Cocos (Keeling) Islands (2003) | Arctic Ocean (2005) | |
Administrative divisions | none (territory of Australia) | - |
Age structure | 0-14 years: NA%
15-64 years: NA% 65 years and over: NA% (2003 est.) |
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Agriculture - products | vegetables, bananas, pawpaws, coconuts | - |
Airports | 1 (2002) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2002) |
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Area | total: 14 sq km
land: 14 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes the two main islands of West Island and Home Island |
total: 14.056 million sq km
note: includes Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, Northwest Passage, and other tributary water bodies |
Area - comparative | about 24 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC | slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US |
Background | There are 27 coral islands in the group. Captain William Keeling discovered the islands in 1609, but they remained uninhabited until the 19th century. Annexed by the UK in 1857, they were transferred to the Australian Government in 1955. The population on the two inhabited islands generally is split between the ethnic Europeans on West Island and the ethnic Malays on Home Island. | The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the recently delimited Southern Ocean). The Northwest Passage (US and Canada) and Northern Sea Route (Norway and Russia) are two important seasonal waterways. A sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes circumscribes the Arctic Ocean. |
Birth rate | NA births/1,000 population (2003 est.) | - |
Budget | revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA |
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Capital | West Island | - |
Climate | tropical with high humidity, moderated by the southeast trade winds for about nine months of the year | polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual temperature ranges; winters characterized by continuous darkness, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers characterized by continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or snow |
Coastline | 26 km | 45,389 km |
Constitution | Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act of 1955 | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands
conventional short form: Cocos (Keeling) Islands |
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Currency | Australian dollar (AUD) | - |
Death rate | NA deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) | - |
Debt - external | $NA | - |
Dependency status | territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none (territory of Australia) | - |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none (territory of Australia) | - |
Disputes - international | none | some maritime disputes (see littoral states) |
Economic aid - recipient | $NA | - |
Economy - overview | Grown throughout the islands, coconuts are the sole cash crop. Small local gardens and fishing contribute to the food supply, but additional food and most other necessities must be imported from Australia. There is a small tourist industry. | Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals. |
Electricity - consumption | NA kWh | - |
Electricity - production | NA kWh | - |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
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Elevation extremes | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location 5 m |
lowest point: Fram Basin -4,665 m
highest point: sea level 0 m |
Environment - current issues | fresh water resources are limited to rainwater accumulations in natural underground reservoirs | endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack |
Ethnic groups | Europeans, Cocos Malays | - |
Exchange rates | Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.9354 (2002), 1.9320 (2001), 1.7173 (2000), 1.5497 (1999), 1.5888 (1998), 1.3439 (1997) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by the Australian governor general
head of government: Administrator (nonresident) William Leonard TAYLOR (since 4 February 1999) cabinet: NA elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; administrator appointed by the governor general of Australia and represents the monarch and Australia |
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Exports | $NA | - |
Exports - commodities | copra | - |
Exports - partners | Australia (1999) | - |
Fiscal year | 1 July - 30 June | - |
Flag description | the flag of Australia is used | - |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $NA | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: NA%
industry: NA% services: NA% |
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GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $NA | - |
GDP - real growth rate | NA% | - |
Geographic coordinates | 12 30 S, 96 50 E | 90 00 N, 0 00 E |
Geography - note | islands are thickly covered with coconut palms and other vegetation | major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); strategic location between North America and Russia; shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and western Russia; floating research stations operated by the US and Russia; maximum snow cover in March or April about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen ocean; snow cover lasts about 10 months |
Highways | total: 15 km
paved: NA km unpaved: NA km (2003) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
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Imports | $NA | - |
Imports - commodities | foodstuffs | - |
Imports - partners | Australia (1999) | - |
Independence | none (territory of Australia) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | - |
Industries | copra products and tourism | - |
Infant mortality rate | total: NA%
male: NA% female: NA% |
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Inflation rate (consumer prices) | NA% | - |
International organization participation | none | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 2 (2000) | - |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | - |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court; Magistrate's Court | - |
Labor force | NA | - |
Labor force - by occupation | the Cocos Islands Cooperative Society Ltd. employs construction workers, stevedores, and lighterage workers; tourism employs others | - |
Land boundaries | 0 km | - |
Land use | arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.) |
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Languages | Malay (Cocos dialect), English | - |
Legal system | based upon the laws of Australia and local laws | - |
Legislative branch | unicameral Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire Council (7 seats) | - |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: NA years
male: NA years female: NA years (2003 est.) |
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Location | Southeastern Asia, group of islands in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Indonesia, about halfway from Australia to Sri Lanka | body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle |
Map references | Southeast Asia | Arctic Region |
Maritime claims | exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM |
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Merchant marine | none (2002 est.) | - |
Military - note | defense is the responsibility of Australia; the territory does have a five-person police force | - |
National holiday | NA | - |
Nationality | noun: Cocos Islander(s)
adjective: Cocos Islander |
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Natural hazards | cyclone season is October to April | ice islands occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island; icebergs calved from glaciers in western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada; permafrost in islands; virtually ice locked from October to June; ships subject to superstructure icing from October to May |
Natural resources | fish | sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales) |
Net migration rate | NA migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) | - |
Political parties and leaders | none | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | none | - |
Population | 630 (July 2003 est.) | - |
Population below poverty line | NA% | - |
Population growth rate | 0% (2003 est.) | - |
Ports and harbors | none; lagoon anchorage only | Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US) |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0 (2000) | - |
Railways | 0 km | - |
Religions | Sunni Muslim 80%, other 20% (2002 est.) | - |
Suffrage | NA | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: connected within Australia's telecommunication system
domestic: NA international: telephone, telex, and facsimile communications with Australia and elsewhere via satellite; 1 satellite earth station of NA type (2002) |
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Telephones - main lines in use | 287 (1992) | - |
Telephones - mobile cellular | NA | - |
Television broadcast stations | NA | - |
Terrain | flat, low-lying coral atolls | central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that, on average, is about 3 meters thick, although pressure ridges may be three times that thickness; clockwise drift pattern in the Beaufort Gyral Stream, but nearly straight-line movement from the New Siberian Islands (Russia) to Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland); the icepack is surrounded by open seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size during the winter and extends to the encircling landmasses; the ocean floor is about 50% continental shelf (highest percentage of any ocean) with the remainder a central basin interrupted by three submarine ridges (Alpha Cordillera, Nansen Cordillera, and Lomonosov Ridge) |
Total fertility rate | NA children born/woman (2003 est.) | - |
Transportation - note | - | sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest Passage (North America) and Northern Sea Route (Eurasia) are important seasonal waterways |
Unemployment rate | 60% (2000 est.) | - |
Waterways | none | - |