total: 20
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 9
under 914 m: 5 (1998 est.)
Heliports: 2 (1998 est.)
Military
Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense,
paramilitary (includes Federal Police Force)
Military manpower--military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower--availability:
males age 15-49: 791,097 (1999 est.)
note: includes non-nationals
Military manpower--fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 425,248 (1999 est.)
Military manpower--reaching military age annually:
males: 23,358 (1999 est.)
Military expenditures--dollar figure: $2.118 billion (1999)
Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 5% (1999)
Transnational Issues
Disputes--international: location and status of boundary with
Saudi Arabia is not final, de facto boundary reflects 1974
agreement; no defined boundary with most of Oman, but Administrative
Line in far north; claims two islands in the Persian Gulf occupied
by Iran: Lesser Tunb (called Tunb as Sughra in Arabic by UAE and
Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Kuchek in Persian by Iran) and Greater Tunb
(called Tunb al Kubra in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg
in Persian by Iran); claims island in the Persian Gulf jointly
administered with Iran (called Abu Musa in Arabic by UAE and
Jazireh-ye Abu Musa in Persian by Iran)--over which Iran has taken
steps to exert unilateral control since 1992, including access
restrictions and a military build-up on the island; the UAE has
garnered significant diplomatic support in the region in protesting
these Iranian actions
Illicit drugs: growing role as heroin transshipment and
money-laundering center due to its proximity to southwest Asian
producing countries and the bustling free trade zone in Dubai
======================================================================
@United Kingdom
--------------
Introduction
Background: Britain, the dominant industrial and maritime power
of the nineteenth century, played a leading role in developing
parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. The
British Empire covered approximately one-fourth of the earth's
surface at its zenith. In the first half of the twentieth century
its strength was seriously depleted by two world wars. Since the end
of World War II, the British Empire has been dismantled, and Britain
has rebuilt itself into a prosperous, modern European nation with
significant international political, cultural, and economic
influence. As the twentieth century draws to a close, Britain is
debating the degree of its integration with continental Europe.
While a member of the EU, for the time being it is staying out of
the euro system introduced in January 1999. Constitutional reform,
including the House of Lords and the devolution of power to
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, is an ongoing issue in Great
Britain.
Geography
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
land: 241,590 sq km
water: 3,230 sq km
note: includes Rockall and Shetland Islands
Area--comparative: slightly smaller than Oregon
Land boundaries:
total: 360 km
border countries: Ireland 360 km
Coastline: 12,429 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf: as defined in continental shelf orders or in
accordance with agreed upon boundaries
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
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: Fenland -4 m
highest point: Ben Nevis 1,343 m
Natural resources: coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone,
iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica
Land use:
arable land: 25%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 46%
forests and woodland: 10%
other: 19% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 1,080 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
Environment--current issues: sulfur dioxide emissions from power
plants contribute to air pollution; some rivers polluted by
agricultural wastes; and coastal waters polluted because of
large-scale disposal of sewage at sea
Environment--international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping,
Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands,
Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
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
Population: 59,113,439 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (male 5,822,901; female 5,522,122)
15-64 years: 65% (male 19,393,706; female 19,103,882)
65 years and over: 16% (male 3,821,181; female 5,449,647) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.24% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 11.9 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 10.64 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: 1.11 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 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: 0.7 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 5.78 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.37 years
male: 74.73 years
female: 80.15 years (1999 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (1999 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 27 million, Roman Catholic 9 million, Muslim
1 million, Presbyterian 800,000, Methodist 760,000, Sikh 400,000,
Hindu 350,000, Jewish 300,000 (1991 est.)
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% (1978 est.)
