The 2008 CIA World Factbook, United States. Central Intelligence Agency [primary phonics books .TXT] 📗

WIPO,
WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Dennis J. RICHARDSON chancery: 1601 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: [1] (202) 797-3000 FAX: [1] (202) 797-3168 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco

Diplomatic representation from the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Robert D. McCALLUM, Jr. embassy: Moonah Place, Yarralumla, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2600 mailing address: APO AP 96549 telephone: [61] (02) 6214-5600 FAX: [61] (02) 6214-5970 consulate(s) general: Melbourne, Perth, Sydney

Flag description:

blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and a large seven-pointed star in the lower hoist-side quadrant known as the Commonwealth or Federation Star, representing the federation of the colonies of Australia in 1901; the star depicts one point for each of the six original states and one representing all of Australia's internal and external territories; on the fly half is a representation of the Southern Cross constellation in white with one small five-pointed star and four larger, seven-pointed stars

Economy
Australia

Economy - overview:

Australia has an enviable, strong economy with a per capita GDP on par with the four dominant West European economies. Robust business and consumer confidence and high export prices for raw materials and agricultural products are fueling the economy, particularly in mining states. Australia's emphasis on reforms, low inflation, a housing market boom, and growing ties with China have been key factors behind the economy's 16 solid years of expansion. Drought, robust import demand, and a strong currency have pushed the trade deficit up in recent years, while infrastructure bottlenecks and a tight labor market are constraining growth in export volumes and stoking inflation. Australia's budget has been in surplus since 2002 due to strong revenue growth.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$773 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$908.8 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

4.3% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$37,300 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 3% industry: 26.4% services: 70.6% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

10.95 million (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 3.6% industry: 21.2% services: 75.2% (2004 est.)

Unemployment rate:

4.4% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:

NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 2% highest 10%: 25.4% (1994)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:

30.5 (2006)

Investment (gross fixed):

27.3% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $321.9 billion expenditures: $315.8 billion (2007 est.)

Fiscal year:

1 July - 30 June

Public debt:

15.6% of GDP note: the Commonwealth government eliminated its net debt in 2006, but continues a gross debt issue to support the market for risk-free securities (2007 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

2.3% (2007 est.)

Central bank discount rate:

NA

Commercial bank prime lending rate:

10.02% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money:

$298.5 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of quasi money:

$667.2 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit:

$1.312 trillion (31 December 2007)

Agriculture - products:

wheat, barley, sugarcane, fruits, cattle, sheep, poultry

Industries:

mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, steel

Industrial production growth rate:

4.1% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:

244.2 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - consumption:

220 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - exports:

0 kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - imports:

0 kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil fuel: 90.8% hydro: 8.3% nuclear: 0% other: 0.9% (2001)

Oil - production:

600,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)

Oil - consumption:

966,200 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - exports:

337,400 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - imports:

615,000 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - proved reserves:

1.5 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.)

Natural gas - production:

43.62 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:

29.4 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - exports:

19.91 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports:

5.689 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

849.5 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

Current account balance:

-$56.78 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:

$142.1 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

coal, iron ore, gold, meat, wool, alumina, wheat, machinery and transport equipment

Exports - partners:

Japan 18.9%, China 14.2%, South Korea 8%, US 6%, NZ 5.6%, India 5.5%, UK 4.2% (2007)

Imports:

$160 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities:

machinery and transport equipment, computers and office machines, telecommunication equipment and parts; crude oil and petroleum products

Imports - partners:

China 15.5%, US 12.8%, Japan 9.6%, Singapore 5.6%, Germany 5.2%, UK 4.3%, Thailand 4.2% (2007)

Economic aid - donor:

ODA, $2.123 billion (2006)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$26.91 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:

$826.4 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:

$315 billion (2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$280.6 billion (2007 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$804.1 billion (2005)

Currency (code):

Australian dollar (AUD)

Currency code:

AUD

Exchange rates:

Australian dollars (AUD) per US dollar - 1.2137 (2007), 1.3285 (2006), 1.3095 (2005), 1.3598 (2004), 1.5419 (2003)

Communications
Australia

Telephones - main lines in use:

9.76 million (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

21.26 million (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: excellent domestic and international service domestic: domestic satellite system; significant use of radiotelephone in areas of low population density; rapid growth of mobile cellular telephones international: country code - 61; landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-3 optical telecommunications submarine cable with links to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe; the Southern Cross fiber optic submarine cable provides links to New Zealand and the United States; satellite earth stations - 19 (10 Intelsat - 4 Indian Ocean and 6 Pacific Ocean, 2 Inmarsat - Indian and Pacific Ocean regions, 2 Globalstar, 5 other) (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 262, FM 345, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios:

25.5 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

104 (1997)

Televisions:

10.15 million (1997)

Internet country code:

.au

Internet hosts:

11.134 million (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

571 (2002)

Internet users:

11.24 million (2007)

Transportation
Australia

Airports:

