interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls as snow
Terrain: most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and
mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep, glacier-covered
mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active
volcanoes
Natural resources: fish
Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures;
0% forest and woodland; 100% other; largely covered by permanent ice and snow
with some sparse vegetation consisting of grass, moss, and lichen
Environment: reindeer, introduced early in this century, live on South
Georgia; weather conditions generally make it difficult to approach the South
Sandwich Islands; the South Sandwich Islands are subject to active volcanism
Note: the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which
provide good anchorage
- People
Population: no permanent population; there is a small military garrison on
South Georgia and the British Antarctic Survey has a biological station on Bird
Island; the South Sandwich islands are uninhabited
- Government
Long-form name: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (no
short-form name)
Type: dependent territory of the UK
Capital: Grytviken Harbour on South Georgia is the chief town
Administrative divisions: none (dependent territory of the UK)
Independence: none (dependent territory of the UK)
Constitution: 3 October 1985
Legal system: English common law
National holiday: Liberation Day, 14 June (1982)
Executive branch: British monarch, commissioner
Legislative branch: none
Judicial branch: none
Leaders:
Chief of State--Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented
by Commissioner William Hugh FULLERTON (since 1988; resident at Stanley,
Falkland Islands)
- Economy
Overview: Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. There is a
potential source of income from harvesting fin fish and krill. The islands
receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK.
Budget: revenues $291,777; expenditures $451,011, including capital
expenditures of $NA (FY88 est.)
Electricity: 900 kW capacity; 2 million kWh produced, NA kWh per capita
(1989)
- Communications
Highways: NA
Ports: Grytviken Harbour on South Georgia
Airports: none
Telecommunications: coastal radio station at Grytviken; no broadcast
stations
- Defense Forces
Note: defense is the responsibility of the UK
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Soviet Union
- Geography
Total area: 22,402,200 km2; land area: 22,272,000 km2
Comparative area: slightly less than 2.5 times the size of US
Land boundaries: 19,933 km total; Afghanistan 2,384 km, Czechoslovakia
98 km, China 7,520 km, Finland 1,313 km, Hungary 135 km, Iran 1,690 km,
North Korea 17 km, Mongolia 3,441 km, Norway 196 km, Poland 1,215 km, Romania
1,307 km, Turkey 617 km
Coastline: 42,777 km
Maritime claims:
Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation;
Extended economic zone: 200 nm;
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: bilateral negotiations are under way to resolve four
disputed sections of the boundary with China (Pamir, Argun, Amur, and
Khabarovsk areas); US Government has not recognized the incorporation of
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union; Habomai Islands,
Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan islands occupied by Soviet Union since
1945, claimed by Japan; Kuril Islands administered by Soviet Union;
maritime dispute with Norway over portion of Barents Sea; has made no
territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so)
and does not recognize the claims of any other nation; Bessarabia
question with Romania; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey,
and the USSR
Climate: mostly temperate to arctic continental; winters vary from cool
along Black Sea to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from hot in southern deserts
to cool along Arctic coast
Terrain: broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest
and tundra in Siberia, deserts in Central Asia, mountains in south
Natural resources: self-sufficient in oil, natural gas, coal, and
strategic minerals (except bauxite, alumina, tantalum, tin, tungsten, fluorspar,
and molybdenum), timber, gold, manganese, lead, zinc, nickel, mercury, potash,
phosphates
Land use: 10% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 17% meadows and
pastures; 41% forest and woodland; 32% other; includes 1% irrigated
Environment: despite size and diversity, small percentage of land
is arable and much is too far north; some of most fertile land is water
deficient or has insufficient growing season; many better climates have
poor soils; hot, dry, desiccating sukhovey wind affects south;
desertification; continuous permafrost over much of Siberia is a major
impediment to development
Note: largest country in world, but unfavorably located in
relation to major sea lanes of world
- People
Population: 290,938,469 (July 1990), growth rate 0.7% (1990)
Birth rate: 18 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 24 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 65 years male, 74 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 2.4 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun--Soviet(s); adjective--Soviet
Ethnic divisions: Russian 50.78%, Ukrainian 15.45%, Uzbek 5.84%,
Byelorussian 3.51%, Kazakh 2.85%, Azerbaijan 2.38%, Armenian 1.62%,
Tajik 1.48%, Georgian 1.39%, Moldavian 1.17%, Lithuanian 1.07%,
Turkmen 0.95%, Kirghiz 0.89%, Latvian 0.51%, Estonian 0.36%, others 9.75%
Religion: 20% Russian Orthodox; 10% Muslim; 7% Protestant,
Georgian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic; less than 1% Jewish;
60% atheist (est.)
