Czech Republic (2001) | Ecuador (2005) | |
Administrative divisions | 13 regions (kraje, singular - kraj) and 1 capital city* (hlavni mesto); Brnensky, Budejovicky, Jihlavsky, Karlovarsky, Kralovehradecky, Liberecky, Olomoucky, Ostravsky, Pardubicky, Plzensky, Praha*, Stredocesky, Ustecky, Zlinsky | 22 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia); Azuay, Bolivar, Canar, Carchi, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Galapagos, Guayas, Imbabura, Loja, Los Rios, Manabi, Morona-Santiago, Napo, Orellana, Pastaza, Pichincha, Sucumbios, Tungurahua, Zamora-Chinchipe |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
16.09% (male 847,219; female 804,731) 15-64 years: 69.99% (male 3,592,984; female 3,590,802) 65 years and over: 13.92% (male 549,538; female 878,938) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 33.5% (male 2,282,252/female 2,195,942)
15-64 years: 61.5% (male 4,094,146/female 4,130,096) 65 years and over: 4.9% (male 310,336/female 350,821) (2005 est.) |
Agriculture - products | wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, hops, fruit; pigs, poultry | bananas, coffee, cocoa, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp |
Airports | 114 (2000 est.) | 205 (2004 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
43 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 10 1,524 to 2,437 m: 14 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 16 (2000 est.) |
total: 62
over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 18 914 to 1,523 m: 19 under 914 m: 18 (2004 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
71 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 28 under 914 m: 42 (2000 est.) |
total: 143
914 to 1,523 m: 30 under 914 m: 113 (2004 est.) |
Area | total:
78,866 sq km land: 77,276 sq km water: 1,590 sq km |
total: 283,560 sq km
land: 276,840 sq km water: 6,720 sq km note: includes Galapagos Islands |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than South Carolina | slightly smaller than Nevada |
Background | After World War II, Czechoslovakia fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize party rule and create "socialism with a human face." Anti-Soviet demonstrations the following year ushered in a period of harsh repression. With the collapse of Soviet authority in 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution." On 1 January 1993, the country underwent a "velvet divorce" into its two national components, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Now a member of NATO, the Czech Republic has moved toward integration in world markets, a development that poses both opportunities and risks. | The "Republic of the Equator" was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Colombia and Venezuela). Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A border war with Peru that flared in 1995 was resolved in 1999. Although Ecuador marked 25 years of civilian governance in 2004, the period has been marred by political instability. Seven presidents have governed Ecuador since 1996. |
Birth rate | 9.11 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 22.67 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$16.7 billion expenditures: $18 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.) |
revenues: $7.9 billion
expenditures: planned $7.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.6 billion (2004 est.) |
Capital | Prague | Quito |
Climate | temperate; cool summers; cold, cloudy, humid winters | tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 2,237 km |
Constitution | ratified 16 December 1992; effective 1 January 1993 | 10 August 1998 |
Country name | conventional long form:
Czech Republic conventional short form: Czech Republic local long form: Ceska Republika local short form: Ceska Republika |
conventional long form: Republic of Ecuador
conventional short form: Ecuador local long form: Republica del Ecuador local short form: Ecuador |
Currency | Czech koruna (CZK) | - |
Death rate | 10.81 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 4.24 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Debt - external | $21.3 billion (2000) | $16.81 billion (2004 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Steven J. COFFEY embassy: Trziste 15, 11801 Prague 1 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [420] (2) 5753-0663 FAX: [420] (2) 5753-0583 |
chief of mission: Ambassador Kristie Anne KENNEY
embassy: Avenida 12 de Octubre y Avenida Patria, Quito mailing address: APO AA 34039 telephone: [593] (2) 256-2890 FAX: [593] (2) 250-2052 consulate(s) general: Guayaquil |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Alexsandr VONDRA chancery: 3900 Spring of Freedom Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 274-9100 FAX: [1] (202) 966-8540 consulate(s) general: Los Angeles and New York |
chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant)
chancery: 2535 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 234-7200 FAX: [1] (202) 667-3482 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, Jersey City (New Jersey), Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco |
Disputes - international | Liechtenstein's royal family claims restitution for 1,600 sq km of land in the Czech Republic confiscated in 1918; individual Sudeten German claims for restitution of property confiscated in connection with their expulsion after World War II; Austria has minor dispute with Czech Republic over nuclear power plants and post-World War II treatment of German-speaking minorities | organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia penetrate across Ecuador's shared border and caused over 20,000 refugees to flee into Ecuador in 2004 |
Economic aid - recipient | $NA | $216 million (2002) |
Economy - overview | Basically one of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states, the Czech Republic has been recovering from recession since mid-1999. The economy grew about 2.5% in 2000 and should achieve somewhat higher growth in 2001. Growth is led by exports to the EU, especially Germany, and foreign investment, while domestic demand is reviving. Uncomfortably high fiscal and current account deficits could be future problems. Unemployment is down to 8.7% as job creation continues in the rebounding economy; inflation is up to 3.8% but still moderate. The EU put the Czech Republic just behind Poland and Hungary in preparations for accession, which will give further impetus and direction to structural reform. Moves to complete banking, telecommunications and energy privatization will add to foreign investment, while intensified restructuring among large enterprises and banks and improvements in the financial sector should strengthen output growth. | Ecuador has substantial petroleum resources, which have accounted for 40% of the country's export earnings and one-fourth of central government budget revenues in recent years. Consequently, fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. In the late 1990s, Ecuador suffered its worst economic crisis, with natural disasters and sharp declines in world petroleum prices driving Ecuador's economy into free fall in 1999. Real GDP contracted by more than 6%, with poverty worsening significantly. The banking system also collapsed, and Ecuador defaulted on its external debt later that year. The currency depreciated by some 70% in 1999, and, on the brink of hyperinflation, the MAHAUD government announced it would dollarize the economy. A coup, however, ousted MAHAUD from office in January 2000, and after a short-lived junta failed to garner military support, Vice President Gustavo NOBOA took over the presidency. In March 2000, Congress approved a series of structural reforms that also provided the framework for the adoption of the US dollar as legal tender. Dollarization stabilized the economy, and growth returned to its pre-crisis levels in the years that followed. Under the administration of Lucio GUTIERREZ - January 2003 to April 2005 - Ecuador benefited from higher world petroleum prices, but the government has made little progress on economic reforms necessary to reduce Ecuador's vulnerability to petroleum price swings and financial crises. |
Electricity - consumption | 52.898 billion kWh (2000) | 10.79 billion kWh (2002) |
Electricity - exports | 18.744 billion kWh (2000) | 0 kWh (2002) |
Electricity - imports | 8.735 billion kWh (2000) | 57 million kWh (2002) |
Electricity - production | 67.642 billion kWh (2000) | 11.54 billion kWh (2002) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
77.8% hydro: 3.43% nuclear: 18.77% other: 0% (2000) |
- |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Elbe River 115 m highest point: Snezka 1,602 m |
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Chimborazo 6,267 m |
Environment - current issues | air and water pollution in areas of northwest Bohemia and in northern Moravia around Ostrava present health risks; acid rain damaging forests | deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution; pollution from oil production wastes in ecologically sensitive areas of the Amazon Basin and Galapagos Islands |
Environment - international agreements | party to:
Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol |
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | Czech 81.2%, Moravian 13.2%, Slovak 3.1%, Polish 0.6%, German 0.5%, Silesian 0.4%, Roma 0.3%, Hungarian 0.2%, other 0.5% (1991) | mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 65%, Amerindian 25%, Spanish and others 7%, black 3% |
Exchange rates | koruny per US dollar - 37.425 (January 2001), 38.598 (2000), 34.569 (1999), 32.281 (1998), 31.698 (1997), 27.145 (1996) | 25,000 (2004), 25,000 (2003), 25,000 (2002), 25,000 (2001), 24,988 (2000) |
Executive branch | chief of state:
President Vaclav HAVEL (since 2 February 1993) head of government: Prime Minister Milos ZEMAN (since 17 July 1998); Deputy Prime Ministers Vladimir SPIDLA (since 22 July 1998), Pavel RYCHETSKY (since 22 July 1998), Jan KAVAN (since 8 December 1999) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: president elected by Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 20 January 1998 (next to be held NA January 2003); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Vaclav HAVEL reelected president; Vaclav HAVEL received 47 of 81 votes in the Senate and 99 out of 200 votes in the Chamber of Deputies (second round of voting) |
