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Compare British Virgin Islands (2002) - World (2007)

Compare British Virgin Islands (2002) z World (2007)

 British Virgin Islands (2002)World (2007)
 British Virgin IslandsWorld
Administrative divisions none (overseas territory of the UK) 265 nations, dependent areas, and other entities
Age structure 0-14 years: 22.4% (male 2,401; female 2,351)


15-64 years: 72.7% (male 7,962; female 7,509)


65 years and over: 4.9% (male 565; female 484) (2002 est.)
0-14 years: 27.4% (male 931,551,498/female 875,646,416)


15-64 years: 65.1% (male 2,174,605,518/female 2,124,494,703)


65 years and over: 7.5% (male 217,451,123/female 278,474,917) (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products fruits, vegetables; livestock, poultry; fish -
Airports 3 (2001) 49,024 (2006)
Airports - with paved runways total: 2


914 to 1,523 m: 1


under 914 m: 1 (2002)
-
Airports - with unpaved runways total: 1


914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2002)
-
Area total: 153 sq km


land: 153 sq km


water: 0 sq km


note: comprised of 16 inhabited and more than 20 uninhabited islands; includes the island of Anegada
total: 510.072 million sq km


land: 148.94 million sq km


water: 361.132 million sq km


note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land
Area - comparative about 0.9 times the size of Washington, DC land area about 16 times the size of the US
Background First settled by the Dutch in 1648, the islands were annexed in 1672 by the English. The economy is closely tied to the larger and more populous US Virgin Islands to the west; the US dollar is the legal currency. Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war).
Birth rate 15.09 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) 20.09 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Budget revenues: $121.5 million


expenditures: $115.5 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997)
-
Capital Road Town -
Climate subtropical; humid; temperatures moderated by trade winds a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates - bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones - that separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates
Coastline 80 km 356,000 km


note: 94 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan
Constitution 1 June 1977 -
Country name conventional long form: none


conventional short form: British Virgin Islands


abbreviation: BVI
-
Currency US dollar (USD) -
Death rate 4.42 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) 8.37 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Debt - external $36.1 million (1997) $43.42 trillion


note: this figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt, both public and private (2004 est.)
Dependency status overseas territory of the UK; internal self-governing -
Diplomatic representation from the US none (overseas territory of the UK) -
Diplomatic representation in the US none (overseas territory of the UK) -
Disputes - international none stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 319 international land boundaries separate 193 independent states and 70 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; most maritime states have claimed limits that include territorial seas and exclusive economic zones; overlapping limits due to adjacent or opposite coasts create the potential for 430 bilateral maritime boundaries of which 209 have agreements that include contiguous and non-contiguous segments; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries tend to encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic and cultural clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation and internal displacement of the estimated 6.6 million people and cross-border displacements of 8.6 million refugees around the world as of early 2006; just over one million refugees were repatriated in the same period; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially hydrocarbon) resources, fisheries, and arable land; armed conflict prevails not so much between the uniformed armed forces of independent states as between stateless armed entities that detract from the sustenance and welfare of local populations, leaving the community of nations to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, and environmental degradation
Economic aid - recipient NA ODA, $106.4 billion (2005)
Economy - overview The economy, one of the most stable and prosperous in the Caribbean, is highly dependent on tourism, generating an estimated 45% of the national income. An estimated 350,000 tourists, mainly from the US, visited the islands in 1998. In the mid-1980s, the government began offering offshore registration to companies wishing to incorporate in the islands, and incorporation fees now generate substantial revenues. Roughly 400,000 companies were on the offshore registry by yearend 2000. The adoption of a comprehensive insurance law in late 1994, which provides a blanket of confidentiality with regulated statutory gateways for investigation of criminal offenses, is expected to make the British Virgin Islands even more attractive to international business. Livestock raising is the most important agricultural activity; poor soils limit the islands' ability to meet domestic food requirements. Because of traditionally close links with the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands has used the dollar as its currency since 1959. Global output rose by 5% in 2006, led by China (10.5%), India (8.5%), and Russia (6.6%). The 14 other successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 7%-10% range of growth. Growth results posted by the major industrial countries varied from no gain for Italy to a strong gain by the United States (3.4%). The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably the EU. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued through 2006.
Electricity - consumption 39.1 million kWh (1999) 15.81 trillion kWh (2005 est.)
Electricity - exports 0 kWh (1999) 619.8 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports 0 kWh (1999) 633.2 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - production 42 million kWh (1999) 17.42 trillion kWh (2005 est.)
Electricity - production by source fossil fuel: 100%


