Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2002) - South Africa (2008)

Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2002) z South Africa (2008)

	British Indian Ocean Territory (2002)	South Africa (2008)

Administrative divisions	-	9 provinces; Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North-West, Western Cape
Age structure	-	0-14 years: 29.1% (male 6,447,623/female 6,370,909) 15-64 years: 65.5% (male 14,040,210/female 14,761,179) 65 years and over: 5.4% (male 917,227/female 1,460,680) (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products	-	corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products
Airports	1 (2001)	728 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2002)	total: 146 over 3,047 m: 10 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5 1,524 to 2,437 m: 51 914 to 1,523 m: 67 under 914 m: 13 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways	-	total: 582 1,524 to 2,437 m: 34 914 to 1,523 m: 300 under 914 m: 248 (2007)
Area	total: 60 sq km land: 60 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago	total: 1,219,912 sq km land: 1,219,912 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Prince Edward Islands (Marion Island and Prince Edward Island)
Area - comparative	about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC	slightly less than twice the size of Texas
Background	Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration order which had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.	Dutch traders landed at the southern tip of modern day South Africa in 1652 and established a stopover point on the spice route between the Netherlands and the East, founding the city of Cape Town. After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Boers resisted British encroachments but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902); however, the British and the Afrikaners, as the Boers became known, ruled together under the Union of South Africa. In 1948, the National Party was voted into power and instituted a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. The first multi-racial elections in 1994 brought an end to apartheid and ushered in black majority rule.
Birth rate	-	17.94 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Budget	-	revenues: $68.2 billion expenditures: $66.7 billion (2007 est.)
Capital	-	name: Pretoria (administrative capital) geographic coordinates: 25 42 S, 28 13 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) note: Cape Town (legislative capital); Bloemfontein (judicial capital)
Climate	tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds	mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights
Coastline	698 km	2,798 km
Constitution	-	10 December 1996; this new constitution was certified by the Constitutional Court on 4 December 1996, was signed by then President MANDELA on 10 December 1996, and entered into effect on 4 February 1997; it is being implemented in phases
Country name	conventional long form: British Indian Ocean Territory conventional short form: none abbreviation: BIOT	conventional long form: Republic of South Africa conventional short form: South Africa former: Union of South Africa abbreviation: RSA
Death rate	-	22.45 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Debt - external	-	$64.8 billion (30 September 2007)
Dependency status	overseas territory of the UK; administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London	-
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	chief of mission: Ambassador Eric BOST embassy: 877 Pretorius Street, Pretoria mailing address: P. O. Box 9536, Pretoria 0001 telephone: [27] (12) 342-1048 FAX: [27] (12) 342-2244 consulate(s) general: Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	chief of mission: Ambassador Welile Augustine NHLAPO chancery: 3051 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 232-4400 FAX: [1] (202) 265-1607 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York
Disputes - international	Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago and its former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, but in 2001 were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation since eviction in 1965; repatriation is complicated by the US military lease of Diego Garcia, the largest island in the chain	South Africa has placed military along the border to apprehend the thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing economic dysfunction and political persecution; as of January 2007, South Africa also supports large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (33,000), Somalia (20,000), Burundi (6,500), and other states in Africa (26,000); managed dispute with Namibia over the location of the boundary in the Orange River; in 2006, Swazi king advocates resort to ICJ to claim parts of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal from South Africa
Economic aid - recipient	-	$700 million (2005)
Economy - overview	All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where joint UK-US defense facilities are located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installations are done by military and contract employees from the UK, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the US. There are no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. When the Ilois return, they plan to reestablish sugarcane production and fishing.	South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors; a stock exchange that is 17th largest in the world; and modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. Growth has been robust since 2004, as South Africa has reaped the benefits of macroeconomic stability and a global commodities boom. However, unemployment remains high and outdated infrastructure has constrained growth. At the end of 2007, South Africa began to experience an electricity crisis because state power supplier Eskom suffered supply problems with aged plants, necessitating "load-shedding" cuts to residents and businesses in the major cities. Daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era - especially poverty, lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups, and a shortage of public transportation. South African economic policy is fiscally conservative but pragmatic, focusing on controlling inflation, maintaining a budget surplus, and using state-owned enterprises to deliver basic services to low-income areas as a means to increase job growth and household income.
Electricity - consumption	NA kWh	241.4 billion kWh (2007)
Electricity - exports	-	13.42 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports	-	11.32 billion kWh (2007)
Electricity - production	NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military	264 billion kWh (2007)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m	lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Njesuthi 3,408 m
Environment - current issues	NA	lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures; growth in water usage outpacing supply; pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge; air pollution resulting in acid rain; soil erosion; desertification
Environment - international agreements	-	party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Ethnic groups	-	black African 79%, white 9.6%, colored 8.9%, Indian/Asian 2.5% (2001 census)
Exchange rates	-	rand per US dollar - 7.05 (2007), 6.7649 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003)
Executive branch	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) head of government: Commissioner Alan HUCKLE (since 2001); Administrator Louise SAVILL (since NA); note - both reside in the UK cabinet: NA elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; commissioner and administrator appointed by the monarch	chief of state: President Thabo MBEKI (since 16 June 1999); Executive Deputy President Phumzile MLAMBO-NGCUKA (since 23 June 2005); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Thabo MBEKI (since 16 June 1999); Executive Deputy President Phumzile MLAMBO-NGCUKA (since 23 June 2005) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president elected by the National Assembly for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 24 April 2004 (next to be held in April 2009) election results: Thabo MBEKI elected president; percent of National Assembly vote - 100% (by acclamation)
Exports	-	217,700 bbl/day (2004)
Exports - commodities	-	gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment
Exports - partners	-	Japan 12.1%, US 11.8%, UK 9%, Germany 7.6%, Netherlands 5.3%, China 4% (2006)
Fiscal year	-	1 April - 31 March
Flag description	white with six blue wavy horizontal stripes; the flag of the UK is in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the striped section bears a palm tree and yellow crown centered on the outer half of the flag	two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side; the Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes
GDP - composition by sector	-	agriculture: 2.2% industry: 27% services: 70.9% (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	-	5% (2007 est.)
Geographic coordinates	6 00 S, 71 30 E	29 00 S, 24 00 E
Geography - note	archipelago of 2,300 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility	South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland
Heliports	-	1 (2007)
Highways	total: NA km paved: short stretch of paved road of NA km between port and airfield on Diego Garcia unpaved: NA km	-
Household income or consumption by percentage share	-	lowest 10%: 1.4% highest 10%: 44.7% (2000)
Illicit drugs	-	transshipment center for heroin, hashish, and cocaine, as well as a major cultivator of marijuana in its own right; cocaine and heroin consumption on the rise; world's largest market for illicit methaqualone, usually imported illegally from India through various east African countries, but increasingly producing its own synthetic drugs for domestic consumption; attractive venue for money launderers given the increasing level of organized criminal and narcotics activity in the region and the size of the South African economy
Imports	-	319,000 bbl/day (2006 est.)
Imports - commodities	-	machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments, foodstuffs
Imports - partners	-	Germany 12.6%, China 10%, US 7.6%, Japan 6.6%, Saudi Arabia 5.3%, UK 5% (2006)
Independence	-	31 May 1910 (Union of South Africa formed from four British colonies: Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State); 31 May 1961 (republic declared) 27 April 1994 (majority rule)
Industrial production growth rate	-	6.2% (2007 est.)
Industries	-	mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textiles, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs, commercial ship repair
Infant mortality rate	-	total: 59.44 deaths/1,000 live births male: 62.95 deaths/1,000 live births female: 55.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	-	6.5% (2007 est.)
International organization participation	-	ACP, AfDB, AU, BIS, C, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, NSG, OPCW, PCA, SACU, SADC, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)	1 (2000)	-
Irrigated land	0 sq km (1998 est.)	14,980 sq km (2003)
Judicial branch	-	Constitutional Court; Supreme Court of Appeals; High Courts; Magistrate Courts
Labor force	-	20.49 million economically active (2007 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	-	agriculture: 9% industry: 26% services: 65% (2007 est.)
Land boundaries	0 km	total: 4,862 km border countries: Botswana 1,840 km, Lesotho 909 km, Mozambique 491 km, Namibia 967 km, Swaziland 430 km, Zimbabwe 225 km
Land use	arable land: NEGL permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.)	arable land: 12.1% permanent crops: 0.79% other: 87.11% (2005)
Languages	-	IsiZulu 23.8%, IsiXhosa 17.6%, Afrikaans 13.3%, Sepedi 9.4%, English 8.2%, Setswana 8.2%, Sesotho 7.9%, Xitsonga 4.4%, other 7.2% (2001 census)
Legal system	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply	based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law
Legislative branch	-	bicameral Parliament consisting of the National Assembly (400 seats; members are elected by popular vote under a system of proportional representation to serve five-year terms) and the National Council of Provinces (90 seats, 10 members elected by each of the nine provincial legislatures for five-year terms; has special powers to protect regional interests, including the safeguarding of cultural and linguistic traditions among ethnic minorities); note - following the implementation of the new constitution on 4 February 1997, the former Senate was disbanded and replaced by the National Council of Provinces with essentially no change in membership and party affiliations, although the new institution's responsibilities have been changed somewhat by the new constitution elections: National Assembly and National Council of Provinces - last held on 14 April 2004 (next to be held in 2009) election results: National Assembly - percent of vote by party - ANC 69.7%, DA 12.4%, IFP 7%, UDM 2.3%, NNP 1.7%, ACDP 1.6%, other 5.3%; seats by party - ANC 279, DA 50, IFP 28, UDM 9, NNP 7, ACDP 6, other 21; National Council of Provinces - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA
Life expectancy at birth	-	total population: 42.45 years male: 43.21 years female: 41.66 years (2007 est.)