chief of state: President Alfredo PALACIO (since 20 April 2005); Vice President Nicanor Alejandro SERRANO Aguilar (since 5 May 2005); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government; former President Lucio GUTIERREZ was removed from office by congress effective 20 April 2005
head of government: President Alfredo PALACIO (since 20 April 2005); Vice President Nicanor Alejandro SERRANO Aguilar (since 5 May 2005); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: the president and vice president are elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a four-year term (no immediate reelection); election last held 20 October 2002; runoff election held 24 November 2002 (next to be held October 2006) election results: results of the 24 November 2002 runoff election - Lucio GUTIERREZ elected president; percent of vote - Lucio GUTIERREZ 54.3%; Alvaro NOBOA 45.7%; note - Vice President Alfredo PALACIO assumed the presidency on 20 April 2005 after congress removed Lucio GUTIERREZ from office |
Exports | $28.3 billion (f.o.b., 2000) | 387,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
Exports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment 44%, other manufactured goods 40%, chemicals 7%, raw materials and fuel 7% (1999) | petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp |
Exports - partners | Germany 43%, Slovakia 8.4%, Austria 6.6%, Poland 5.6%, France 4% (1999) | US 42.9%, Panama 14.3%, Peru 7.9%, Italy 4.6% (2004) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side (identical to the flag of the former Czechoslovakia) | three horizontal bands of yellow (top, double width), blue, and red with the coat of arms superimposed at the center of the flag; similar to the flag of Colombia, which is shorter and does not bear a coat of arms |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $132.4 billion (2000 est.) | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
3.7% industry: 41.8% services: 54.5% (1999) |
agriculture: 8.7%
industry: 30.5% services: 60.9% (2004 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $12,900 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $3,700 (2004 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 2.5% (2000 est.) | 5.8% (2004 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 49 45 N, 15 30 E | 2 00 S, 77 30 W |
Geography - note | landlocked; strategically located astride some of oldest and most significant land routes in Europe; Moravian Gate is a traditional military corridor between the North European Plain and the Danube in central Europe | Cotopaxi in Andes is highest active volcano in world |
Heliports | 1 (2000 est.) | 1 (2004 est.) |
Highways | total:
55,432 km paved: 55,432 km (including 499 km of expressways) unpaved: 0 km (2000) |
total: 43,197 km
paved: 8,164 km unpaved: 35,033 km (2002) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
4.3% highest 10%: 22.4% (1996) |
lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 32% note: data for urban households only (October 2003) |
Illicit drugs | major transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and minor transit point for Latin American cocaine to Western Europe; domestic consumption - especially of locally produced synthetic drugs - on the rise | significant transit country for cocaine originating in Colombia and Peru; importer of precursor chemicals used in production of illicit narcotics; attractive location for cash-placement by drug traffickers laundering money because of dollarization and weak anti-money-laundering regime, especially vulnerable along the border with Colombia; increased activity on the northern frontier by trafficking groups and Colombian insurgents |
Imports | $31.4 billion (f.o.b., 2000) | NA |
Imports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment 42%, other manufactured goods 33%, chemicals 12%, raw materials and fuels 10% (1999) | vehicles, medicinal products, telecommunications equipment, electricity |
Imports - partners | Germany 37.5%, Slovakia 6.7%, Austria 6.2%, Italy 5.9%, France 5.4% (1999) | US 16.5%, Colombia 14.1%, China 9.2%, Venezuela 7.1%, Brazil 6.5%, Chile 4.6%, Japan 4.5%, Mexico 4.3% (2004) |
Independence | 1 January 1993 (Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia) | 24 May 1822 (from Spain) |
Industrial production growth rate | 7.6% (2000) | 10% (2004 est.) |
Industries | metallurgy, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, glass, armaments | petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals |
Infant mortality rate | 5.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | total: 23.66 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 28.36 deaths/1,000 live births female: 18.72 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 3.8% (2000 est.) | 2% (2004 est.) |