Language: Russian (official); more than 200 languages and dialects (at
least 18 with more than 1 million speakers); 75% Slavic group, 8% other
Indo-European, 12% Altaic, 3% Uralian, 2% Caucasian
Literacy: 99%
Labor force: 152,300,000 civilians; 80% industry and other nonagricultural
fields, 20% agriculture; shortage of skilled labor (1989)
Organized labor: 98% of workers are union members; all trade unions are
organized within the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (AUCCTU) and
conduct their work under guidance of the Communist party
- Government
Long-form name: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; abbreviated USSR
Type: Communist state
Capital: Moscow
Administrative divisions: 1 soviet federative socialist republic*
(sovetskaya federativnaya sotsialistcheskaya respublika) and 14 soviet socialist
republics (sovetskiye sotsialisticheskiye respubliki, singular--sovetskaya
sotsialisticheskaya respublika); Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic,
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist
Republic*, Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic,
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic; note--the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is often abbreviated RSFSR and
Soviet Socialist Republic is often abbreviated SSR
Independence: 1721 (Russian Empire proclaimed)
Constitution: 7 October 1977
Legal system: civil law system as modified by Communist legal theory;
no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction
National holiday: Great October Socialist Revolution,
7-8 November (1917)
Executive branch: president
Legislative branch: the Congress of People's Deputies is the
supreme organ of USSR state power and selects the bicameral USSR Supreme
Soviet (Verkhovnyy Sovyet) which consists of two coequal houses--Council
of the Union (Sovet Soyuza) and Council of Nationalities
(Sovet Natsionalnostey)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court of the USSR
Leaders:
Chief of State--President Mikhail Sergeyevich GORBACHEV
(since 14 March 1990; General Secretary of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party since 11 March 1985);
Head of Government--Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers
Nikolay Ivanovich RYZHKOV (since 28 September 1985)
Political parties and leaders: only party--Communist Party of the
Soviet Union (CPSU), President Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev,
general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU; note--the CPSU
is the only party, but others are forming
Suffrage: universal at age 18
Elections:
President--last held 14 March 1990 (next to be held NA 1995);
results--Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was elected by the Congress of
People's Deputies;
Congress of People's Deputies--last held 12 March 1990
(next to be held NA);
results--CPSU is the only party;
seats--(2,250 total) CPSU 1,931, non-CPSU 319;
USSR Supreme Soviet--last held NA June 1989
(next to be held NA);
results--CPSU is the only party;
seats--(542 total) CPSU 475, non-CPSU 67;
Council of the Union--last held Spring 1989
(next to be held NA);
results--CPSU is the only party;
seats--(271 total) CPSU 239, non-CPSU 32;
Council of Nationalities--last held Spring 1989
(next to be held NA);
results--CPSU is the only party;
seats--(271 total) CPSU 236, non-CPSU 35
Communists: about 19 million party members
Other political or pressure groups: Komsomol, trade unions, and
other organizations that facilitate Communist control; regional popular
fronts, informal organizations, and nascent parties with varying
attitudes toward the Communist Party establishment
Member of: CEMA, ESCAP, IAEA, IBEC, ICAC, ICAO, ICCO, ICES, ILO,
ILZSG, IMO, INRO, INTERPOL, IPU, ISO, ITC, ITU, International Whaling
Commission, IWC--International Wheat Council, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UPU, Warsaw Pact, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador-designate Aleksandr
BESSMERTNYKH; Chancery at 1125 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20036;
telephone (202) 628-7551 or 8548; there is a Soviet Consulate General
in San Francisco;
US--Ambassador Jack F. MATLOCK, Jr.; Embassy at Ulitsa Chaykovskogo
19/21/23, Moscow (mailing address is APO New York 09862);
telephone [7] (096) 252-24-51 through 59; there is a US Consulate General
in Leningrad
Flag: red with the yellow silhouette of a crossed hammer and sickle below
a yellow-edged five-pointed red star in the upper hoist-side corner
- Economy
Overview: The first five years of perestroyka (economic
restructuring) have undermined the institutions and processes of the
Soviet command economy without replacing them with efficiently
functioning markets. The initial reforms featured greater authority for
enterprise managers over prices, wages, product mix, investment, sources
of supply, and customers. But in the absence of effective market
discipline, the result was the disappearance of low-price goods,
excessive wage increases, an even larger volume of unfinished
construction projects, and, in general, continued economic stagnation.