male: NA%
female: NA%
Government
Country name:
conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland
conventional short form: United Kingdom
abbreviation: UK
Data code: UK
Government type: constitutional monarchy
Capital: London
Administrative divisions: 47 counties, 7 metropolitan counties,
26 districts, 9 regions, and 3 islands areas; England--39 counties, 7
metropolitan counties*; Avon, Bedford, Berkshire, Buckingham,
Cambridge, Cheshire, Cleveland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derby, Devon,
Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucester, Greater London*,
Greater Manchester*, Hampshire, Hereford and Worcester, Hertford,
Humberside, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lancashire, Leicester, Lincoln,
Merseyside*, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, North Yorkshire,
Nottingham, Oxford, Shropshire, Somerset, South Yorkshire*,
Stafford, Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne and Wear*, Warwick, West Midlands*,
West Sussex, West Yorkshire*, Wiltshire; Northern Ireland--26
districts; Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge,
Belfast, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown,
Craigavon, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn,
Londonderry, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey,
North Down, Omagh, Strabane; Scotland--9 regions, 3 islands areas*;
Borders, Central, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Grampian, Highland,
Lothian, Orkney*, Shetland*, Strathclyde, Tayside, Western Isles*;
Wales--8 counties; Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan,
Powys, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan
note: England may now have 35 counties and Wales 9 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, 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 was enacted under
the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284; in the Act of Union of 1707,
England and Scotland agreed to permanent union 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: Celebration of the Birthday of the Queen
(second Saturday in June)
Constitution: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and
practice
Legal system: common law tradition with early Roman and modern
continental influences; no judicial review of Acts of Parliament;
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; British
courts and legislation are increasingly subject to review by
European Union courts
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)
head of government: Prime Minister Anthony C. L. (Tony) BLAIR (since
2 May 1997)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; the prime minister is
the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons (assuming
there is no majority party, a prime minister would have a majority
coalition or at least a coalition that was not rejected by the
majority)
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of House of
Lords (1,200 seats; four-fifths of the members are hereditary peers,
two archbishops, 24 other senior bishops, serving and retired Lords
of Appeal in Ordinary, other life peers, Scottish peers) and House
of Commons (659 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve
five-year terms unless the House is dissolved earlier)
elections: House of Lords--no elections; House of Commons--last held 1
May 1997 (next to be held by NA May 2002); note--in 1998 elections
were held for a Northern Ireland Parliament; in 1999 there will be
elections for a new Scottish parliament and a new Welsh Assembly
election results: House of Commons--percent of vote by party--Labor
44.5%, Conservative 31%, Liberal Democratic 17%, other 7.5%; seats
by party--Labor 418, Conservative 165, Liberal Democrat 46, other 30
Judicial branch: House of Lords, several Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary are appointed by the monarch for life
Political parties and leaders: Conservative and Unionist Party
Political pressure groups and leaders: Trades Union Congress;
Confederation of British Industry; National Farmers' Union; Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament
International organization participation: AfDB, AsDB, Australia
Group, BIS, C, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN, CP, EAPC, EBRD,
ECA (associate), ECE, ECLAC, EIB, ESA, ESCAP, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7,
G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM
(observer), ISO, ITU, MTCR, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD,
OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP,
UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNOMIG, UNOMSIL, UNRWA, UNU, UPU, WCL,
WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Sir Christopher J. R. MEYER
chancery: 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston,
Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco
consulate(s): Dallas, Miami, and Seattle
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Philip LADER
embassy: 24/31 Grosvenor Square, London, W. 1A1AE
mailing address: PSC 801, Box 40, FPO AE 09498-4040
consulate(s) general: Belfast, Edinburgh
Flag description: blue 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); known as the Union Flag or 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
Economy--overview: The UK is one of the world's great trading
powers and financial centers, and its essentially capitalistic
economy ranks among the four largest in 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, now employing
only 18% of the work force. Economic growth is slowing, and Britain
may experience a short recession in 1999. As a result, unemployment
probably will begin to rise again. The BLAIR government has put off
the question of participation in the euro system until after the
next election, not expected until 2001, but Chancellor of the
Exchequer BROWN is committed to preparing the British economy for
eventual membership.
GDP: purchasing power parity--$1.252 trillion (1998 est.)
GDP--real growth rate: 2.6% (1998 est.)
GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$21,200 (1998 est.)
GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.5%
industry: 31.5%
services: 67% (1997)
Population below poverty line: 17%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 24.7% (1986)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.7% (1998)
Labor force: 28.8 million (1998)
Labor force--by occupation: services 68.9%, manufacturing and
construction 17.5%, government 11.3%, energy 1.2%, agriculture 1.1%
(1996)
Unemployment rate: 7.5% (1998 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $487.7 billion
expenditures: $492.6 billion, including capital expenditures of
$23.1 billion (1997 est.)
Industries: production machinery including 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: 0.5% (1998 est.)
Electricity--production: 309.672 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity--production by source:
fossil fuel: 72.28%
hydro: 1.28%
nuclear: 26.33%
other: 0.11% (1996)
Electricity--consumption: 326.322 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity--exports: 0 kWh (1996)
Electricity--imports: 16.65 billion kWh (1996)
Agriculture--products: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables;
cattle, sheep, poultry; fish
Exports: $271 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Exports--commodities: manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food,
beverages, tobacco
Exports--partners: EU countries 56% (Germany 12%, France 10%,
Netherlands 8%), US 12% (1997)
Imports: $304 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Imports--commodities: manufactured goods, machinery, fuels,
foodstuffs
Imports--partners: EU countries 53% (Germany 14%, France 10%,
Netherlands 7%, Ireland 5%), US 13% (1997)
Debt--external: $NA
Economic aid--donor: ODA, $3.4 billion (1996)
Currency: 1 British pound (L) = 100 pence
Exchange rates: British pounds (L) per US$1--0.6057 (January
1999), 0.6037 (1998), 0.6106 (1997), 0.6403 (1996), 0.6335 (1995),
0.6529 (1994)
Fiscal year: 1 April--31 March
Communications
Telephones: 29.5 million (1987 est.)
Telephone system: technologically advanced domestic and
international system
domestic: equal mix of buried cables, microwave radio relay, and
fiber-optic systems
international: 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 225, FM 525 (mostly repeaters),
shortwave 0
Radios: 70 million
Television broadcast stations: 78 (in addition, there are 869
repeaters) (1997)
Televisions: 20 million
Transportation
Railways:
total: 16,878 km
broad gauge: 342 km 1.600-m gauge (190 km double track); note--all
1.600-m gauge track, of which 342 km is in common carrier use, is in
Northern Ireland
standard gauge: 16,536 km 1.435-m gauge (4,928 km electrified;
12,591 km double or multiple track) (1996)
Highways:
total: 372,000 km
paved: 372,000 km (including 3,270 km of expressways)
unpaved: 0 km (1996 est.)
Waterways: 3,200 km
Pipelines: crude oil (almost all insignificant) 933 km; petroleum
products 2,993 km; natural gas 12,800 km
Ports and harbors: Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Dover,
Falmouth, Felixstowe, Glasgow, Grangemouth, Hull, Leith, Liverpool,
London, Manchester, Peterhead, Plymouth, Scapa Flow, Sullom Voe,
Tees, Tyne
Merchant marine:
total: 155 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,460,361
GRT/2,517,875 DWT
ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 29, chemical tanker 6, combination
ore/oil 1, container 25, liquefied gas tanker 1, oil tanker 51,
passenger 8, passenger-cargo 1, roll-on/roll-off cargo 17, short-sea
passenger 12, specialized tanker 1 (1998 est.)
Airports: 497 (1998 est.)
Airports--with paved runways:
total: 356
over 3,047 m: 10
2,438 to 3,047 m: 32
1,524 to 2,437 m: 169
914 to 1,523 m: 91
under 914 m: 54 (1998 est.)
Airports--with unpaved runways:
total: 141
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 23
under 914 m: 117 (1998 est.)
Heliports: 12 (1998 est.)
Military
Military branches: Army, Royal Navy (includes Royal Marines),
Royal Air Force
Military manpower--availability:
males age 15-49: 14,458,646 (1999 est.)
Military manpower--fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 12,053,320 (1999 est.)
Military expenditures--dollar figure: $36.7 billion (FY98/99)
Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 2.6% (FY98/99)
Transnational Issues
Disputes--international: Northern Ireland issue with Ireland
(historic peace agreement signed 10 April 1998); Gibraltar issue
with Spain; Argentina claims Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas);
Argentina claims South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands;
Mauritius claims island of Diego Garcia in British Indian Ocean
Territory; Rockall continental shelf dispute involving Denmark,
Iceland, and Ireland (Ireland and the UK have signed a boundary
agreement in the Rockall area); territorial claim in Antarctica
(British Antarctic Territory); Seychelles claims Chagos Archipelago
in British Indian Ocean Territory
Illicit drugs: gateway country for Latin American cocaine
entering the European market; producer and major consumer of
synthetic drugs, synthetic precursor chemicals; transshipment point
for Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering center
======================================================================
@United States
-------------
Introduction
Background: 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, low inflation, and rapid advances in technology. The
biggest cloud over this affluent society is the distribution of
gains--since 1975 most of the increase in national income has gone to
the 20% of people at the top of the income ladder.
Geography
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: 9,629,091 sq km
land: 9,158,960 sq km
water: 470,131 sq km
note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia
Area--comparative: about one-half the size of Russia; about
three-tenths the size of Africa; about one-half the size of South
America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than
China; about two and one-half times the size of Western Europe
Land boundaries:
total: 12,248 km
border countries: Canada 8,893 km (including 2,477 km with Alaska),
Cuba 29 km (US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay), Mexico 3,326 km
note: Guantanamo Naval Base is leased by the US and thus remains
part of Cuba
Coastline: 19,924 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 12 nm
continental shelf: not specified
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
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%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 25%
forests and woodland: 30%
other: 26% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 207,000 sq km (1993 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; very limited natural
fresh water resources in much of the western part of the country
require careful management; desertification