ISK

$NA

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$NA

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$27.8 billion (2005)

Currency (code):

Icelandic krona (ISK)

Currency code:

Exchange rates:

Icelandic kronur (ISK) per US dollar - 63.391 (2007), 70.195 (2006), 62.982 (2005), 70.192 (2004), 76.709 (2003)

Communications
Iceland

Telephones - main lines in use:

186,700 (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

347,500 (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: telecommunications infrastructure is modern and fully digitized, with satellite-earth stations, fiber-optic cables, and an extensive broadband network domestic: liberalization of the telecommunications sector beginning in the late 1990s has led to increased competition especially in the mobile services segment of the market international: country code - 354; the CANTAT-3 and FARICE-1 submarine cable systems provide connectivity to Canada, the Faroe Islands, UK, Denmark, and Germany; a planned new section of the Hibernia-Atlantic submarine cable will provide additional connectivity to Canada, US, and Ireland; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions); note - Iceland shares the Inmarsat earth station with the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 3, FM about 70 (including repeaters), shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios:

260,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

14 (plus 156 repeaters) (1997)

Televisions:

98,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.is

Internet hosts:

263,980 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

20 (2001)

Internet users:

202,300 (2007)

Transportation
Iceland

Airports:

99 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 5 over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 94 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 28 under 914 m: 63 (2007)

Roadways:

total: 13,058 km paved/oiled gravel: 4,397 km (does not include urban roads) unpaved: 8,661 km (2007)

Merchant marine:

total: 2 by type: passenger/cargo 2 registered in other countries: 37 (Antigua and Barbuda 12, Bahamas 1, Belize 2, Denmark 2, Faroe Islands 1, Gibraltar 1, Malta 5, Marshall Islands 3, Norway 3, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 7) (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Grundartangi, Hafnarfjordur, Reykjavik

Military
Iceland

Military branches:

no regular military forces; Icelandic National Police (2008)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 74,896 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 62,342 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 2,393 female: 2,317 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

0% of GDP (2005 est.)

Military - note:

Iceland has no standing military force; under a 1951 bilateral agreement - still valid - its defense was provided by the US-manned Icelandic Defense Force (IDF) headquartered at Keflavik; however, all US military forces in Iceland were withdrawn as of October 2006; although wartime defense of Iceland remains a NATO commitment, in April 2007, Iceland and Norway signed a bilateral agreement providing for Norwegian aerial surveillance and defense of Icelandic airspace (2008)

Transnational Issues
Iceland

Disputes - international:

Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe
Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

@India

Introduction
India

Background:

Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkic in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons testing in 1998 caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. The dispute between the countries over the state of Kashmir is ongoing, but discussions and confidence-building measures have led to decreased tensions since 2002. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife.

Geography
India

Location:

Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan

Geographic coordinates: