Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2006) - Italy (2008)

Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2006) z Italy (2008)

	British Indian Ocean Territory (2006)	Italy (2008)

Administrative divisions	-	15 regions (regioni, singular - regione) and 5 autonomous regions* (regioni autonome, singular - regione autonoma); Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio (Latium), Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte (Piedmont), Puglia (Apulia), Sardegna (Sardinia), Sicilia, Toscana (Tuscany), Trentino-Alto Adige (Trentino-South Tyrol), Umbria, Valle d'Aosta* (Aosta Valley), Veneto
Age structure	-	0-14 years: 13.8% (male 4,121,246/female 3,874,971) 15-64 years: 66.4% (male 19,527,203/female 19,059,897) 65 years and over: 19.9% (male 4,823,244/female 6,741,172) (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products	-	fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; beef, dairy products; fish
Airports	1 (2006)	132 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2006)	total: 101 over 3,047 m: 7 2,438 to 3,047 m: 32 1,524 to 2,437 m: 15 914 to 1,523 m: 34 under 914 m: 13 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways	-	total: 31 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 19 (2007)
Area	total: 54,400 sq km land: 60 sq km; Diego Garcia 44 sq km water: 54,340 sq km note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago of 55 islands	total: 301,230 sq km land: 294,020 sq km water: 7,210 sq km note: includes Sardinia and Sicily
Area - comparative	land area is about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC	slightly larger than Arizona
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 that had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.	Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.
Birth rate	-	8.54 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Budget	-	revenues: $976 billion expenditures: $1.029 trillion (2007 est.)
Capital	-	name: Rome geographic coordinates: 41 54 N, 12 29 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Climate	tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds	predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south
Coastline	698 km	7,600 km
Constitution	-	passed 11 December 1947, effective 1 January 1948; amended many times
Country name	conventional long form: British Indian Ocean Territory conventional short form: none abbreviation: BIOT	conventional long form: Italian Republic conventional short form: Italy local long form: Repubblica Italiana local short form: Italia former: Kingdom of Italy
Death rate	-	10.5 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Debt - external	-	$2.345 trillion (30 June 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 Ronald P. SPOGLI embassy: Via Vittorio Veneto 121, 00187-Rome mailing address: PSC 59, Box 100, APO AE 09624 telephone: [39] (06) 46741 FAX: [39] (06) 488-2672, 4674-2356 consulate(s) general: Florence, Milan, Naples
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	chief of mission: Ambassador Giovanni CASTELLANETA chancery: 3000 Whitehaven Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 612-4400 FAX: [1] (202) 518-2151 consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco consulate(s): Detroit
Disputes - international	Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia; in 2001 the former inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago, evicted in 1965 and now residing chiefly in Mauritius, were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation; the UK resists the Chagossians' demand for an immediate return to the islands; repatriation is complicated by the exclusive US military lease of Diego Garcia that restricts access to the largest island in the chain;	Italy's long coastline and developed economy entices tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from southeastern Europe and northern Africa
Economic aid - donor	-	ODA, $1 billion (2002 est.)
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. The country makes money by selling fishing licenses and postage stamps.	Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly the same total and per capita output as France and the UK. This capitalistic economy remains divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less-developed, welfare-dependent, agricultural south, with 20% unemployment. Most raw materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy requirements are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a tight fiscal policy in order to meet the requirements of the Economic and Monetary Unions and has benefited from lower interest and inflation rates. The current government has enacted numerous short-term reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term growth. Italy has moved slowly, however, on implementing needed structural reforms, such as lightening the high tax burden and overhauling Italy's rigid labor market and over-generous pension system, because of the current economic slowdown and opposition from labor unions. But the leadership faces a severe economic constraint: Italy's official debt remains above 100% of GDP, and the government has found it difficult to bring the budget deficit down to a level that would allow a rapid decrease in that debt. The economy continues to grow by less than the euro-zone average and growth is expected to decelerate from 1.9% in 2006 and 2007 to under 1.5% in 2008 as the euro-zone and world economies slow.
Electricity - consumption	NA kWh	307.1 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports	-	1.109 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports	-	50.26 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - production	NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military	278.5 billion kWh (2005)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m	lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m highest point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) de Courmayeur 4,748 m (a secondary peak of Mont Blanc)
Environment - current issues	NA	air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulfur dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from industrial and agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes; inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities
Environment - international agreements	-	party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Ethnic groups	-	Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)
Exchange rates	-	euros per US dollar - 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003)
Executive branch	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) head of government: Commissioner Tony CROMBIE (since January 2004); Administrator Tony HUMPHRIES (since February 2005); 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 Giorgio NAPOLITANO (since 15 May 2006) head of government: Prime Minister (referred to in Italy as the president of the Council of Ministers) Romano PRODI (since 17 May 2006) note - PRODI resigns after no confidence vote in the Senate on 24 January 2008, but retains his office until new prime minister is named; when men named by President NAPOLITANO cannot form a government acceptable to Parliament, NAPOLITANO dissolves parliament and calls for new elections on April 13 cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister and approved by the president elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of both houses of parliament and 58 regional representatives for a seven-year term (no term limits); election last held 10 May 2006 (next to be held in May 2013); prime minister appointed by the president and confirmed by parliament election results: Giorgio NAPOLITANO elected president on the fourth round of voting; electoral college vote - 543
Exports	-	521,400 bbl/day (2004)
Exports - commodities	-	engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals, and nonferrous metals
Exports - partners	-	Germany 13.2%, France 11.7%, US 7.6%, Spain 7.3%, UK 6.1% (2006)
Fiscal year	-	calendar year
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	three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; similar to the flag of Ireland, which is longer and is green (hoist side), white, and orange; also similar to the flag of the Cote d'Ivoire, which has the colors reversed - orange (hoist side), white, and green; inspired by the French flag brought to Italy by Napoleon in 1797
GDP - composition by sector	-	agriculture: 1.9% industry: 28.8% services: 69.3% (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	-	1.9% (2007 est.)
