The 2008 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency (ebook reader 8 inch .txt) 📕

exchange rate):

$4.028 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

7.5% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$2,000 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 40.9% industry: 33.2% services: 25.9% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

2.1 million (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 80% industry and services: 20% (2005 est.)

Unemployment rate:

2.4% (2005 est.)

Population below poverty line:

30.7% (2005 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 3.4% highest 10%: 28.5% (2002)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:

34.6 (2002)

Budget:

revenues: $473.1 million expenditures: $647.2 million (2007 est.)

Fiscal year:

1 October - 30 September

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

4.5% (2007 est.)

Central bank discount rate:

12.67% (31 December 2007)

Commercial bank prime lending rate:

28.5% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money:

$327.9 million (31 December 2007)

Stock of quasi money:

$717.9 million (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit:

$285.8 million (31 December 2007)

Agriculture - products:

sweet potatoes, vegetables, corn, coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, tea, peanuts, rice; water buffalo, pigs, cattle, poultry

Industries:

copper, tin, gold, and gypsum mining; timber, electric power, agricultural processing, construction, garments, tourism, cement

Industrial production growth rate:

12% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:

1.639 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - consumption:

1.344 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - exports:

547 million kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - imports:

367 million kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil fuel: 1.4% hydro: 98.6% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001)

Oil - production:

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - consumption:

2,996 bbl/day (2006 est.)

Oil - exports:

0 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - imports:

3,036 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - proved reserves:

0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

Natural gas - production:

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - exports:

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports:

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance:

-$285 million (2007 est.)

Exports:

$970 million (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

wood products, coffee, electricity, tin, copper, gold

Exports - partners:

Thailand 32.7%, Vietnam 14.3%, China 5.9%, South Korea 4.8% (2007)

Imports:

$1.378 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities:

machinery and equipment, vehicles, fuel, consumer goods

Imports - partners:

Thailand 68.5%, China 9.3%, Vietnam 5.5% (2007)

Economic aid - recipient:

$379 million (2006 est.)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$540 million (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:

$3.179 billion (2006)

Currency (code):

kip (LAK)

Currency code:

LAK

Exchange rates:

kips (LAK) per US dollar - 9,658 (2007), 10,235 (2006), 10,820 (2005), 10,585.5 (2004), 10,569 (2003)

Communications
Laos

Telephones - main lines in use:

94,800 (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

1.478 million (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: service to general public is poor but improving; the government relies on a radiotelephone network to communicate with remote areas domestic: multiple service providers; mobile cellular usage growing rapidly; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular subscribership about 25 per 100 persons international: country code - 856; satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 7, FM 14, shortwave 2 (2006)

Radios:

730,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

7 (includes 1 station relaying Vietnam Television from Hanoi) (2006)

Televisions:

52,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.la

Internet hosts:

1,015 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

1 (2000)

Internet users:

100,000 (2007)

Transportation
Laos

Airports:

42 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 9 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 3 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 33 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 9 under 914 m: 23 (2007)

Pipelines:

refined products 540 km (2007)

Roadways:

total: 29,811 km paved: 4,010 km unpaved: 25,801 km (2006)

Waterways:

4,600 km note: primarily Mekong and tributaries; 2,900 additional km are intermittently navigable by craft drawing less than 0.5 m (2007)

Merchant marine:

total: 1 ship (1000 GRT or over) 2,370 GRT/3,110 DWT by type: cargo 1 (2008)

Military
Laos

Military branches:

Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF): Lao People's Army (LPA; includes
Riverine Force), Air Force (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

15 years of age for compulsory military service; minimum 18-month conscript service obligation (2006)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,549,774 females age 16-49: 1,570,702 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 993,162 females age 16-49: 1,052,053 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 73,973 female: 72,758 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

0.5% of GDP (2006)

Military - note:

serving one of the world's least developed countries, the Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF) is small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced; its mission focus is border and internal security, primarily in countering ethnic Hmong insurgent groups; together with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the government, the Lao People's Army (LPA) is the third pillar of state machinery, and as such is expected to suppress political and civil unrest and similar national emergencies, but the LPA also has upgraded skills to respond to avian influenza outbreaks; there is no perceived external threat to the state and the LPA maintains strong ties with the neighboring Vietnamese military (2008)

Transnational Issues
Laos

Disputes - international:

Southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to check the spread of avian flu; talks continue on completion of demarcation with Thailand but disputes remain over islands in the Mekong River; concern among Mekong Commission members that China's construction of dams on the Mekong River will affect water levels

Illicit drugs:

estimated opium poppy cultivation in 2008 was 1,900 hectares, about a 73% increase from 2007; estimated potential opium production in 2008 more than tripled to 17 metric tons; unsubstantiated reports of domestic methamphetamine production; growing domestic methamphetamine problem (2007)

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Latvia

Introduction
Latvia

Background:

The name "Latvia" originates from the ancient Latgalians, one of four eastern Baltic tribes that formed the ethnic core of the Latvian people (ca. 8th-12th centuries A.D.). The region subsequently came under the control of Germans, Poles, Swedes, and finally, Russians. A Latvian republic emerged following World War I, but it was annexed by the USSR in 1940 - an action never recognized by the US and many other countries. Latvia reestablished its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although the last Russian troops left in 1994, the status of the Russian minority (some 30% of the population) remains of concern to Moscow. Latvia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.