461 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 317 over 3,047 m: 11 2,438 to 3,047 m: 12 1,524 to 2,437 m: 138 914 to 1,523 m: 143 under 914 m: 13 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 144 1,524 to 2,437 m: 19 914 to 1,523 m: 109 under 914 m: 16 (2007)

Heliports:

1 (2007)

Pipelines:

condensate/gas 469 km; gas 26,719 km; liquid petroleum gas 240 km; oil 3,720 km; oil/gas/water 110 km (2007)

Railways:

total: 38,550 km broad gauge: 3,727 km 1.600-m gauge standard gauge: 20,519 km 1.435-m gauge (1,877 km electrified) narrow gauge: 14,074 km 1.067-m gauge (2,453 km electrified) dual gauge: 230 km dual gauge (2006)

Roadways:

total: 812,972 km paved: 341,448 km unpaved: 471,524 km (2004)

Waterways:

2,000 km (mainly used for recreation on Murray and Murray-Darling river systems) (2006)

Merchant marine:

total: 50 by type: bulk carrier 12, cargo 5, chemical tanker 1, container 1, liquefied gas 4, passenger 7, passenger/cargo 7, petroleum tanker 8, roll on/roll off 5 foreign-owned: 24 (Canada 9, France 1, Germany 2, Japan 1, Netherlands 2, Norway 1, Singapore 1, UK 5, US 2) registered in other countries: 28 (Antigua and Barbuda 1, Belize 1, Bermuda 1, Dominica 2, Fiji 1, Marshall Islands 1, NZ 1, Panama 4, Singapore 12, Tonga 1, US 1, Vanuatu 2) (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Brisbane, Dampier, Fremantle, Gladstone, Hay Point, Melbourne,
Newcastle, Port Hedland, Port Kembla, Port Walcott, Sydney

Military
Australia

Military branches:

Australian Defense Force (ADF): Australian Army, Royal Australian
Navy, Royal Australian Air Force, Special Operations Command (2006)

Military service age and obligation:

17 years of age for voluntary military service (with parental consent); no conscription; women allowed to serve in Army combat units in non-combat support roles (2008)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 4,999,988 females age 16-49: 4,870,043 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 4,137,176 females age 16-49: 4,022,588 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 144,934 female: 137,511 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

2.4% of GDP (2006)

Transnational Issues
Australia

Disputes - international:

Timor-Leste and Australia agreed in 2005 to defer the disputed portion of the boundary for fifty years and to split hydrocarbon revenues evenly outside the Joint Petroleum Development Area covered by the 2002 Timor Sea Treaty; dispute with Timor-Leste hampers creation of a revised maritime boundary with Indonesia in the Timor Sea; regional states continue to express concern over Australia's 2004 declaration of a 1,000-nautical mile-wide maritime identification zone; Australia asserts land and maritime claims to Antarctica; in 2004 Australia submitted its claims to Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to extend its continental margins covering over 3.37 million square kilometers, expanding its seabed roughly thirty percent more than its claimed exclusive economic zone; since 2003, Australia has led the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) to maintain civil and political order and reinforce regional security

Illicit drugs:

Tasmania is one of the world's major suppliers of licit opiate products; government maintains strict controls over areas of opium poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate; major consumer of cocaine and amphetamines

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Austria

Introduction
Austria

Background:

Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria's status remained unclear for a decade. A State Treaty signed in 1955 ended the occupation, recognized Austria's independence, and forbade unification with Germany. A constitutional law that same year declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as a condition for Soviet military withdrawal. The Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995 have altered the meaning of this neutrality. A prosperous, democratic country, Austria entered the EU Economic and Monetary Union in 1999.

Geography
Austria

Location:

Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia

Geographic coordinates:

47 20 N, 13 20 E

Map references:

Europe

Area:

total: 83,870 sq km land: 82,444 sq km water: 1,426 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly smaller than Maine

Land boundaries:

total: 2,562 km border countries: Czech Republic 362 km, Germany 784 km, Hungary 366 km, Italy 430 km, Liechtenstein 35 km, Slovakia 91 km, Slovenia 330 km, Switzerland 164 km

Coastline:

0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:

none (landlocked)

Climate:

temperate; continental, cloudy; cold winters with frequent rain and some snow in lowlands and snow in mountains; moderate summers with occasional showers

Terrain:

in the west and south mostly mountains (Alps); along the eastern and northern margins mostly flat or gently sloping

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Neusiedler See 115 m highest point: Grossglockner 3,798 m

Natural resources:

oil, coal, lignite, timber, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony, magnesite, tungsten, graphite, salt, hydropower

Land use:

arable land: 16.59% permanent crops: 0.85% other: 82.56% (2005)

Irrigated land:

40 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

84 cu km (2005)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 3.67 cu km/yr (35%/64%/1%) per capita: 448 cu m/yr (1999)

Natural hazards:

landslides; avalanches; earthquakes

Environment - current issues:

some forest degradation caused by air and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of agricultural chemicals; air pollution results from emissions by coal- and oil-fired power stations and industrial plants and from trucks transiting Austria between northern and southern Europe

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85,
Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic Treaty,