Geographic coordinates	6 00 S, 71 30 E; note - Diego Garcia 7 20 S, 72 25 E	42 50 N, 12 50 E
Geography - note	archipelago of 55 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility	strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe
Heliports	-	5 (2007)
Household income or consumption by percentage share	-	lowest 10%: 2.3% highest 10%: 26.8% (2000)
Illicit drugs	-	important gateway for and consumer of Latin American cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin entering the European market; money laundering by organized crime and from smuggling
Imports	-	2.182 million bbl/day (2004)
Imports - commodities	-	engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages, and tobacco
Imports - partners	-	Germany 16.7%, France 9.2%, Netherlands 5.6%, China 5.2%, Belgium 4.2%, Spain 4.1% (2006)
Independence	-	17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed; Italy was not finally unified until 1870)
Industrial production growth rate	-	1.3% (2007 est.)
Industries	-	tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics
Infant mortality rate	-	total: 5.72 deaths/1,000 live births male: 6.3 deaths/1,000 live births female: 5.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	-	1.7% (2007 est.)
International organization participation	-	ADB (nonregional members), AfDB, Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS (observer), CDB, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 7, G- 8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, SECI (observer), UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, Union Latina, UNMOGIP, UNRWA, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Irrigated land	0 sq km	27,500 sq km (2003)
Judicial branch	-	Constitutional Court or Corte Costituzionale (composed of 15 judges: one-third appointed by the president, one-third elected by parliament, one-third elected by the ordinary and administrative Supreme Courts)
Labor force	-	24.86 million (2007 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	-	agriculture: 5% industry: 32% services: 63% (2001)
Land boundaries	0 km	total: 1,932.2 km border countries: Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 232 km, Switzerland 740 km
Land use	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2005)	arable land: 26.41% permanent crops: 9.09% other: 64.5% (2005)
Languages	-	Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)
Legal system	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply	based on civil law system; appeals treated as new trials; judicial review under certain conditions in Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Legislative branch	-	bicameral Parliament or Parlamento consists of the Senate or Senato della Repubblica (315 seats; members elected by proportional vote with the winning coalition in each region receiving 55% of seats from that region; to serve five-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camera dei Deputati (630 seats; members elected by popular vote with the winning national coalition receiving 54% of chamber seats; to serve five-year terms) elections: Senate - last held 9-10 April 2006 (next to be held 13 April 2008); Chamber of Deputies - last held 9-10 April 2006 (next to be held in May 2011) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - The Union 159 (DS 62, DL 39, RC 27, Together with the Union 11, other 20), House of Freedoms 156 (FI 79, AN 41, UDC 21, LEGA 13, other 2); Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - The Union 349 (DS and DL 218, RC 41, Rose in the Fist 18, Italy of Values 20, PdCI 16, Greens Federation 16, UDEUR 14, other 6), House of Freedoms 281 (FI 134, AN 72, Union of Christian and Center Democrats 39, LEGA 23, other 13)
Life expectancy at birth	-	total population: 79.94 years male: 77.01 years female: 83.07 years (2007 est.)
Literacy	-	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98.4% male: 98.8% female: 98% (2001 census)
Location	archipelago in the Indian Ocean, south of India, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia	Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia
Map references	Political Map of the World	Europe
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 3 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm	territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Merchant marine	-	total: 604 ships (1000 GRT or over) 12,529,192 GRT/13,150,989 DWT by type: bulk carrier 53, cargo 46, carrier 1, chemical tanker 141, combination ore/oil 1, container 32, liquefied gas 33, livestock carrier 3, passenger 17, passenger/cargo 156, petroleum tanker 40, refrigerated cargo 4, roll on/roll off 35, specialized tanker 14, vehicle carrier 28 foreign-owned: 62 (Denmark 2, France 5, Germany 1, Greece 13, Sweden 1, Switzerland 5, Taiwan 11, Turkey 1, UK 7, US 16) registered in other countries: 169 (Bahamas 1, Belize 4, Bolivia 1, Cayman Islands 10, Cyprus 5, France 2, Gibraltar 1, Greece 1, Isle of Man 1, Liberia 31, Malta 45, Marshall Islands 3, Norway 4, Panama 10, Portugal 11, Singapore 4, Slovakia 1, Spain 1, St Vincent and The Grenadines 19, Sweden 7, Turkey 3, UK 4) (2007)
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016	-
Military branches	-	Army (Esercito Italiano, EI), Navy (Marina Militare Italiana, MMI), Air Force (Aeronautica Militare Italiana, AMI), Carabinieri Corps (Corpo dei Carabinieri, CC) (2005)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	-	1.8% (2005 est.)
National holiday	-	Republic Day, 2 June (1946)
Nationality	-	noun: Italian(s) adjective: Italian
Natural hazards	NA	regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice
Natural resources	coconuts, fish, sugarcane	coal, mercury, zinc, potash, marble, barite, asbestos, pumice, fluorspar, feldspar, pyrite (sulfur), natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, arable land
Net migration rate	-	2.06 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Pipelines	-	gas 18,863 km; oil 1,258 km (2007)
Political parties and leaders	-	Center-Left Union Coalition [Romano PRODI]: Ulivo Alliance (including Democrats of the Left or DS [Piero FASSINO] (along with the DL merged into the Democratic Party or PD); Daisy-Democracy is Freedom or DL [Francesco RUTELLI] (along with the DS merged into the Democratic Party or PD)); Rose in the Fist (including Italian Social Democrats or SDI [Enrico BOSELLI]; Italian Radical Party [Emma BONINO]); Together with the Union (including Italian Communist Party or PdCI [Oliviero DILIBERTO]; Green Federation [Alfonso PECORARO SCANIO]; United Consumers); Communist Renewal or RC [Fausto BERTINOTTI]; Italy of Values or IdV [Antonio DI PIETRO]; Union of Democrats for Europe or UDEUR [Clemente MASTELLA]; Republican European Movement or MRE [Luciana SBARBATI] Center-Right Freedom House Coalition [Silvio BERLUSCONI]: Forza Italia or FI [Silvio BERLUSCONI]; National Alliance or AN [Gianfranco FINI]; Union of Christian Democrats and Centrist Democrats or UDC [Pier Ferdinando CASINI]; Northern League or LEGA [Umberto BOSSI]; Christian Democracy (Per la Autonomie) [Gianfranco ROTONDI] other non-allied parties: New Italian Socialist Party or New PSI [Gianni DE MICHELIS]; Italian Republican Party or PRI [Giorgio LA MALFA]; Social Alternative [Alessandra MUSSOLINI]; Social Movement-Tricolor Flame or MSI-Fiamma [Luca ROMAGNOLI]; Social Idea Movement with Rauti or MIS [Pino RAUTI]; South Tyrol People's Party or SVP (German speakers) [Elmar Pichler ROLLE]; Union of Valley Aosta Region or UV [Guido CESAL]
Political pressure groups and leaders	-	Italian manufacturers and merchants associations (Confindustria, Confcommercio); organized farm groups (Confcoltivatori, Confagricoltura); Roman Catholic Church; three major trade union confederations (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro or CGIL [Guglielmo EPIFANI] which is left wing, Confederazione Italiana dei Sindacati Lavoratori or CISL [Raffaele BONANNO], which is Roman Catholic centrist, and Unione Italiana del Lavoro or UIL [Luigi ANGELETTI] which is lay centrist)
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 in the 1960s and 1970s; in November 2000 they were granted the right of return by a British High Court ruling, though no timetable has been set; in November 2004, there were approximately 4,000 UK and US military personnel and civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia (July 2006 est.)	58,147,733 (July 2007 est.)
Population below poverty line	-	NA%
Population growth rate	-	0.01% (2007 est.)
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998)	AM about 100, FM about 4,600, shortwave 9 (1998)
Railways	-	total: 19,460 km standard gauge: 18,038 km 1.435-m gauge (11,354 km electrified) narrow gauge: 123 km 1.000-m gauge (123 km electrified); 1,299 km 0.950-m gauge (161 km electrified) (2006)
Religions	-	Roman Catholic 90% (approximately; about one-third regularly attend services), other 10% (includes mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community)
Sex ratio	-	at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.064 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.025 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.715 male(s)/female total population: 0.959 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Suffrage	-	18 years of age; universal (except in senatorial elections, where minimum age is 25)
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: modern, well developed, fast; fully automated telephone, telex, and data services domestic: high-capacity cable and microwave radio relay trunks international: country code - 39; a series of submarine cables provide links to Asia, Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and US; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (with a total of 5 antennas - 3 for Atlantic Ocean and 2 for Indian Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region), and NA Eutelsat
Telephones - main lines in use	NA	25.049 million (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular	-	71.5 million (2005)
Television broadcast stations	1 (1997)	358 (plus 4,728 repeaters) (1995)
Terrain	flat and low (most areas do not exceed two meters in elevation)	mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands
Total fertility rate	-	1.29 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate	-	6.7% (2007 est.)
Waterways	-	2,400 km note: used for commercial traffic; of limited overall value compared to road and rail (2006)

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