Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This Page Was Last Updated On 20 March, 2008
This Page Was Last Updated On 20 March, 2008
Legend:
Introduction
Definition
Field Listing
Rank Order
Ethiopia
Top of Page
Background:
Ethiopia
Top of Page
Location:
8 00 N, 38 00 E
Map references:
Africa
Area:
total: 1,127,127 sq km
land: 1,119,683 sq km
water: 7,444 sq km
Area - comparative:
total: 5,328 km
border countries: Djibouti 349 km, Eritrea 912 km,
Kenya 861 km, Somalia 1,600 km, Sudan 1,606 km
Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)
Climate:
Elevation extremes:
2,900 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
110 cu km (1987)
Freshwater withdrawal
(domestic/industrial/agricultural): total: 5.56 cu km/yr (6%/0%/94%)
per capita: 72 cu m/yr (2002)
Natural hazards:
geologically active Great Rift Valley susceptible to
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; frequent droughts
Environment - current issues:
deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion;
desertification; water shortages in some areas from
water-intensive farming and poor management
Environment - international
agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate
Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone
Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Environmental
Modification, Law of the Sea
Geography - note:
landlocked - entire coastline along the Red Sea was
lost with the de jure independence of Eritrea on 24
May 1993; the Blue Nile, the chief headstream of
the Nile by water volume, rises in T'ana Hayk (Lake
Tana) in northwest Ethiopia; three major crops are
believed to have originated in Ethiopia: coffee, grain
sorghum, and castor bean
People
Ethiopia
Top of Page
Population:
76,511,887
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 2007 est.)
Age structure:
total: 18 years
male: 17.8 years
female: 18.1 years (2007 est.)
Population
growth rate: 2.272% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:
37.39 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:
14.67 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration
rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: repatriation of Ethiopian refugees residing in Sudan is expected to
continue for several years; some Sudanese, Somali, and Eritrean
refugees, who fled to Ethiopia from the fighting or famine in their own
countries, continue to return to their homes (2007 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.006 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.996 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.829 male(s)/female
total population: 0.995 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Infant mortality
rate: total: 91.92 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 101.57 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 81.99 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Life expectancy
at birth: total population: 49.23 years
male: 48.06 years
female: 50.44 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility
rate: 5.1 children born/woman (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult
prevalence rate: 4.4% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS people living 1.5 million (2003 est.)
with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS deaths: 120,000 (2003 est.)
Major infectious
diseases: degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis
A and E, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
animal contact disease: rabies
noun: Ethiopian(s)
adjective: Ethiopian
Ethnic groups:
Ethiopia
Top of Page
Country name:
Legal system:
Economy
Ethiopia
Top of Page
Industries:
Communications Ethiopia
Top of Page
Internet hosts:
89 (2007)
Internet users:
164,000 (2005)
Transportation
Ethiopia
Top of Page
Airports:
84 (2007)
Airports - with
paved runways: total: 15
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 5
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2007)
Airports - with
unpaved total: 69
runways: over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 5
1,524 to 2,437 m: 11
914 to 1,523 m: 29
under 914 m: 21 (2007)
Railways:
total: 699 km (Ethiopian segment of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad)
narrow gauge: 699 km 1.000-m gauge
note: railway under joint control of Djibouti and Ethiopia but remains
largely inoperable (2006)
Roadways:
total: 36,469 km
paved: 6,980 km
unpaved: 29,489 km (2004)
Merchant
marine: total: 10 ships (1000 GRT or over) 120,383 GRT/152,418 DWT
by type: cargo 8, roll on/roll off 2 (2007)
Ports and
terminals: Ethiopia is landlocked and uses ports of Djibouti in Djibouti and Berbera
in Somalia
Military
Ethiopia
Top of Page
Military
branches: Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF): Ground Forces, Ethiopian
Air Force (ETAF) (2008)
note: Ethiopia is landlocked and has no navy; following the secession of
Eritrea, Ethiopian naval facilities remained in Eritrean possession
Military service
age and 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service (2001)
obligation:
Manpower
available for males age 18-49: 14,568,277
military service: females age 18-49: 14,482,885 (2005 est.)