The Gorbachev regime has made at least four serious errors in economic
policy in these five years: the unpopular and short-lived anti-alcohol
campaign; the initial cutback in imports of consumer goods; the failure
to act decisively for the privatization of agriculture; and the buildup
of a massive overhang of unspent rubles in the hands of households and
enterprises. In October 1989, a top economic adviser, Leonid Abalkin
presented an ambitious but reasonable timetable for the conversion to a
partially privatized market system in the 1990s. In December 1989,
however, Premier Ryzhkov's conservative approach prevailed, namely, the
contention that a period of retrenchment was necessary to provide a
stable financial and legislative base for launching further reforms.
Accordingly, the new strategy was to put the reform process on hold in
1990-92 by recentralizing economic authority and to placate the
rank-and-file through sharp increases in consumer goods output. In still
another policy twist, the leadership in early 1990 was considering a
marked speedup in the marketization process. Because the economy is
caught in between two systems, there was in 1989 an even greater mismatch
between what was produced and what would serve the best interests of
enterprises and households. Meanwhile, the seething nationality problems
have been dislocating regional patterns of economic specialization and
pose a further major threat to growth prospects over the next few years.
GNP: $2,659.5 billion, per capita $9,211; real growth rate 1.4%
(1989 est. based on Soviet statistics; cutbacks in Soviet reporting on
products included in sample make the estimate subject to greater
uncertainty than in earlier years)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6% (1989 est.)
Unemployment rate: officially, no unemployment
Budget: revenues $622 billion; expenditures $781 billion,
including capital expenditures of $119 billion (1989 est.)
Exports: $110.7 billion (f.o.b., 1988);
commodities--petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, metals,
wood, agricultural products, and a wide variety of manufactured goods
(primarily capital goods and arms);
partners--Eastern Europe 49%, EC 14%, Cuba 5%, US, Afghanistan
(1988)
Imports: $107.3 billion (c.i.f., 1988);
commodities--grain and other agricultural products, machinery and
equipment, steel products (including large-diameter pipe), consumer
manufactures;
partners--Eastern Europe 54%, EC 11%, Cuba, China, US (1988)
External debt: $27.3 billion (1988)
Industrial production: growth rate 0.2% (1989 est.)