hydro: 0%


nuclear: 0%


other: 0% (1999)
-
Elevation extremes lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m


highest point: Mount Sage 521 m
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m


note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean


highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m
Environment - current issues limited natural fresh water resources (except for a few seasonal streams and springs on Tortola, most of the islands' water supply comes from wells and rainwater catchments) large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion; global warming becoming a greater concern
Ethnic groups black 83%, white, Indian, Asian and mixed -
Exchange rates the US dollar is used -
Executive branch chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor Tom MACAN (since 14 October 2002)


head of government: Chief Minister Ralph T. O'NEAL (since 15 May 1995)


cabinet: Executive Council appointed by the governor from members of the Legislative Council


elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor appointed by the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed chief minister by the governor
-
Exports $6.2 million 63.76 million bbl/day (2004)
Exports - commodities rum, fresh fish, fruits, animals; gravel, sand the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Exports - partners Virgin Islands (US), Puerto Rico, US US 15.1%, Germany 7.4%, China 5.9%, France 4.6%, UK 4.5%, Japan 4.4% (2006)
Fiscal year 1 April - 31 March -
Flag description blue, with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the Virgin Islander coat of arms centered in the outer half of the flag; the coat of arms depicts a woman flanked on either side by a vertical column of six oil lamps above a scroll bearing the Latin word VIGILATE (Be Watchful) -
GDP purchasing power parity - $311 million (2000 est.) -
GDP - composition by sector agriculture: 2%


industry: 6%


services: 92% (1996 est.)
agriculture: 4%


industry: 32%


services: 64% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $16,000 (2000 est.) -
GDP - real growth rate 4.4% (2000 est.) 5.3% (2006 est.)
Geographic coordinates 18 30 N, 64 30 W -
Geography - note strong ties to nearby US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the universe
Heliports - 1,359 (2007)
Highways total: 177 km


paved: 177 km


unpaved: 0 km (2000)
-
Household income or consumption by percentage share lowest 10%: NA%


highest 10%: NA%
lowest 10%: 2.5%


highest 10%: 30.2% (2002 est.)
Illicit drugs transshipment point for South American narcotics destined for the US and Europe; large offshore financial center cocaine: worldwide coca leaf cultivation in 2005 amounted to 208,500 hectares; Colombia produced slightly more than two-thirds of the worldwide crop, followed by Peru and Bolivia; potential pure cocaine production rose to 900 from 645 metric tons in 2005 - partially due to improved methodologies used to calculate levels of production; Colombia conducts aggressive coca eradication campaign, but both Peruvian and Bolivian Governments are hesitant to eradicate coca in key growing areas; 551 metric tons of export-quality cocaine (85% pure) is documented to have been seized or destroyed in 2005; US consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been in excess of 380 metric tons



opiates: worldwide illicit opium poppy cultivation reached 208,500 hectares in 2005; potential opium production of 4,990 metric tons was only a 9% decrease over 2004's highest total recorded since estimates began in mid-1980s; Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer, accounting for 90% of the global supply; Southeast Asia - responsible for 9% of global opium - saw marginal increases in production; Latin America produced 1% of global opium, but most was refined into heroin destined for the US market; if all potential opium was processed into pure heroin, the potential global production would be 577 metric tons of heroin in 2005
Imports $230 million (2000 est.) 63.18 million bbl/day (2004)
Imports - commodities building materials, automobiles, foodstuffs, machinery the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Imports - partners Virgin Islands (US), Puerto Rico, US China 9.8%, Germany 8.8%, US 8.5%, Japan 5.6% (2006)
Independence none (overseas territory of the UK) -
Industrial production growth rate 4% (1985) 3% (2003 est.)
Industries tourism, light industry, construction, rum, concrete block, offshore financial center dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems
Infant mortality rate 19.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) total: 43.52 deaths/1,000 live births


male: 46.32 deaths/1,000 live births


female: 40.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 3.3% (2000) developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 20% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in one Third World countries (Zimbabwe); inflation rates have declined for most countries for the last several years, held in check by increasing international competition from several low wage countries (2005 est.)
International organization participation Caricom (associate), CDB, ECLAC (associate), Interpol (subbureau), IOC, OECS (associate), UNESCO (associate) -
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 16 (2000) -
Irrigated land NA sq km 2,770,980 sq km (2003)
Judicial branch Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, consisting of the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal (one judge of the Supreme Court is a resident of the islands and presides over the High Court); Magistrate's Court; Juvenile Court; Court of Summary Jurisdiction -
Labor force 4,911 (1980) 3.001 billion (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% agriculture: 40.9%


industry: 20.6%


services: 38.5% (2002 est.)
Land boundaries 0 km the land boundaries in the world total 250,708 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries


note: 44 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked
Land use arable land: 20%


permanent crops: 6.67%


other: 73.33% (1998 est.)
arable land: 13.31%


permanent crops: 4.71%


other: 81.98% (2005)
Languages English (official) Mandarin Chinese 13.69%, Spanish 5.05%, English 4.84%, Arabic 3.23%, Hindi 2.82%, Portuguese 2.77%, Bengali 2.68%, Russian 2.27%, Japanese 1.99%, Standard German 1.49%, Wu Chinese 1.21% (2004 est.)


note: percents are for "first language" speakers only and therefore do not add to 100%
Legal system English law all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court
Legislative branch unicameral Legislative Council (13 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote, one member from each of 9 electoral districts, four at-large members; members serve four-year terms)


elections: last held 17 May 1999 (next to be held NA 2003)


election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - VIP 7, CCM 1, NDP 5
-
Life expectancy at birth total population: 75.85 years


male: 74.9 years


female: 76.84 years (2002 est.)
total population: 65.82 years


male: 63.89 years


female: 67.84 years (2007 est.)
Literacy definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 97.8% (1991 est.)


male: NA%


female: NA%
definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 82%


male: 87%


female: 77%


note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.)
Location Caribbean, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Puerto Rico -
Map references Central America and the Caribbean Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World
Maritime claims exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM


territorial sea: 3 NM
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24 nm, and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm
Merchant marine total: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 70,285 GRT/6,946 DWT


ships by type: passenger 1 (2002 est.)
-
Military - note defense is the responsibility of the UK -
Military expenditures - percent of GDP - roughly 2% of gross world product (2005 est.)
National holiday Territory Day, 1 July -
Nationality noun: British Virgin Islander(s)


adjective: British Virgin Islander
-
Natural hazards hurricanes and tropical storms (July to October) large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)
Natural resources NEGL the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address
Net migration rate 10.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) -
Political parties and leaders Concerned Citizens Movement or CCM [Ethlyn SMITH]; National Democratic Party or NDP [Orlando SMITH]; United Party or UP [Gregory MADURO]; Virgin Islands Party or VIP [Ralph T. O'NEAL] -
Political pressure groups and leaders NA -
Population 21,272 (July 2002 est.) 6,602,224,175 (July 2007 est.)
Population below poverty line NA% -
Population growth rate 2.16% (2002 est.) 1.167% (2007 est.)
Ports and harbors Road Town -
Radio broadcast stations AM 1, FM 4, shortwave 0 (1998) AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
Radios 9,000 (1997) -
Railways 0 km total: 1,370,782 km (2006)
Religions Protestant 86% (Methodist 33%, Anglican 17%, Church of God 9%, Seventh-Day Adventist 6%, Baptist 4%, Jehovah's Witnesses 2%, other 2%), Roman Catholic 10%, none 2%, other 2% (1991) Christians 33.03% (of which Roman Catholics 17.33%, Protestants 5.8%, Orthodox 3.42%, Anglicans 1.23%), Muslims 20.12%, Hindus 13.34%, Buddhists 5.89%, Sikhs 0.39%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 12.61%, non-religious 12.03%, atheists 2.36% (2004 est.)
Sex ratio at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female


under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 1.17 male(s)/female


total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2002 est.)
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female


under 15 years: 1.064 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 1.024 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 0.781 male(s)/female


total population: 1.014 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Suffrage 18 years of age; universal -
Telephone system general assessment: worldwide telephone service


domestic: NA


international: submarine cable to Bermuda
general assessment: NA


domestic: NA


international: NA
Telephones - main lines in use 10,000 (1996) 1,263,367,600 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular NA 2,168,433,600 (2005)
Television broadcast stations 1 (plus one cable company) (1997) NA
Terrain coral islands relatively flat; volcanic islands steep, hilly the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean
Total fertility rate 1.72 children born/woman (2002 est.) 2.59 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate 3% (1995) 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2006 est.)
Waterways none 671,886 km (2004)
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