Legend:
Introduction
Definition
Field Listing
Rank Order
Kuwait
Top of Page
Background:
Britain oversaw foreign relations and defense for the ruling Kuwaiti ALSABAH dynasty from 1899 until independence in 1961. Kuwait was
attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following several weeks
of aerial bombardment, a US-led, UN coalition began a ground assault
on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. Kuwait spent
more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure damaged during 1990-91.
The AL-SABAH family has ruled since returning to power in 1991, and
reestablished an elected legislature that in recent years has become
increasingly assertive.
Geography
Kuwait
Top of Page
Location:
29 30 N, 45 45 E
Map references:
Middle East
Area:
total: 17,820 sq km
land: 17,820 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative:
total: 462 km
border countries: Iraq 240 km, Saudi Arabia 222 km
Coastline:
499 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate:
Land use:
130 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
0.02 cu km (1997)
Freshwater withdrawal
(domestic/industrial/agricultural): total: 0.44 cu km/yr (45%/2%/52%)
Kuwait
Top of Page
Population:
2,505,559
note: includes 1,291,354 non-nationals (July 2007 est.)
Age structure:
total: 26 years
male: 27.9 years
female: 22.4 years (2007 est.)
Population
growth rate: 3.561%
Government
Kuwait
Top of Page
Country name:
independents 16
Judicial branch:
Economy
Kuwait
Top of Page
Economy overview: Kuwait is a small, rich, relatively open economy with self-reported crude
oil reserves of about 104 billion barrels - 10% of world reserves.
Petroleum accounts for nearly half of GDP, 95% of export revenues, and
80% of government income. High oil prices in recent years have helped
build Kuwait's budget and trade surpluses and foreign reserves. As a
result of this positive fiscal situation, the need for economic reforms is
less urgent and the government has not earnestly pushed through new
initiatives. Despite its vast oil reserves, Kuwait experienced power
outages during the summer months in 2006 and 2007 because demand
exceeded power generating capacity. Power outages are likely to worsen,
given its high population growth rates, unless the government can
increase generating capacity. In May 2007 Kuwait changed its currency
peg from the US dollar to a basket of currencies in order to curb inflation
and to reduce its vulnerability to external shocks.
GDP
(purchasing $138.6 billion (2007 est.)
power parity):
GDP (official
exchange rate): $103.4 billion (2007 est.)
GDP - real
growth rate: 5.6% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita
(PPP): $55,300 (2007 est.)
GDP composition by agriculture: 0.4%
sector: industry: 54.7%
services: 44.9% (2007 est.)
Labor force:
1.167 million
note: non-Kuwaitis represent about 80% of the labor force (2007 est.)
Labor force - by
occupation: agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%
Unemployment
rate: 2.2% (2004 est.)
Population
below poverty NA%
line:
Household
income or lowest 10%: NA%
consumption by highest 10%: NA%
percentage
share:
Inflation rate
(consumer 3.9% (2007 est.)
prices):
Investment
(gross fixed): 20.9% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $66.92 billion
expenditures: $36.39 billion (2007 est.)
Public debt:
7.8% of GDP (2007 est.)
Agriculture products: practically no crops; fish
Industries:
petroleum, petrochemicals, cement, shipbuilding and repair, water
desalination, food processing, construction materials
Industrial
production 0.8% (2007 est.)
growth rate:
Electricity production: 41.11 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity consumption: 36.28 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity exports: 0 kWh (2005)
Electricity imports: 0 kWh (2005)
Oil - production:
2.669 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil consumption: 333,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - exports:
2.2 million bbl/day (2004)
Oil - imports:
2,611 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved
reserves: 104 billion bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
Natural gas production: 11.8 billion cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas consumption: 11.8 billion cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas exports: 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas imports: 0 cu m (2005)
Natural gas proved 1.521 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
reserves:
Current account
balance: $51.49 billion (2007 est.)
Exports:
$59.57 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Exports commodities: oil and refined products, fertilizers
Exports partners: Japan 20.4%, South Korea 16.2%, Taiwan 10.8%, Singapore 9.7%, US
9%, Netherlands 5.3%, China 4.1% (2006)
Imports:
$17.74 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Imports commodities: food, construction materials, vehicles and parts, clothing
Imports partners: US 14.1%, Germany 7.9%, Japan 7.8%, Saudi Arabia 6.8%, China 5.7%,
UK 5.4%, Italy 4.6% (2006)
Communications Kuwait
Top of Page
stations:
Internet country
code: .kw
Internet hosts:
2,013 (2007)
Internet users:
816,700 (2006)
Transportation
Kuwait
Top of Page
Airports:
7 (2007)
Airports - with
paved runways: total: 4
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2007)
Airports - with
unpaved total: 3
runways: 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
under 914 m: 2 (2007)
Heliports:
4 (2007)
Pipelines:
gas 269 km; oil 540 km; refined products 57 km (2007)
Roadways:
total: 5,749 km
paved: 4,887 km
unpaved: 862 km (2004)
Merchant
marine: total: 38 ships (1000 GRT or over) 2,195,831 GRT/3,566,308 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo 1, container 6, liquefied gas 5, livestock
carrier 3, petroleum tanker 21
registered in other countries: 28 (Bahrain 3, Comoros 1, Liberia 1, Libya
1, Panama 1, Qatar 7, Saudi Arabia 6, UAE 8) (2007)
Ports and
terminals: Ash Shu'aybah, Ash Shuwaykh, Az Zawr (Mina' Sa'ud), Mina' 'Abd
Allah, Mina' al Ahmadi
Military
Kuwait
Top of Page
Military
branches: Land Forces, Kuwaiti Navy, Kuwaiti Air Force (Al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya
al-Kuwaitiya), National Guard (2007)
Military service
age and 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; reserve
obligation: obligation to age 40 with 1 month annual training; women have served in
police forces since 1999 (2006)
Manpower
available for males age 18-49: 864,745
military service: females age 18-49: 467,120 (2005 est.)
AT-A-GLANCE
colonised.
But the nation
is better
known for its
famines, its
war with
OVERVIEW
Eritrea.
OVERVIEW |
FACTS | LEADERS
| MEDIA
In the first
Ethiopia
Britain, whose
Italians in
Selassie back
British
Soviet Union.
Although
that have
countries,
less
end of 2006
millions to the
1970s and
Timeline
In 1974 this helped topple Haile Selassie. His regime was replaced by a selfproclaimed Marxist junta led by Mengistu Haile Mariam under which many
thousands of opponents were purged or killed, property was confiscated and
defence spending spiralled.
The overthrow of the junta in 1991 saw political and economic conditions
stabilise, but not enough to restore investors' confidence.
Eritrea gained independence in 1993 following a referendum. Poor border
demarcation developed into military conflict and full-scale war in the late
1990s in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
A fragile truce has held, but the UN says ongoing disputes over the
demarcation of the border threaten peace.
Ethiopia is one of Africa's poorest states. Almost two-thirds of its people are
illiterate. The economy revolves around agriculture, which in turn relies on
rainfall. The country is one of Africa's leading coffee producers.
Many Ethiopians depend on food aid from abroad. In 2004 the government
began a drive to move more than two million people away from the arid
highlands of the east in an attempt to provide a lasting solution to food
shortages.
At the end of 2006 Ethiopia sent between 5,000 and 10,000 troops into
Somalia to support forces of the weak transitional government there and
helped to oust the Islamists who had controlled southern Somalia for six
months.
FACTS
OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA
Radio is the medium of choice, reaching the rural areas where most
Ethiopians live.
Although the state controls most of Ethiopia's radio stations and the sole
national TV network, the print and broadcast media have seen dramatic
changes since the fall of Mengistu in the early 1990s.
Deregulation has been on the cards for some years and in 2006 licences
were awarded to two private FM stations in the capital.
Some opposition groups beam radio broadcasts to Ethiopia using hired
shortwave transmitters overseas.
The number of privately-owned newspapers has grown; some are available
online. Press circulation is largely confined to the literate urban elite.
The private press offers quite different reporting to the state-owned
newspapers and is often critical of the government.
The relationship between the press and the authorities has sometimes been
difficult. Media rights group Reporters Without Borders cited a "spiral of
repression" against the private media in the wake of the violent protests that
followed the 2005 elections.
The International Press Institute (IPI) reported in its 2006 World Press
Freedom Review that the prosecution of journalists had "almost silenced
independent journalism".
The press
Addis Zemen - state-owned daily
Ethiopian Herald - state-owned English-language daily
The Daily Monitor - private, English-language
In the first part of the 20th century Ethiopia forged strong links with Britain,
whose troops helped evict the Italians in 1941 and put Emperor Haile
Selassie back on his throne. From the 1960s British influence gave way to
that of the US, which in turn was supplanted by the Soviet Union.
AT-A-GLANCE
confidence.
price fluctuations
free marketeer
Radio is the medium of choice, reaching the rural areas where most
Ethiopians live.
Although the state controls most of Ethiopia's radio stations and the sole
national TV network, the print and broadcast media have seen dramatic
changes since the fall of Mengistu in the early 1990s.
Deregulation has been on the cards for some years and in 2006 licences
were awarded to two private FM stations in the capital.
Some opposition groups beam radio broadcasts to Ethiopia using hired
shortwave transmitters overseas.
The number of privately-owned newspapers has grown; some are available
online. Press circulation is largely confined to the literate urban elite.
The private press offers quite different reporting to the state-owned
newspapers and is often critical of the government.
The relationship between the press and the authorities has sometimes been
difficult. Media rights group Reporters Without Borders cited a "spiral of
repression" against the private media in the wake of the violent protests that
followed the 2005 elections.
The International Press Institute (IPI) reported in its 2006 World Press
Freedom Review that the prosecution of journalists had "almost silenced
independent journalism".
The press
Addis Zemen - state-owned daily
Ethiopian Herald - state-owned English-language daily
The Daily Monitor - private, English-language
Addis Admass - private, Amharic-language weekly
The Reporter - private, English-language web pages
Capital - English-language, business weekly
Addis Fortune - English-language business weekly
Television
Ethiopian Television (ETV) - state-owned
Radio
Radio Ethiopia - state-owned, operates National Service and External
Service and regional stations
FM Addis 97.1 - operated by Addis Ababa city administration
Voice of Tigray Revolution - Tigray Regional State government radio
Radio Fana - founded in 1994 by ruling party
News agencies
Walta Information Centre (WIC) - privately-owned, pro-government
Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) - state-owned
AT-A-GLANCE
and had to be rebuilt. Oil exports stopped for has often clashed with the ruling
a time.
Twelve years later, Kuwait played host to
another massive military presence as
thousands of soldiers massed on the Iraqi
border for the US-led campaign in 2003 to
disarm and oust the Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein. It remains an important transit
Timeline
Kuwait was the first Arab country in the Gulf to have an elected parliament.
Moves to change the male-dominated political structure culminated in the
granting of full political rights to women in 2005.
In 1999 the country's then ruler, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, issued a
decree giving women full political rights, but the move was narrowly
defeated in the National Assembly.
In May 2005 parliament gave women the right to vote and stand as
candidates in elections for the 50-seat National Assembly.
Kuwait has faced a recent spate of militant violence. Security forces have
clashed with Islamist militants, some of whom are alleged to have links with
al-Qaeda. The authorities say extremist groups have plotted attacks on
Western targets.
FACTS
OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA
Kuwait has some of the most outspoken newspapers in the Arab world, often
aggressive in their coverage of politics and the government.
Journalists enjoy greater freedoms than some of their regional counterparts,
but restraint is exercised when covering matters relating to the emir and
senior royals.
A press law forbids insulting references to God and the Prophet, and
prescribes prison sentences for transgressors.
State-owned television and radio stations operate alongside recentlylaunched private broadcasters. Satellite dishes are widely used and enable
viewers to watch popular pan-Arab TV stations.
Newspaper publishers must have licences from the Ministry of Information.
The ministry censors books, films, periodicals and other imported
publications deemed morally offensive.
BBC World Service is available on FM in Kuwait City.
The press
Al-Watan - private, daily
Al-Qabas - private, daily
Al-Rai al-Amm - private, daily
Kuwait Times - English-language
Arab Times - English-language
Television
Kuwaiti TV - state-run, operates three networks and satellite channel
Al-Rai - first private TV station, via satellite
Flash TV - private
Radio
Radio Kuwait - state-run, programmes in English and Arabic
Marina FM - first private radio station, music-based
News agency
Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) - in Arabic and English