Literacy	-	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 86.4% male: 87% female: 85.7% (2003 est.)
Location	Southern Asia, archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia	Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa
Map references	Political Map of the World	Africa
Maritime claims	exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 3 NM	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin
Merchant marine	-	total: 2 ships (1000 GRT or over) 28,722 GRT/32,226 DWT by type: container 1, petroleum tanker 1 foreign-owned: 1 (Denmark 1) registered in other countries: 6 (Bahamas 1, Seychelles 1, UK 4, unknown 1) (2007)
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016	with the end of apartheid and the establishment of majority rule, former military, black homelands forces, and ex-opposition forces were integrated into the South African National Defense Force (SANDF); as of 2003 the integration process was considered complete
Military branches	-	South African National Defense Force (SANDF): South African Army, South African Navy (SAN), South African Air Force (SAAF), Joint Operations Command, Joint Support Command, Military Intelligence, Military Health Service (2007)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	-	1.7% (2006)
National holiday	-	Freedom Day, 27 April (1994)
Nationality	-	noun: South African(s) adjective: South African
Natural hazards	NA	prolonged droughts
Natural resources	coconuts, fish, sugarcane	gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas
Net migration rate	-	-0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population note: there is an increasing flow of Zimbabweans into South Africa and Botswana in search of better economic opportunities (2007 est.)
Pipelines	-	condensate 100 km; gas 1,177 km; oil 992 km; refined products 1,379 km (2007)
Political parties and leaders	-	African Christian Democratic Party or ACDP [Kenneth MESHOE]; African National Congress or ANC [Jacob ZUMA]; Democratic Alliance or DA [Helen ZILLE]; Freedom Front Plus or FF+ [Pieter MULDER]; Inkatha Freedom Party or IFP [Mangosuthu BUTHELEZI]; New National Party or NNP; Pan-Africanist Congress or PAC [Motsoko PHEKO]; United Democratic Movement or UDM [Bantu HOLOMISA]
Political pressure groups and leaders	-	Congress of South African Trade Unions or COSATU [Zwelinzima VAVI, general secretary]; South African Communist Party or SACP [Blade NZIMANDE, general secretary]; South African National Civics Organization or SANCO [Mlungisi HLONGWANE, national president]; note - COSATU and SACP are in a formal alliance with the ANC
Population	no indigenous inhabitants note: approximately 1,200 former agricultural workers resident in the Chagos Archipelago, often referred to as Chagossians or Ilois, were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles around the time of the construction of UK-US military facilities; in 2001, there were approximately 1,500 UK and US military personnel and 2,000 civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia (July 2002 est.)	43,997,828 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.)
Population below poverty line	-	50% (2000 est.)
Population growth rate	-	-0.46% (2007 est.)
Ports and harbors	Diego Garcia	-
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998)	AM 14, FM 347 (plus 243 repeaters), shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios	NA	-
Railways	-	total: 20,872 km narrow gauge: 20,436 km 1.065-m gauge (8,931 km electrified); 436 km 0.610-m gauge (2006)
Religions	-	Zion Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2%, Catholic 7.1%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%, Muslim 1.5%, other Christian 36%, other 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, none 15.1% (2001 census)
Sex ratio	-	at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.012 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.951 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.628 male(s)/female total population: 0.947 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Suffrage	-	18 years of age; universal
Telephone system	general assessment: separate facilities for military and public needs are available domestic: all commercial telephone services are available, including connection to the Internet international: international telephone service is carried by satellite (2000)	general assessment: the system is the best developed and most modern in Africa domestic: combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity roughly 100 telephones per 100 persons; consists of carrier-equipped open-wire lines, coaxial cables, microwave radio relay links, fiber-optic cable, radiotelephone communication stations, and wireless local loops; key centers are Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria international: country code - 27; the SAT-3/WASC and SAFE fiber optic cable systems connect in South Africa providing connectivity to Europe and Asia; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean)
Telephones - main lines in use	NA	4.729 million (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular	-	39.66 million (2006)
Television broadcast stations	1 (1997)	556 (plus 144 network repeaters) (1997)
Terrain	flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in elevation)	vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain
Total fertility rate	-	2.16 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate	-	24.2% (2007 est.)
Waterways	none	-

Sitemap: Compare countries listing (map site) | Country listing (map site)
Links: Add to favorites | Information about this website | Stats | Polityka prywatnosci
This page was generated in ##czas## s. Size this page: ##rozmiar_strony## kB.