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Compare Comoros (2008) - Southern Ocean (2007)
Compare Comoros (2008) z Southern Ocean (2007)
| Comoros (2008) | Southern Ocean (2007) | |
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| Administrative divisions | 3 islands and 4 municipalities*; Grande Comore, Anjouan, Domoni*, Fomboni*, Moheli, Moroni*, Mutsamudu* | - |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 42.6% (male 151,920/female 150,851)
15-64 years: 54.4% (male 191,096/female 196,120) 65 years and over: 3% (male 9,933/female 11,497) (2007 est.) |
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| Agriculture - products | vanilla, cloves, ylang-ylang, perfume essences, copra, coconuts, bananas, cassava (tapioca) | - |
| Airports | 4 (2007) | - |
| Airports - with paved runways | total: 4
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 3 (2007) |
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| Area | total: 2,170 sq km
land: 2,170 sq km water: 0 sq km |
total: 20.327 million sq km
note: includes Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, part of the Drake Passage, Ross Sea, a small part of the Scotia Sea, Weddell Sea, and other tributary water bodies |
| Area - comparative | slightly more than 12 times the size of Washington, DC | slightly more than twice the size of the US |
| Background | Comoros has endured 19 coups or attempted coups since gaining independence from France in 1975. In 1997, the islands of Anjouan and Moheli declared independence from Comoros. In 1999, military chief Col. AZALI seized power in a bloodless coup, and helped negotiate the 2000 Fomboni Accords power-sharing agreement in which the federal presidency rotates among the three islands, and each island maintains its own local government. AZALI won the 2002 Presidential election, and each island in the archipelago elected its own president. AZALI stepped down in 2006 and President SAMBI took office. Since 2006, Anjouan's President Mohamed BACAR has refused to work effectively with the Union presidency. This year BACAR effected Anjouan's de-facto secession from the Union, refusing to step down in favor of fresh Anjouanais elections when Comoros' other islands held legitimate elections in July. The African Union (AU) has stepped in to assist in resolving the political crisis, including applying sanctions and a naval blockade on Anjouan, but the situation remains at an impasse. | A large body of recent oceanographic research has shown that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), an ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica, plays a crucial role in global ocean circulation. The region where the cold waters of the ACC meet and mingle with the warmer waters of the north defines a distinct border - the Antarctic Convergence - which fluctuates with the seasons, but which encompasses a discrete body of water and a unique ecologic region. The Convergence concentrates nutrients, which promotes marine plant life, and which in turn allows for a greater abundance of animal life. In the spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization decided to delimit the waters within the Convergence as a fifth world ocean - the Southern Ocean - by combining the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude, which coincides with the Antarctic Treaty Limit and which approximates the extent of the Antarctic Convergence. As such, the Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean). It should be noted that inclusion of the Southern Ocean does not imply recognition of this feature as one of the world's primary oceans by the US Government. |
| Birth rate | 36.35 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | - |
| Budget | revenues: $27.6 million
expenditures: $NA (2001 est.) |
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| Capital | name: Moroni
geographic coordinates: 11 42 S, 43 14 E time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
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| Climate | tropical marine; rainy season (November to May) | sea temperatures vary from about 10 degrees Celsius to -2 degrees Celsius; cyclonic storms travel eastward around the continent and frequently are intense because of the temperature contrast between ice and open ocean; the ocean area from about latitude 40 south to the Antarctic Circle has the strongest average winds found anywhere on Earth; in winter the ocean freezes outward to 65 degrees south latitude in the Pacific sector and 55 degrees south latitude in the Atlantic sector, lowering surface temperatures well below 0 degrees Celsius; at some coastal points intense persistent drainage winds from the interior keep the shoreline ice-free throughout the winter |
| Coastline | 340 km | 17,968 km |
| Constitution | 23 December 2001 | - |
| Country name | conventional long form: Union of the Comoros
conventional short form: Comoros local long form: Union des Comores local short form: Comores |
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| Death rate | 7.95 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | - |
| Debt - external | $232 million (2000 est.) | - |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | the US does not have an embassy in Comoros; the ambassador to Madagascar is accredited to Comoros | - |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Representative to the US and Ambassador to the UN Mohamed TOIHIRI