Geography
Latvia

Location:

Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and
Lithuania

Geographic coordinates:

57 00 N, 25 00 E

Map references:

Europe

Area:

total: 64,589 sq km land: 63,589 sq km water: 1,000 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly larger than West Virginia

Land boundaries:

total: 1,382 km border countries: Belarus 171 km, Estonia 343 km, Lithuania 576 km, Russia 292 km

Coastline:

498 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate:

maritime; wet, moderate winters

Terrain:

low plain

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m highest point: Galzina Kalns 312 m

Natural resources:

peat, limestone, dolomite, amber, hydropower, wood, arable land

Land use:

arable land: 28.19% permanent crops: 0.45% other: 71.36% (2005)

Irrigated land:

200 sq km note: land in Latvia is often too wet, and in need of drainage, not irrigation; approximately 16,000 sq km or 85% of agricultural land has been improved by drainage (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

49.9 cu km (2005)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.25 cu km/yr (55%/33%/12%) per capita: 108 cu m/yr (2003)

Natural hazards:

NA

Environment - current issues:

Latvia's environment has benefited from a shift to service industries after the country regained independence; the main environmental priorities are improvement of drinking water quality and sewage system, household, and hazardous waste management, as well as reduction of air pollution; in 2001, Latvia closed the EU accession negotiation chapter on environment committing to full enforcement of EU environmental directives by 2010

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

most of the country is composed of fertile, low-lying plains, with some hills in the east

People
Latvia

Population:

2,245,423 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 13.4% (male 154,077/female 146,825) 15-64 years: 69.7% (male 760,976/female 803,106) 65 years and over: 16.9% (male 124,658/female 255,781) (2008 est.)

Median age:

total: 39.9 years male: 36.9 years female: 43 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:

-0.629% (2008 est.)

Birth rate:

9.62 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:

13.63 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate:

-2.29 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.49 male(s)/female total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 8.96 deaths/1,000 live births male: 10.85 deaths/1,000 live births female: 6.97 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 71.88 years male: 66.68 years female: 77.35 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate:

1.29 children born/woman (2008 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

0.6% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

7,600 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:

fewer than 500 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases:

degree of risk: intermediate food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A vectorborne diseases: tickborne encephalitis (2008)

Nationality:

noun: Latvian(s) adjective: Latvian

Ethnic groups:

Latvian 57.7%, Russian 29.6%, Belarusian 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.7%,
Polish 2.5%, Lithuanian 1.4%, other 2% (2002)

Religions:

Lutheran 19.6%, Orthodox 15.3%, other Christian 1%, other 0.4%, unspecified 63.7% (2006)

Languages:

Latvian (official) 58.2%, Russian 37.5%, Lithuanian and other 4.3% (2000 census)

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99.7% male: 99.8% female: 99.7% (2000 census)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):

total: 16 years male: 14 years female: 17 years (2006)

Education expenditures:

5.1% of GDP (2004)

Government
Latvia

Country name:

conventional long form: Republic of Latvia conventional short form: Latvia local long form: Latvijas Republika local short form: Latvija former: Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic

Government type:

parliamentary democracy

Capital:

name: Riga geographic coordinates: 56 57 N, 24 06 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

Administrative divisions:

26 counties (singular - rajons) and 7 municipalities*: Aizkraukles
Rajons, Aluksnes Rajons, Balvu Rajons, Bauskas Rajons, Cesu Rajons,
Daugavpils*, Daugavpils Rajons, Dobeles Rajons, Gulbenes Rajons,
Jekabpils Rajons, Jelgava*, Jelgavas Rajons, Jurmala*, Kraslavas
Rajons, Kuldigas Rajons, Liepaja*, Liepajas Rajons, Limbazu Rajons,
Ludzas Rajons, Madonas Rajons, Ogres Rajons, Preilu Rajons,
Rezekne*, Rezeknes Rajons, Riga*, Rigas Rajons, Saldus Rajons, Talsu
Rajons, Tukuma Rajons, Valkas Rajons, Valmieras Rajons, Ventspils*,
Ventspils Rajons

Independence:

18 November 1918 (from Soviet Russia)

National holiday:

Independence Day, 18 November (1918); note - 18 November 1918 was the date Latvia declared itself independent from Soviet Russia; 4 May 1990 is when it declared the renewal of independence; 21 August 1991 was