International organization participation | ACCT (observer), Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WEU (associate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC | CAN, CSN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNOCI, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | more than 300 (2000) | - |
Irrigated land | 240 sq km (1993 est.) | 8,650 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court; Constitutional Court; chairman and deputy chairmen are appointed by the president for a 10-year term | Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (according to the Constitution, new justices are elected by the full Supreme Court; in December 2004, however, Congress successfully replaced the entire court via a simple-majority resolution) |
Labor force | 5.203 million (1999 est.) | 4.53 million (urban) (2004 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 5%, industry 40%, services 55% (2000 est.) | agriculture 8%, industry 24%, services 68% (2001) |
Land boundaries | total:
1,881 km border countries: Austria 362 km, Germany 646 km, Poland 658 km, Slovakia 215 km |
total: 2,010 km
border countries: Colombia 590 km, Peru 1,420 km |
Land use | arable land:
41% permanent crops: 2% permanent pastures: 11% forests and woodland: 34% other: 12% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 5.85%
permanent crops: 4.93% other: 89.22% (2001) |
Languages | Czech | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
Legal system | civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; legal code modified to bring it in line with Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) obligations and to expunge Marxist-Leninist legal theory | based on civil law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Senate or Senat (81 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms; one-third elected every two years) and the Chamber of Deputies or Poslanecka snemovna (200 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 12 and 19 November 2000 (next to be held NA November 2002); Chamber of Deputies - last held 19-20 June 1998 (next to be held by NA June 2002) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - KDU-CSL 28, ODS 22, CSSD 15, ODA 7, US 4, KSCM 3, independents 2; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - CSSD 32.3%, ODS 27.7%, KSCM 11%, KDU-CSL 9.0%, US 8.6%; seats by party - CSSD 74, ODS 63, KSCM 24, KDU-CSL 20, US 18, CSNS 1 |
unicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional (100 seats; members are popularly elected by province to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 20 October 2002 (next to be held October 2006) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PSC 25, PRE 15, ID 16, PRIAN 10, PSP 9, Pachakutik Movement 6, MPD 5, DP 4, PS-FA 3, independents 7; note - defections by members of National Congress are commonplace, resulting in frequent changes in the numbers of seats held by the various parties |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
74.73 years male: 71.23 years female: 78.43 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 76.21 years
male: 73.35 years female: 79.22 years (2005 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
NA total population: 99.9% (1999 est.) male: NA% female: NA% |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.5% male: 94% female: 91% (2003 est.) |
Location | Central Europe, southeast of Germany | Western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru |
Map references | Europe | South America |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | territorial sea: 200 nm
continental shelf: 100 nm from 2,500 meter isobath |
Merchant marine | - | total: 31 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 241,403 GRT/391,898 DWT
by type: chemical tanker 2, liquefied gas 1, passenger 8, petroleum tanker 20 foreign-owned: 3 (Germany 1, Greece 1, Paraguay 1) (2005) |
Military branches | Army, Air and Air Defense Forces, Territorial Defense, Railroad Units | Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry, Naval Aviation, Coast Guard), Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana, FAE) |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $1.2 billion (FY01) | $655 million (2004) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.2% (FY01) | 2.2% (2004) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
2,653,456 (2001 est.) |
- |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
2,024,070 (2001 est.) |
- |
Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age | - |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
69,393 (2001 est.) |
- |
National holiday | Czech Founding Day, 28 October (1918) | Independence Day (independence of Quito), 10 August (1809) |
Nationality | noun:
Czech(s) adjective: Czech |
noun: Ecuadorian(s)
adjective: Ecuadorian |
Natural hazards | flooding | frequent earthquakes, landslides, volcanic activity; floods; periodic droughts |
Natural resources | hard coal, soft coal, kaolin, clay, graphite, timber | petroleum, fish, timber, hydropower |
Net migration rate | 0.96 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | -6.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Pipelines | natural gas 3,550 km (2000) | extra heavy crude 578 km; gas 71 km; oil 1,386 km; refined products 1,185 km (2004) |
Political parties and leaders | Christian and Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party or KDU-CSL [Jan KASAL, chairman]; Civic Democratic Alliance or ODA [Daniel KROUPA, chairman]; Civic Democratic Party or ODS [Vaclav KLAUS, chairman]; Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia or KSCM [Miroslav GREBENICEK, chairman]; Communist Party of Czechoslovakia or KSC [Miroslav STEPAN, chairman]; Czech National Social Party of CSNS [Jan SULA, chairman]; Czech Social Democratic Party or CSSD [Milos ZEMAN, chairman]; Democratic Union or DEU [Ratibor MAJZLIK, chairman]; Freedom Union or US [Karel KUEHNL, chairman]; Quad Coalition [Cyril SVOBODA, chairman] (includes KDU-CSL, US, ODA, DEU); Republicans of Miroslav SLADEK or RMS [Miroslav SLADEK, chairman] | Concentration of Popular Forces or CFP [Averroes BUCARAM]; Democratic Left or ID [Guillermo LANDAZURI]; National Action Institutional Renewal Party or PRIAN [Alvaro NOBOA]; Pachakutik Movement [Gilberto TALAHUA]; Patriotic Society Party or PSP [Lucio GUTIERREZ Borbua]; Popular Democracy or DP [Dr. Juan Manuel FUERTES]; Popular Democratic Movement or MPD [Gustavo TERAN Acosta]; Radical Alfarista Front or FRA [Fabian ALARCON, director]; Roldosist Party or PRE [Abdala BUCARAM Ortiz, director]; Social Christian Party or PSC [Leon FEBRES CORDERO]; Socialist Party - Broad Front or PS-FA [Victor GRANDA] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions [Richard FALBR] | Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador or CONAIE [Luis MACAS, president]; Coordinator of Social Movements or CMS [F. Napoleon SANTOS]; Federation of Indigenous Evangelists of Ecuador or FEINE [Marco MURILLO, president]; National Federation of Indigenous Afro-Ecuatorianos and Peasants or FENOCIN [Pedro DE LA CRUZ, president]; Popular Front or FP [Luis VILLACIS] |
Population | 10,264,212 (July 2001 est.) | 13,363,593 (July 2005 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | 45% (2001 est.) |
Population growth rate | -0.07% (2001 est.) | 1.24% (2005 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Decin, Prague, Usti nad Labem | Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, La Libertad, Manta, Puerto Bolivar |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 31, FM 304, shortwave 17 (2000) | AM 392, FM 35, shortwave 29 (2001) |
Radios | 3,159,134 (December 2000) | - |
Railways | total:
9,444 km standard gauge: 9,350 km 1.435-m standard gauge (2,843 km electrified; 1,929 km double track) narrow gauge: 94 km 0.760-m narrow gauge (2000) |
total: 966 km
narrow gauge: 966 km 1.067-m gauge (2004) |
Religions | atheist 39.8%, Roman Catholic 39.2%, Protestant 4.6%, Orthodox 3%, other 13.4% | Roman Catholic 95%, other 5% |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.63 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female total population: 1 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal, compulsory for literate persons ages 18-65, optional for other eligible voters |
Telephone system | general assessment:
privatization and modernization of the Czech telecommunication system got a late start but is advancing steadily; growth in the use of mobile cellular telephones is particularly vigorous domestic: 86% of exchanges now digital; existing copper subscriber systems now being enhanced with Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) equipment to accommodate Internet and other digital signals; trunk systems include fiber-optic cable and microwave radio relay international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intersputnik (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions), 1 Intelsat, 1 Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat, 1 Globalstar |
general assessment: generally elementary but being expanded
domestic: facilities generally inadequate and unreliable international: country code - 593; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
Telephones - main lines in use | 3.869 million (2000) | 1.549 million (2003) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 4.346 million (2000) | 2,394,400 (2003) |
Television broadcast stations | 150 (plus 1,434 repeaters) (2000) | 7 (plus 14 repeaters) (2001) |
Terrain | Bohemia in the west consists of rolling plains, hills, and plateaus surrounded by low mountains; Moravia in the east consists of very hilly country | coastal plain (costa), inter-Andean central highlands (sierra), and flat to rolling eastern jungle (oriente) |
Total fertility rate | 1.18 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 2.72 children born/woman (2005 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 8.7% (2000 est.) | 11.1%; note - underemployment of 47% (2004 est.) |
Waterways | 303 km
note: (the Labe (Elbe) is the principal river) (2000) |
1,500 km (most inaccessible) (2003) |