chancery: Mission to the US, 336 East 45th Street (2nd floor), New York, NY 10017 telephone: [1] (212) 750-1637 |
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| Disputes - international | claims French-administered Mayotte | Antarctic Treaty defers claims (see Antarctica entry), but Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, NZ, Norway, and UK assert claims (some overlapping), including the continental shelf in the Southern Ocean; several states have expressed an interest in extending those continental shelf claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to include undersea ridges; the US and most other states do not recognize the land or maritime claims of other states and have made no claims themselves (the US and Russia have reserved the right to do so); no formal claims exist in the waters in the sector between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west |
| Economic aid - recipient | $25.23 million (2005 est.) | - |
| Economy - overview | One of the world's poorest countries, Comoros is made up of three islands that have inadequate transportation links, a young and rapidly increasing population, and few natural resources. The low educational level of the labor force contributes to a subsistence level of economic activity, high unemployment, and a heavy dependence on foreign grants and technical assistance. Agriculture, including fishing, hunting, and forestry, contributes 40% to GDP, employs 80% of the labor force, and provides most of the exports. The country is not self-sufficient in food production; rice, the main staple, accounts for the bulk of imports. The government - which is hampered by internal political disputes - is struggling to upgrade education and technical training, privatize commercial and industrial enterprises, improve health services, diversify exports, promote tourism, and reduce the high population growth rate. The political problems caused the economy to contract in 2007. Remittances from 150,000 Comorans abroad help supplement GDP. | Fisheries in 2003-04 landed 136,262 metric tons, of which 87% (118,166 tons) was krill and 8% (11,182 tons) Patagonian toothfish, compared to 142,555 tons in 2002-03 of which 83% (117,728 tons) was krill and 12% (16,479 tons) Patagonian toothfish (estimated fishing from the area covered by the Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which extends slightly beyond the Southern Ocean area). International agreements were adopted in late 1999 to reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, which in the 2000-01 season landed, by one estimate, 8,376 metric tons of Patagonian and Antarctic toothfish. In the 2004-05 Antarctic summer, 28,202 tourists, most of them seaborne (approximately 97%), visited the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, compared to 14,762 in 1999-2000. |
| Electricity - consumption | 18.6 million kWh (2005) | - |
| Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2005) | - |
| Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2005) | - |
| Electricity - production | 20 million kWh (2005) | - |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Le Kartala 2,360 m |
lowest point: -7,235 m at the southern end of the South Sandwich Trench
highest point: sea level 0 m |
| Environment - current issues | soil degradation and erosion results from crop cultivation on slopes without proper terracing; deforestation | increased solar ultraviolet radiation resulting from the Antarctic ozone hole in recent years, reducing marine primary productivity (phytoplankton) by as much as 15% and damaging the DNA of some fish; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in recent years, especially the landing of an estimated five to six times more Patagonian toothfish than the regulated fishery, which is likely to affect the sustainability of the stock; large amount of incidental mortality of seabirds resulting from long-line fishing for toothfish
note: the now-protected fur seal population is making a strong comeback after severe overexploitation in the 18th and 19th centuries |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
the Southern Ocean is subject to all international agreements regarding the world's oceans; in addition, it is subject to these agreements specific to the Antarctic region: International Whaling Commission (prohibits commercial whaling south of 40 degrees south [south of 60 degrees south between 50 degrees and 130 degrees west]); Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (limits sealing); Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (regulates fishing)
note: many nations (including the US) prohibit mineral resource exploration and exploitation south of the fluctuating Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence), which is in the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and serves as the dividing line between the cold polar surface waters to the south and the warmer waters to the north |
| Ethnic groups | Antalote, Cafre, Makoa, Oimatsaha, Sakalava | - |
| Exchange rates | Comoran francs (KMF) per US dollar - NA (2007), 392.03 (2006), 395.6 (2005), 396.21 (2004), 435.9 (2003)
note: the Comoran franc is pegged to the euro at a rate of 491.9677 Comoran francs per euro |
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| Executive branch | chief of state: President Ahmed Abdallah SAMBI (since 26 May 2006)
head of government: President Ahmed Abdallah SAMBI (since 26 May 2006) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: as defined by the 2001 constitution, the presidency rotates every four years among the elected presidents from the three main islands in the Union; election last held 14 May 2006 (next to be held by May 2010); prime minister appointed by the president; note - the post of prime minister has been vacant since May 2002 election results: Ahmed Abdallah SAMBI elected president; percent of vote - Ahmed Abdallah SAMBI 58.0%, Ibrahim HALIDI 28.3%, Mohamed DJAANFAMI 13.7% |
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| Exports | 0 bbl/day (2004) | - |
| Exports - commodities | vanilla, ylang-ylang (perfume essence), cloves, copra | - |
| Exports - partners | Netherlands 35.8%, France 18.3%, Italy 12.8%, Singapore 7.8%, Turkey 5%, US 4.6% (2006) | - |
| Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
| Flag description | four equal horizontal bands of yellow (top), white, red, and blue with a green isosceles triangle based on the hoist; centered within the triangle is a white crescent with the convex side facing the hoist and four white, five-pointed stars placed vertically in a line between the points of the crescent; the horizontal bands and the four stars represent the four main islands of the archipelago - Mwali, Njazidja, Nzwani, and Mahore (Mayotte - territorial collectivity of France, but claimed by Comoros)
note: the crescent, stars, and color green are traditional symbols of Islam |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 40%
industry: 4% services: 56% (2001 est.) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | -1% (2007 est.) | - |
| Geographic coordinates | 12 10 S, 44 15 E | 60 00 S, 90 00 E (nominally), but the Southern Ocean has the unique distinction of being a large circumpolar body of water totally encircling the continent of Antarctica; this ring of water lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the coast of Antarctica and encompasses 360 degrees of longitude |
| Geography - note | important location at northern end of Mozambique Channel | the major chokepoint is the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica; the Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence) is the best natural definition of the northern extent of the Southern Ocean; it is a distinct region at the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that separates the cold polar surface waters to the south from the warmer waters to the north; the Front and the Current extend entirely around Antarctica, reaching south of 60 degrees south near New Zealand and near 48 degrees south in the far South Atlantic coinciding with the path of the maximum westerly winds |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
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| Imports | 709.1 bbl/day (2004) | - |
| Imports - commodities | rice and other foodstuffs, consumer goods, petroleum products, cement, transport equipment | - |
| Imports - partners | France 24.8%, UAE 9.9%, South Africa 6.4%, Pakistan 6.3%, Kenya 5%, China 4.8%, India 4.4%, Italy 4.2% (2006) | - |
| Independence | 6 July 1975 (from France) | - |
| Industrial production growth rate | -2% (1999 est.) | - |
| Industries | fishing, tourism, perfume distillation | - |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 70.66 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 78.86 deaths/1,000 live births female: 62.21 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
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| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 3% (2005 est.) | - |
| International organization participation | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AMF, AU, COMESA, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, InOC, Interpol, IOC, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW (signatory), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer) | - |
| Irrigated land | NA | - |
| Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Cour Supremes (two members appointed by the president, two members elected by the Federal Assembly, one elected by the Council of each island, and others are former presidents of the republic) | - |
| Labor force | 144,500 (1996 est.) | - |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 80%
industry and services: 20% (1996 est.) |
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| Land boundaries | 0 km | - |
| Land use | arable land: 35.87%
permanent crops: 23.32% other: 40.81% (2005) |
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| Languages | Arabic (official), French (official), Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili and Arabic) | - |
| Legal system | French and Islamic law in a new consolidated code | - |
| Legislative branch | unicameral Assembly of the Union (33 seats; 15 deputies are selected by the individual islands' local assemblies and 18 by universal suffrage; to serve for five years);
elections: last held 18 and 25 April 2004 (next to be held in 2009) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - CdIA 12, CRC 6; note - 15 additional seats are filled by deputies from local island assemblies |
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| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 62.73 years
male: 60.37 years female: 65.15 years (2007 est.) |
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| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 56.5% male: 63.6% female: 49.3% (2003 est.) |
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| Location | Southern Africa, group of islands at the northern mouth of the Mozambique Channel, about two-thirds of the way between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique | body of water between 60 degrees south latitude and Antarctica |
| Map references | Africa | Antarctic Region |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
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| Merchant marine | total: 144 ships (1000 GRT or over) 657,755 GRT/954,498 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 11, cargo 101, chemical tanker 3, container 1, livestock carrier 4, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 9, refrigerated cargo 6, roll on/roll off 6, specialized tanker 1 foreign-owned: 70 (Bangladesh 1, Bulgaria 1, Cyprus 1, Greece 8, India 2, Kenya 1, Kuwait 1, Lebanon 5, Norway 1, Pakistan 2, Philippines 1, Russia 9, Saudi Arabia 1, Syria 8, Turkey 8, Ukraine 13, UAE 5, US 2) (2007) |
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| Military branches | National Development Army (AND): Comoran Security Force; Comoran Federal Police (2007) | - |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.8% (2006) | - |
| National holiday | Independence Day, 6 July (1975) | - |
| Nationality | noun: Comoran(s)
adjective: Comoran |
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| Natural hazards | cyclones possible during rainy season (December to April); Le Kartala on Grand Comore is an active volcano | huge icebergs with drafts up to several hundred meters; smaller bergs and iceberg fragments; sea ice (generally 0.5 to 1 m thick) with sometimes dynamic short-term variations and with large annual and interannual variations; deep continental shelf floored by glacial deposits varying widely over short distances; high winds and large waves much of the year; ship icing, especially May-October; most of region is remote from sources of search and rescue |
| Natural resources | NEGL | probable large and possible giant oil and gas fields on the continental margin, manganese nodules, possible placer deposits, sand and gravel, fresh water as icebergs; squid, whales, and seals - none exploited; krill, fish |
| Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | - |
| Political parties and leaders | Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros or CRC [AZALI Assowmani]; Camp of the Autonomous Islands or CdIA (a coalition of parties organized by the islands' presidents in opposition to the Union President); Front National pour la Justice or FNJ [Ahmed RACHID] (Islamic party in opposition); Mouvement pour la Democratie et le Progress or MDP-NGDC [Abbas DJOUSSOUF]; Parti Comorien pour la Democratie et le Progress or PCDP [Ali MROUDJAE]; Rassemblement National pour le Development or RND [Omar TAMOU, Abdoulhamid AFFRAITANE] | - |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | - |
| Population | 711,417 (July 2007 est.) | - |
| Population below poverty line | 60% (2002 est.) | - |
| Population growth rate | 2.84% (2007 est.) | - |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 4, shortwave 1 (2001) | - |
| Religions | Sunni Muslim 98%, Roman Catholic 2% | - |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.007 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.974 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.864 male(s)/female total population: 0.985 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
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| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
| Telephone system | general assessment: sparse system of microwave radio relay and HF radiotelephone communication stations; fixed-line connections only about 2 per 100 persons; mobile cellular usage about 2 per 100 persons
domestic: HF radiotelephone communications and microwave radio relay international: country code - 269; HF radiotelephone communications to Madagascar and Reunion |
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| Telephones - main lines in use | 16,900 (2005) | - |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 16,100 (2005) | - |
| Television broadcast stations | NA | - |
| Terrain | volcanic islands, interiors vary from steep mountains to low hills | the Southern Ocean is deep, 4,000 to 5,000 m over most of its extent with only limited areas of shallow water; the Antarctic continental shelf is generally narrow and unusually deep, its edge lying at depths of 400 to 800 m (the global mean is 133 m); the Antarctic icepack grows from an average minimum of 2.6 million sq km in March to about 18.8 million sq km in September, better than a sixfold increase in area; the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (21,000 km in length) moves perpetually eastward; it is the world's largest ocean current, transporting 130 million cubic meters of water per second - 100 times the flow of all the world's rivers |
| Total fertility rate | 4.97 children born/woman (2007 est.) | - |
| Transportation - note | - | Drake Passage offers alternative to transit through the Panama Canal |
| Unemployment rate | 20% (1996 est.) | - |
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