Electricity: 355,000,000 kW capacity; 1,790,000 million kWh produced,
6,150 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: diversified, highly developed capital goods and defense
industries; consumer goods industries comparatively less developed
Agriculture: accounts for roughly 20% of GNP and labor force;
production based on large collective and state farms; inefficiently
managed; wide range of temperate crops and livestock produced; world's
second-largest grain producer after the US; shortages of grain, oilseeds,
and meat; world's leading producer of sawnwood and roundwood; annual fish
catch among the world's largest--11.2 million metric tons (1987)
Illicit drugs: illegal producer of cannabis and opium poppy,
mostly for domestic consumption; government has begun eradication
program to control cultivation; used as a transshipment country
Aid: donor--extended to non-Communist less developed countries (1954-88),
$47.4 billion; extended to other Communist countries (1954-88), $147.6 billion
Currency: ruble (plural--rubles); 1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks
Exchange rates: rubles (R) per US$1--0.600 (February 1990),
0.629 (1989), 0.629 (1988), 0.633 (1987), 0.704 (1986), 0.838 (1985);
note--the exchange rate is administratively set and should not be used
indiscriminately to convert domestic rubles to dollars; on 1 November
1989 the USSR began using a rate of 6.26 rubles to the dollar for
Western tourists buying rubles and for Soviets traveling abroad, but
retained the official exchange rate for most trade transactions
Fiscal year: calendar year
- Communications
Railroads: 146,100 km total; 51,700 km electrified; does not include
industrial lines (1987)
Highways: 1,609,900 km total; 1,196,000 km hard-surfaced (asphalt,
concrete, stone block, asphalt treated, gravel, crushed stone); 413,900 km
earth (1987)
Inland waterways: 122,500 km navigable, exclusive of Caspian Sea (1987)
Pipelines: 81,500 km crude oil and refined products; 195,000 km
natural gas (1987)
Ports: Leningrad, Riga, Tallinn, Kaliningrad, Liepaja, Ventspils,
Murmansk, Arkhangel'sk, Odessa, Novorossiysk, Il'ichevsk, Nikolayev,
Sevastopol', Vladivostok, Nakhodka; inland ports are Astrakhan', Baku, Gor'kiy,
Kazan', Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kuybyshev, Moscow, Rostov, Volgograd, Kiev
Merchant marine: 1,646 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling
16,436,063 GRT/22,732,215 DWT; includes 53 passenger, 937 cargo,
52 container, 11 barge carrier, 5 roll-on/float off cargo, 5 railcar
carrier, 108 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 251 petroleum, oils, and lubricants
(POL) tanker, 11 liquefied gas, 21 combination ore/oil, 4 specialized
liquid carrier, 17 chemical tanker, 171 bulk; note--639 merchant ships
are based in Black Sea, 383 in Baltic Sea, 408 in Soviet Far East, and
216 in Barents Sea and White Sea; the Soviet Ministry of Merchant Marine
is beginning to use foreign registries for its merchant ships to increase
the economic competitiveness of the fleet in the international
market--the first reregistered ships have gone to the Cypriot flag
Civil air: 4,500 major transport aircraft
Airports: 6,950 total, 4,530 usable; 1,050 with permanent-surface
runways; 30 with runways over 3,659 m; 490 with runways 2,440-3,659 m;
660 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: extensive network of AM-FM stations broadcasting both
Moscow and regional programs; main TV centers in Moscow and Leningrad plus 11
more in the Soviet republics; hundreds of TV stations; 85,000,000 TV sets;
162,000,000 radio receivers; many satellite earth stations and extensive
satellite networks (including 2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean
INTELSAT earth stations)
- Defense Forces
Branches: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Defense Forces, Air Forces, Strategic
Rocket Forces
Military manpower: males 15-49, 69,634,893; 55,588,743 fit for military
service; 2,300,127 million reach military age (18) annually (down somewhat
from 2,500,000 a decade ago)
Defense expenditures: NA
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Spain
- Geography
Total area: 504,750 km2; land area: 499,400 km2; includes Balaeric
Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta, Mellila, Islas Chafarinas, Penon de
Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera
Comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Oregon
Land boundaries: 1,903.2 km total; Andorra 65 km, France 623 km,
Gibraltar 1.2 km, Portugal 1,214 km
Coastline: 4,964 km
Maritime claims:
Extended economic zone: 200 nm;
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: Gibraltar question with UK; controls two presidios or
places of sovereignty (Ceuta and Melilla) on the north coast of Morocco
Climate: temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and
cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool
along coast
Terrain: large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills;
Pyrenees in north
Natural resources: coal, lignite, iron ore, uranium, mercury,
pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, zinc, lead, tungsten, copper, kaolin,
potash, hydropower
Land use: 31% arable land; 10% permanent crops; 21% meadows and pastures;
31% forest and woodland; 7% other; includes 6% irrigated
Environment: deforestation; air pollution
Note: strategic location along approaches to Strait of Gibraltar
- People
Population: 39,268,715 (July 1990), growth rate 0.3% (1990)
Birth rate: 11 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 6 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 75 years male, 82 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 1.4 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun--Spaniard(s); adjective--Spanish
Ethnic divisions: composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types
Religion: 99% Roman Catholic, 1% other sects
Language: Castilian Spanish; second languages include 17% Catalan, 7%
Galician, and 2% Basque
Literacy: 97%
Labor force: 14,621,000; 53% services, 24% industry, 14% agriculture,
9% construction (1988)
Organized labor: less 10% of labor force (1988)
- Government
Long-form name: Kingdom of Spain
Type: parliamentary monarchy
Capital: Madrid
Administrative divisions: 17 autonomous communities (comunidades
autonomas, singular--comunidad autonoma); Andalucia, Aragon,
Asturias, Canarias, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Leon,
Cataluna, Extremadura, Galicia, Islas Baleares, La Rioja, Madrid,
Murcia, Navarra, Pais Vasco, Valenciana
Independence: 1492 (expulsion of the Moors and unification)
Constitution: 6 December 1978, effective 29 December 1978
Legal system: civil law system, with regional applications; does not
accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: National Day, 12 October
Executive branch: monarch, president of the government (prime minister),
deputy prime minister, Council of Ministers (cabinet), Council of State
Legislative branch: bicameral The General Courts or National Assembly
(Las Cortes Generales) consists of an upper house or Senate (Senado) and a
lower house or Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo)
Leaders:
Chief of State--King JUAN CARLOS I (since 22 November 1975);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Felipe GONZALEZ Marquez
(since 2 December 1982); Deputy Prime Minister Alfonso GUERRA Gonzalez (since
2 December 1982)
Political parties and leaders: principal national parties, from
right to left--Popular Party (PP), Jose Maria Aznar; Popular Democratic
Party (PDP), Luis de Grandes; Social Democratic Center (CDS),
Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez; Spanish Socialist Workers Party
(PSOE), Felipe Gonzalez Marquez; Spanish Communist Party (PCE),
Julio Anguita; chief regional parties--Convergence and Unity (CiU),
Jordi Pujol Saley, in Catalonia; Basque Nationalist Party (PNV),
Xabier Arzallus; Basque Solidarity (EA), Carlos Garaicoetxea Urizza;
Basque Popular Unity (HB), Jon Idigoras; Basque Left (EE),
Juan Maria Bandries Molet; Andalusian Party (PA); Independent Canary
Group (AIC); Aragon Regional Party (PAR); Valencian Union (UV)
Suffrage: universal at age 18
Elections:
The Courts General--last held 29 October 1989 (next to be held
October 1993); results--PSOE 39.6%, PP 25.8%, CDS 9%, Communist-led
coalition (IU) 9%, CiU 5%, Basque Nationalist Party 1.2%, HB 1%,
Andalusian Party 1%, others 8.4%;
seats--(350 total, 18 vacant pending new elections caused by
voting irregularities) PSOE 176, PP 106, CiU 18, IU 17, CDS 14, PNV 5,
HB 4, others 10
Communists: PCE membership declined from a possible high of
160,000 in 1977 to roughly 60,000 in 1987; the party gained almost
1 million voters and 10 deputies in the 1989 election; voters came
mostly from the disgruntled socialist left; remaining strength is in
labor, where it dominates the Workers Commissions trade union (one of
the country's two major labor centrals), which claims a membership of
about 1 million; experienced a modest recovery in 1986 national
election, nearly doubling the share of the vote it received in 1982
Other political or pressure groups: on the extreme left, the Basque
Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) and the First of October Antifascist
Resistance Group (GRAPO) use terrorism to oppose the government; free
labor unions (authorized in April 1977) include the Communist-dominated
Workers Commissions (CCOO); the Socialist General Union of Workers (UGT),
and the smaller independent Workers Syndical Union (USO); the Catholic
Church; business and landowning interests; Opus Dei; university students
Member of: Andean Pact (observer), ASSIMER, CCC, Council of Europe, EC,
ESA, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICES, ICO, IDA,
IDB--Inter-American Development Bank, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, ILZSG,
IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, IPU, ITC, ITU, IWC--International
Wheat Council, NATO, OAS (observer), OECD, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WEU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO