cement, textiles,
soap, olive-wood carvings, and mother-of-pearl souvenirs; the
Israelis have established some small-scale, modern industries in the
settlements and industrial centers

Industrial production growth rate:
NA

Electricity - production:
NA kWh; note - most electricity imported from Israel; East
Jerusalem Electric Company buys and distributes electricity to
Palestinians in East Jerusalem and its concession in the West Bank;
the Israel Electric Company directly supplies electricity to most
Jewish residents and military facilities; some Palestinian
municipalities, such as Nablus and Janin, generate their own
electricity from small power plants

Electricity - consumption:
NA kWh

Electricity - imports:
NA kWh

Exports:
$603 million f.o.b., includes Gaza Strip

Exports - commodities:
olives, fruit, vegetables, limestone

Exports - partners:
Israel, Jordan, Gaza Strip (2000)

Imports:
$1.9 billion c.i.f., includes Gaza Strip

Imports - commodities:
food, consumer goods, construction materials

Imports - partners:
Israel, Jordan, Gaza Strip (2000)

Debt - external:
$108 million (includes Gaza Strip) (1997 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$2 billion (includes Gaza Strip) (2001-02 est.)

Currency:
new Israeli shekel (ILS); Jordanian dinar (JOD)

Currency code:
ILS; JOD

Exchange rates:
new Israeli shekels per US dollar - 4.5541 (2003), 4.7378 (2002),
4.2057 (2001), 4.0773 (2000), 4.1397 (1999); Jordanian dinars per US
dollar - fixed rate of 0.7090 (from 1996)

Fiscal year:
calendar year (since 1 January 1992)

Communications West Bank

Telephones - main lines in use: 301,600 (total for West Bank and Gaza Strip) (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 480,000 (cellular subscribers in both West Bank and Gaza Strip) (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA
international: NA
note: Israeli company BEZEK and the Palestinian company PALTEL are
responsible for communication services in the West Bank

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0
note: the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts from an AM
station in Ramallah on 675 kHz; numerous local, private stations are
reported to be in operation (2000)

Radios:
NA; note - most Palestinian households have radios (1999)

Television broadcast stations:
NA

Televisions:
NA; note - many Palestinian households have televisions (1999)

Internet country code:
.ps

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
8 (1999)

Internet users:
145,000 (includes Gaza Strip) (2003)

Transportation West Bank

Highways:
total: 4,500 km
paved: 2,700 km
unpaved: 1,800 km
note: Israelis have developed many highways to service Jewish
settlements (1997 est.)

Ports and harbors:
none

Airports:
3 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.)

Military West Bank

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
NA

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
NA

Transnational Issues West Bank

Disputes - international:
West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status
subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent
status to be determined through further negotiation

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 665,246 (Palestinian Refugees
(UNRWA)) (2004)

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Western Sahara

Introduction Western Sahara

Background:
Morocco virtually annexed the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara
(formerly Spanish Sahara) in 1976, and the rest of the territory in
1979, following Mauritania's withdrawal. A guerrilla war with the
Polisario Front contesting Rabat's sovereignty ended in a 1991
UN-brokered cease-fire; a UN-organized referendum on final status
has been repeatedly postponed.

Geography Western Sahara

Location:
Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between
Mauritania and Morocco

Geographic coordinates:
24 30 N, 13 00 W

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 266,000 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 266,000 sq km

Area - comparative:
about the size of Colorado

Land boundaries: total: 2,046 km border countries: Algeria 42 km, Mauritania 1,561 km, Morocco 443 km

Coastline:
1,110 km

Maritime claims:
contingent upon resolution of sovereignty issue

Climate:
hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce
fog and heavy dew

Terrain:
mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces
rising to small mountains in south and northeast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Sebjet Tah -55 m
highest point: unnamed location 463 m

Natural resources:
phosphates, iron ore

Land use:
arable land: 0.02%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 99.98% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
hot, dry, dust/sand-laden sirocco wind can occur during winter and
spring; widespread harmattan haze exists 60% of time, often severely
restricting visibility

Environment - current issues:
sparse water and lack of arable land

Environment - international agreements: party to: none of the selected agreements signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: the waters off the coast are particularly rich fishing areas

People Western Sahara

Population: 267,405 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: NA 15-64 years: NA 65 years and over: NA

Population growth rate:
NA

Birth rate:
NA births/1,000 population

Death rate:
NA deaths/1,000 population

Sex ratio:
NA

Infant mortality rate:
total: NA
male: NA
female: NA

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: NA years
male: NA years
female: NA years

Total fertility rate:
NA children born/woman

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality:
noun: Sahrawi(s), Sahraoui(s)
adjective: Sahrawi,Sahrawian, Sahraouian

Ethnic groups:
Arab, Berber

Religions:
Muslim

Languages:
Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic

Literacy: definition: NA total population: NA male: NA female: NA

Government Western Sahara

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Western Sahara
former: Spanish Sahara

Government type:
legal status of territory and issue of sovereignty unresolved;
territory contested by Morocco and Polisario Front (Popular Front
for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro), which in
February 1976 formally proclaimed a government-in-exile of the
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR),led by President Mohamed
ABDELAZIZ; territory partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania in
April 1976, with Morocco acquiring northern two-thirds; Mauritania,
under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to
its portion in August 1979; Morocco moved to occupy that sector
shortly thereafter and has since asserted administrative control;
the Polisario's government-in-exile was seated as an OAU member in
1984; guerrilla activities continued sporadically, until a
UN-monitored cease-fire was implemented 6 September 1991

Capital:
none

Administrative divisions:
none (under de facto control of Morocco)

Suffrage:
none; a UN-sponsored voter identification campaign not yet completed

Executive branch:
none

Political pressure groups and leaders:
none

International organization participation:
none

Diplomatic representation in the US:
none

Diplomatic representation from the US:
none

Economy Western Sahara

Economy - overview:
Western Sahara depends on pastoral nomadism, fishing, and phosphate
mining as the principal sources of income for the population. The
territory lacks sufficient rainfall for sustainable agricultural
production, and most of the food for the urban population must be
imported. All trade and other economic activities are controlled by
the Moroccan Government. Moroccan energy interests in 2001 signed
contracts to explore for oil off the coast of Western Sahara, which
has angered the Polisario. Incomes and standards of living in
Western Sahara are substantially below the Moroccan level.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - NA

GDP - real growth rate:
NA

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - NA

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: NA
industry: NA
services: 40% (1996 est.)

Population below poverty line:
NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
NA

Labor force:
12,000

Labor force - by occupation:
animal husbandry and subsistence farming 50%

Unemployment rate:
NA

Budget:
revenues: NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA

Agriculture - products:
fruits and vegetables (grown in the few oases); camels, sheep,
goats (kept by nomads)

Industries:
phosphate mining, handicrafts

Industrial production growth rate:
NA

Electricity - production:
90 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
83.7 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
1,800 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Exports:
NA

Exports - commodities:
phosphates 62%

Exports - partners:
Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, so trade partners
are included in overall Moroccan accounts

Imports:
NA

Imports - commodities:
fuel for fishing fleet, foodstuffs

Imports - partners:
Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, so trade partners
are included in overall Moroccan accounts (2000)

Debt - external:
NA

Economic aid - recipient:
NA

Currency:
Moroccan dirham (MAD)

Currency code:
MAD

Exchange rates:
Moroccan dirhams per US dollar - 9.574 (2003), 11.584 (2002),
11.303 (2001), 10.626 (2000), 9.804 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Western Sahara

Telephones - main lines in use:
about 2,000 (1999 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
0 (1999)

Telephone system:
general assessment: sparse and limited system
domestic: NA
international: country code - 212; tied into Morocco's system by
microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, and satellite;
satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) linked to
Rabat, Morocco

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 2, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998)

Radios:
56,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
NA

Televisions:
6,000 (1997)

Internet country code:
.eh

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2000)

Internet users:
NA

Transportation Western Sahara

Highways: total: 6,200 km paved: 1,350 km unpaved: 4,850 km (1991 est)

Ports and harbors:
Ad Dakhla, Cabo Bojador, Laayoune (El Aaiun)

Airports:
11 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 8
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 3 (2004 est.)

Military Western Sahara

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
NA

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
NA

Transnational Issues Western Sahara

Disputes - international:
Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, whose sovereignty
remains unresolved - UN-administered cease-fire has remained in
effect since September 1991 but attempts to hold a referendum have
failed and parties thus far have rejected all brokered proposals

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@World

Introduction World

Background:
Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world
wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast
colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from
the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the
landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance
and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in
North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the
environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and
water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h)
the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of
the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population
continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930,
3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6
billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential
growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances
in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal
weapons of war).

Geography World

Map references:
Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard
Time Zones of the World

Area:
total: 510.072 million sq km
water: 361.132 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km
note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land

Area - comparative:
land area about 16 times the size of the US

Land boundaries:
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting
shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border
14 other countries
note: 43 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include:
Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan,
Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic,
Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg,
Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San
Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan,
West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and
Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked

Coastline:
356,000 km
note: 98 nations and other entities are islands that border no other
countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and
Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain,
Baker Island, Barbados, Bassas da India, Bermuda, Bouvet Island,
British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde,
Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling)
Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus,
Dominica, Europa Island, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe
Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic
Lands, Glorioso Islands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard
Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Jamaica, Jan
Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Juan de Nova
Island, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Isle of
Man, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated
States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa
Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern
Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines,
Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts
and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore,
Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands,
Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and
Tobago, Tromelin Island, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu,
Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan

Maritime claims:
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make
the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as
described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea:
territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24 nm, and exclusive
economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of
continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary
situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from
extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm

Climate:
two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow
temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to
subtropical climates

Terrain:
the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the
Pacific Ocean

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is
the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific
Ocean
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)

Natural resources:
the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the
depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and
plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality
(especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose
serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only
beginning to address

Land use: arable land: 10.73% permanent crops: 1% other: 88.27% (2001)

Irrigated land:
2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural
disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)

Environment - current issues: large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion

Geography - note:
the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just
about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe

People World

Population:
6,379,157,361 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 28.2% (male 925,276,767; female 875,567,830)
15-64 years: 64.5% (male 2,083,789,165; female 2,033,226,759)
65 years and over: 7.2% (male 203,286,504; female 257,705,851)
note: some countries do not maintain age structure information, thus
a slight discrepancy exists between the total world population and
the total for world age structure (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.14% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
20.24 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
8.86 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 50.31 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 52.17 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 48.33 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 64.05 years
male: 62.48 years
female: 65.7 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.62 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Religions:
Christians 32.71% (of which Roman Catholics 17.28%, Protestants
5.61%, Orthodox 3.49%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.67%, Hindus
13.28%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.23%, other religions
13.05%, non-religious 12.43%, atheists 2.41% (2002 est.)

Languages:
Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish
5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese
2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77%
male: 83%
female: 71% (1995 est.)

Government World

Administrative divisions:
271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities

Legal system:
all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established
the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court

Economy World

Economy - overview: Global output rose by 3.7% in 2003, led by China (9.1%), India (7.6%), and Russia (7.3%). The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 5%-7% range of growth. Growth results posted by the major industrial countries varied from a loss by Germany (-0.1%) to a strong gain by the United States (3.1%). The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decision-making powers to international bodies. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continue into 2004.

GDP:
GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $51.48
trillion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3.8% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $8,200 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32%
services: 64% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to
60% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual
cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several
Third World countries (2003 est.)

Labor force:
NA

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture NA, industry NA, services NA

Unemployment rate:
30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many
non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12%
unemployment

Industries:
dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers,
robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment;
most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small
portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to
these technological forces; the accelerated development of new
industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already
grim environmental problems

Industrial production growth rate:
3% (2002 est.)

Electricity - production:
14.93 trillion kWh (2001 est.)

Electricity - consumption:
13.94 trillion kWh (2001 est.)

Oil - production:
75.34 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
75.81 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - proved reserves:
1.025 trillion bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
2.578 trillion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
2.555 trillion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
712 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
697.5 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
161.2 trillion cu m (1 January 2002)

Exports:
$6.421 trillion f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Exports - commodities:
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services

Exports - partners:
US 16.4%, Germany 7.9%, UK 5.2%, France 5.1%, China 5%, Japan 4.6%
(2003)

Imports:
$6.531 trillion f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Imports - commodities:
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services

Imports - partners:
US 9.9%, Germany 9.4%, China 7.9%, Japan 6.7%, France 4.7% (2003)

Debt - external:
$2 trillion for less developed countries (2002 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion

Communications World

Telephones - main lines in use:
843,923,500 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
NA

Telephone system:
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA
international: NA

Radio broadcast stations:
AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA

Radios:
NA

Television broadcast stations:
NA

Televisions:
NA

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
10,350 (2000 est.)

Internet users:
604,111,719 (2002 est.)

Transportation World

Railways:
total: 1,115,205 km
broad gauge: 257,481 km
narrow gauge: 186,311 km (2003)
standard gauge: 671,413 km

Highways:
total: NA km
paved: NA km
unpaved: NA km

Ports and harbors:
Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi
(Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama

Military World

Military expenditures - dollar figure: aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.)

Transnational Issues World

Disputes - international:
stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 325 international land
boundaries separate the 192 independent states and 72 dependencies,
areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities;
ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states
into separate political entities as much as history, physical
terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes
arbitrary and imposed boundaries; maritime states have claimed
limits and have so far established over 130 maritime boundaries and
joint development zones to allocate ocean resources and to provide
for national security at sea; boundary, borderland/resource, and
territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to
violent or militarized; most disputes over the alignment of
political boundaries are confined to short segments and are today
less common and less hostile than borderland, resource, and
territorial disputes; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and
unmanaged boundaries, however, encourage illegal cross-border
activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial
disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they
may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic clashes continue
to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation around
the world; disputes over islands at sea or in rivers frequently form
the source of territorial and boundary conflict; other sources of
contention include access to water and mineral (especially
petroleum) resources, fisheries, and arable land; nonetheless, most
nations cooperate to clarify their international boundaries and to
resolve territorial and resource disputes peacefully; regional
discord directly affects the sustenance and welfare of local
populations, often leaving the world community to cope with
resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, deforestation,
and desertification

Illicit drugs:
cocaine: worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 173,450
hectares-almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia;
potential cocaine production during 2003 is estimated at 728 metric
tons (or 835 metric tons of export quality cocaine); coca
eradication programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru; 376
metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to have been
seized in 2003, and 26 metric tons disrupted (jettisoned or
destroyed); consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to
have been 800 metric tons
opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an estimated 137,944
hectares in 2003-mostly in Southwest and Southeast Asia-with 44% in
Afghanistan, potentially produced 3,775 metric tons of opium - which
conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 429 metric tons
of pure heroin; opium eradication programs have been undertaken in
Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Yemen

Introduction Yemen

Background:
North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The
British, who had set up a protectorate area around the southern port
of Aden in the 19th century, withdrew in 1967 from what became South
Yemen. Three years later, the southern government adopted a Marxist
orientation. The massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis
from the south to the north contributed to two decades of hostility
between the states. The two countries were formally unified as the
Republic of Yemen in 1990. A southern secessionist movement in 1994
was quickly subdued. In 2000, Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to a
delimitation of their border.

Geography Yemen

Location:
Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea,
between Oman and Saudi Arabia

Geographic coordinates:
15 00 N, 48 00 E

Map references:
Middle East

Area:
total: 527,970 sq km
land: 527,970 sq km
note: includes Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR
or North Yemen), and the former People's Democratic Republic of
Yemen (PDRY or South Yemen)
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming

Land boundaries: total: 1,746 km border countries: Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km

Coastline:
1,906 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western
mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry,
harsh desert in east

Terrain:
narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged
mountains; dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the
desert interior of the Arabian Peninsula

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m
highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold,
lead, nickel, and copper, fertile soil in west

Land use: arable land: 2.78% permanent crops: 0.24% other: 96.98% (2001)

Irrigated land:
4,900 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
sandstorms and dust storms in summer

Environment - current issues: very limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
strategic location on Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea
and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes

People Yemen

Population:
20,024,867 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 46.6% (male 4,751,776; female 4,582,277)
15-64 years: 50.6% (male 5,166,437; female 4,973,543)
65 years and over: 2.8% (male 273,199; female 277,635) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 16.5 years
male: 16.5 years
female: 16.5 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
3.44% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
43.16 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
8.78 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.98 male(s)/female
total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 63.26 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 58.15 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 68.12 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 61.36 years
male: 59.53 years
female: 63.29 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
6.75 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.1% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
9,900 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality: noun: Yemeni(s) adjective: Yemeni

Ethnic groups:
predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans

Religions:
Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of
Jewish, Christian, and Hindu

Languages:
Arabic

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 50.2%
male: 70.5%
female: 30% (2003 est.)

Government Yemen

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Yemen
conventional short form: Yemen
local short form: Al Yaman
local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah

Government type:
republic

Capital:
Sanaa

Administrative divisions:
19 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Abyan, 'Adan, Ad
Dali', Al Bayda', Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit,
'Amran, Dhamar, Hadramawt, Hajjah, Ibb, Lahij, Ma'rib, Sa'dah,
San'a', Shabwah, Ta'izz
note: for electoral and administrative purposes, the capital city of
Sanaa is treated as an additional governorate

Independence:
22 May 1990 (Republic of Yemen established with the merger of the
Yemen Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and the
Marxist-dominated People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [Yemen
(Aden) or South Yemen]); note - previously North Yemen had become
independent in November of 1918 (from the Ottoman Empire) and South
Yemen had become independent on 30 November 1967 (from the UK)

National holiday:
Unification Day, 22 May (1990)

Constitution:
16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994 and February 2001

Legal system:
based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local
tribal customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Ali Abdallah SALIH (since 22 May 1990,
the former president of North Yemen, assumed office upon the merger
of North and South Yemen); Vice President Maj. Gen. Abd al-Rab
Mansur al-HADI (since 3 October 1994)
head of government: Prime Minister Abd al-Qadir BA JAMAL (since 4
April 2001)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the
advice of the prime minister
election results: Ali Abdallah SALIH elected president; percent of
vote - Ali Abdallah SALIH 96.3%, Najib Qahtan AL-SHAABI 3.7%
elections: president elected by direct, popular vote for a
seven-year term (recently extended from a five-year term by
constitutional amendment); election last held 23 September 1999
(next to be held NA 2006); vice president appointed by the
president; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by
the president

Legislative branch:
a new constitutional amendment ratified on 20 February 2001 created
a bicameral legislature consisting of a Shura Council (111 seats;
members appointed by the president) and a House of Representatives
(301 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party -
GPC 228, Islah 47, YSP 7, Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National Arab
Socialist Ba'th Party 2, independents 14
elections: last held 27 April 2003 (next to be held NA April 2009)

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders:
there are more than 12 political parties active in Yemen, some of
the more prominent are: General People's Congress or GPC [President
Ali Abdallah SALIH]; Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah [Shaykh
Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR]; National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party
[Dr. Qassim SALAAM]; Nasserite Unionist Party [Abdel Malik
al-MAKHLAFI]; Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP [Ali Salih MUQBIL]
note: President SALIH's General People's Congress or GPC won a
landslide victory in the April 1997 legislative election and no
longer governs in coalition with Shaykh Abdallah bin Husayn
al-AHMAR's Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah - the two parties had
been in coalition since the end of the civil war in 1994; the YSP, a
loyal opposition party, represents the remnants of the former South
Yemeni leadership; leaders of the 1994 secessionist movement have
been pardoned by President SALIH and some are now returning to Yemen
from exile

Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA

International organization participation:
AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory),
ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol,
IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAS (observer),
OIC, ONUB, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNOCI, UPU, WCO,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Abd al-Wahhab Abdallah al-HAJRI FAX: (202) 337-2017 telephone: (202) 965-4760 chancery: Suite 705, 2600 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas C. KRAJESKI
embassy: Saawan Street, Sanaa
mailing address: P. O. Box 22347, Sanaa
telephone: (1) 303-151 through 159
FAX: (1) 303-160/161/162/164/165

Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black;
similar to the flag of Syria, which has two green stars and of Iraq
which has three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a
horizontal line centered in the white band; also similar to the flag
of Egypt, which has a heraldic eagle centered in the white band

Economy Yemen

Economy - overview:
Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, reported
strong growth in the mid-1990s with the onset of oil production. It
has been harmed by periodic declines in oil prices, but now benefits
from current high prices. Yemen has embarked on an IMF-supported
structural adjustment program designed to modernize and streamline
the economy, which has led to substantial foreign debt relief and
restructuring. International donors, meeting in Paris in October
2002, agreed on a further $2.3 billion economic support package.
Yemen has worked to maintain tight control over spending and to
implement additional components of the IMF program. A markedly high
population growth rate and internal political dissension complicate
the government's task. Plans include a diversification of the
economy, encouragement of tourism, and more efficient use of scarce
water resources.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $15.09 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2.8% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $800 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 15.2% industry: 45% services: 39.7% (2003)

Investment (gross fixed):
29.1% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
15.7% (2001)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 25.9% (2003)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
33.4 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
10.8% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
5.79 million (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force

Unemployment rate:
35% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3.729 billion
expenditures: $4.107 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003 est.)

Public debt:
39.5% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat (mildly narcotic shrub),
coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle,
camels), poultry; fish

Industries:
crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production
of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts;
small aluminum products factory; cement

Industrial production growth rate:
3% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
3.01 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
2.8 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
438,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
74,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
3.2 billion bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
480 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$157 million (2003)

Exports:
$3.92 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish

Exports - partners:
China 31.7%, Thailand 20.3%, India 15.6%, South Korea 4.9%,
Malaysia 4.3% (2003)

Imports:
$3.042 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
food and live animals, machinery and equipment, chemicals

Imports - partners:
UAE 12.9%, Saudi Arabia 10.2%, China 8.9%, US 4.9%, Kuwait 4.4%,
France 4.1% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$5.009 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$6.044 billion (2003)

Economic aid - recipient:
$2.3 billion (2003-07 disbursements)

Currency:
Yemeni rial (YER)

Currency code:
YER

Exchange rates:
Yemeni rials per US dollar - NA (2003), 175.625 (2002), 168.672
(2001), 161.718 (2000), 155.718 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Yemen

Telephones - main lines in use:
542,200 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
411,100 (2002)

Telephone system:
general assessment: since unification in 1990, efforts have been
made to create a national telecommunications network
domestic: the national network consists of microwave radio relay,
cable, tropospheric scatter, and GSM cellular mobile telephone
systems
international: country code - 967; satellite earth stations - 3
Intelsat (2 Indian Ocean and 1 Atlantic Ocean), 1 Intersputnik
(Atlantic Ocean region), and 2 Arabsat; microwave radio relay to
Saudi Arabia and Djibouti

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios:
1.05 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
7 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997)

Televisions:
470,000 (1997)

Internet country code:
.ye

Internet hosts:
138 (2004)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2000)

Internet users:
100,000 (2002)

Transportation Yemen

Highways: total: 67,000 km paved: 7,705 km unpaved: 59,295 km (1999 est.)

Pipelines:
gas 88 km; oil 1,174 km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
Aden, Al Hudaydah, Al Mukalla, As Salif, Ras Issa, Mocha, Nishtun

Merchant marine:
total: 6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 19,766 GRT/24,794 DWT
by type: cargo 1, livestock carrier 1, petroleum tanker 3, roll
on/roll off 1
foreign-owned: Hong Kong 2, Lebanon 1
registered in other countries: 5 (2004 est.)

Airports:
44 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 16
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 9
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 28
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 7
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 11
under 914 m: 4 (2004 est.)

Military Yemen

Military branches:
Army (including Special Forces), Naval Forces and Coastal Defenses
(including Marines), Air Force (including Air Defense Forces),
Republican Guard

Military manpower - military age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - 2 years (2004)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 4,617,064 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 2,590,720 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 255,426 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$885.6 million (2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
7.9% (2003)

Military - note:
establishment of a Coast Guard, scheduled for May 2001, has been
delayed

Transnational Issues Yemen

Disputes - international:
Yemen protests Eritrea fishing around the Hanish Islands awarded to
Yemen by the ICJ in 1999; nomadic groups in border region with Saudi
Arabia resist demarcation of boundary in accordance wih 2000 Jeddah
Treaty; Yemen protests Saudi erection of a concrete-filled pipe as a
security barrier in 2004 to stem illegal cross-border activities in
sections of the boundary

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 60,901 (Somalia) (2004)

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

@Zambia

Introduction Zambia

Background:
The territory of Northern Rhodesia was administered by the South
Africa Company from 1891 until it was taken over by the UK in 1923.
During the 1920s and 1930s, advances in mining spurred development
and immigration. The name was changed to Zambia upon independence in
1964. In the 1980s and 1990s, declining copper prices and a
prolonged drought hurt the economy. Elections in 1991 brought an end
to one-party rule, but the subsequent vote in 1996 saw blatant
harassment of opposition parties. The election in 2001 was marked by
administrative problems with three parties filing a legal petition
challenging the election of ruling party candidate Levy MWANAWASA.
The new president launched a far-reaching anti-corruption campaign
in 2002, which resulted in the prosecution of former President
Frederick CHILUBA and many of his supporters in late 2003.
Opposition parties currently hold a majority of seats in the
National Assembly.

Geography Zambia

Location:
Southern Africa, east of Angola

Geographic coordinates:
15 00 S, 30 00 E

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 752,614 sq km
water: 11,890 sq km
land: 740,724 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than Texas

Land boundaries:
total: 5,664 km
border countries: Angola 1,110 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo
1,930 km, Malawi 837 km, Mozambique 419 km, Namibia 233 km, Tanzania
338 km, Zimbabwe 797 km

Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)

Climate:
tropical; modified by altitude; rainy season (October to April)

Terrain:
mostly high plateau with some hills and mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Zambezi river 329 m
highest point: unnamed location in Mafinga Hills 2,301 m

Natural resources:
copper, cobalt, zinc, lead, coal, emeralds, gold, silver, uranium,
hydropower

Land use: arable land: 7.08% permanent crops: 0.03% other: 92.9% (2001)

Irrigated land:
460 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
periodic drought, tropical storms (November to April)

Environment - current issues:
air pollution and resulting acid rain in the mineral extraction and
refining region; chemical runoff into watersheds; poaching seriously
threatens rhinoceros, elephant, antelope, and large cat populations;
deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; lack of adequate water
treatment presents human health risks

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection,
Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note:
landlocked; the Zambezi forms a natural riverine boundary with
Zimbabwe

People Zambia

Population:
10,462,436
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the
effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower
life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of
population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 46.1% (male 2,419,361; female 2,401,538)
15-64 years: 51.1% (male 2,684,001; female 2,667,528)
65 years and over: 2.8% (male 132,166; female 157,842) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 16.6 years
male: 16.5 years
female: 16.6 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.47% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
38.99 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
24.35 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 98.4 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 90.98 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 105.6 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 35.18 years
male: 35.19 years
female: 35.17 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
5.14 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
16.5% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
1.8 million (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
170,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases:
typhoid fever, malaria
overall degree of risk: very high (2004)

Nationality:
noun: Zambian(s)
adjective: Zambian

Ethnic groups:
African 98.7%, European 1.1%, other 0.2%

Religions:
Christian 50%-75%, Muslim and Hindu 24%-49%, indigenous beliefs 1%

Languages:
English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda,
Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write English
total population: 80.6%
male: 86.8%
female: 74.8% (2003 est.)

Government Zambia

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Zambia
conventional short form: Zambia
former: Northern Rhodesia

Government type:
republic

Capital:
Lusaka

Administrative divisions:
9 provinces; Central, Copperbelt, Eastern, Luapula, Lusaka,
Northern, North-Western, Southern, Western

Independence:
24 October 1964 (from UK)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 24 October (1964)

Constitution:
24 August 1991

Legal system:
based on English common law and customary law; judicial review of
legislative acts in an ad hoc constitutional council; has not
accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal