Djibouti (2006) | British Virgin Islands (2003) | |
Administrative divisions | 6 districts (cercles, singular - cercle); Ali Sabieh, Arta, Dikhil, Djibouti, Obock, Tadjourah | none (overseas territory of the UK) |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 43.3% (male 105,760/female 105,068)
15-64 years: 53.3% (male 135,119/female 124,367) 65 years and over: 3.3% (male 8,183/female 8,033) (2006 est.) |
0-14 years: 21.9% (male 2,401; female 2,358)
15-64 years: 73.1% (male 8,181; female 7,709) 65 years and over: 5% (male 578; female 503) (2003 est.) |
Agriculture - products | fruits, vegetables; goats, sheep, camels, animal hides | fruits, vegetables; livestock, poultry; fish |
Airports | 13 (2006) | 3 (2002) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 3
over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2006) |
total: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 10
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 5 under 914 m: 3 (2006) |
total: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2002) |
Area | total: 23,000 sq km
land: 22,980 sq km water: 20 sq km |
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 |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Massachusetts | about 0.9 times the size of Washington, DC |
Background | The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas became Djibouti in 1977. Hassan Gouled APTIDON installed an authoritarian one-party state and proceeded to serve as president until 1999. Unrest among the Afars minority during the 1990s led to a civil war that ended in 2001 following the conclusion of a peace accord between Afar rebels and the Issa-dominated government. In 1999, Djibouti's first multi-party presidential elections resulted in the election of Ismail Omar GUELLEH; he was re-elected to a second and final term in 2005. Djibouti occupies a strategic geographic location at the mouth of the Red Sea and serves as an important transshipment location for goods entering and leaving the east African highlands. The present leadership favors close ties to France, which maintains a significant military presence in the country, but is also developing stronger ties with the US. Djibouti hosts the only US military base in sub-Saharan Africa and is a front-line state in the global war on terrorism. | 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. |
Birth rate | 39.53 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 15 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $135 million
expenditures: $182 million; including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.) |
revenues: $121.5 million
expenditures: $115.5 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997) |
Capital | name: Djibouti
geographic coordinates: 11 30 N, 43 15 E time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Road Town |
Climate | desert; torrid, dry | subtropical; humid; temperatures moderated by trade winds |
Coastline | 314 km | 80 km |
Constitution | multiparty constitution approved by referendum 4 September 1992 | 1 June 1977 |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Djibouti
conventional short form: Djibouti local long form: Republique de Djibouti/Jumhuriyat Jibuti local short form: Djibouti/Jibuti former: French Territory of the Afars and Issas, French Somaliland |
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: British Virgin Islands abbreviation: BVI |
Currency | - | US dollar (USD) |
Death rate | 19.31 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 4.46 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Debt - external | $394 million (2004 est.) | $36.1 million (1997) |
Dependency status | - | overseas territory of the UK; internal self-governing |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador W. Stuart SYMINGTON
embassy: Plateau du Serpent, Boulevard Marechal Joffre, Djibouti mailing address: B. P. 185, Djibouti telephone: [253] 35 39 95 FAX: [253] 35 39 40 |
none (overseas territory of the UK) |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Roble OLHAYE Oudine
chancery: Suite 515, 1156 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 telephone: [1] (202) 331-0270 FAX: [1] (202) 331-0302 |
none (overseas territory of the UK) |
Disputes - international | Djibouti maintains economic ties and border accords with "Somaliland" leadership while maintaining some political ties to various factions in Somalia; thousands of Somali refugees await repatriation in UNHCR camps in Djibouti | none |
Economic aid - recipient | $64.1 million (2004) | NA% |
Economy - overview | The economy is based on service activities connected with the country's strategic location and status as a free trade zone in northeast Africa. Two-thirds of the inhabitants live in the capital city; the remainder are mostly nomadic herders. Scanty rainfall limits crop production to fruits and vegetables, and most food must be imported. Djibouti provides services as both a transit port for the region and an international transshipment and refueling center. Djibouti has few natural resources and little industry. The nation is, therefore, heavily dependent on foreign assistance to help support its balance of payments and to finance development projects. An unemployment rate of at least 50% continues to be a major problem. While inflation is not a concern, due to the fixed tie of the Djiboutian franc to the US dollar, the artificially high value of the Djiboutian franc adversely affects Djibouti's balance of payments. Per capita consumption dropped an estimated 35% over the last seven years because of recession, civil war, and a high population growth rate (including immigrants and refugees). Faced with a multitude of economic difficulties, the government has fallen in arrears on long-term external debt and has been struggling to meet the stipulations of foreign aid donors. | 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. Tourism suffered in 2002 because of the lackluster US economy. 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. |
Electricity - consumption | 223.2 million kWh (2003) | 35.43 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2003) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2003) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production | 240 million kWh (2003) | 38.1 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Lac Assal -155 m
highest point: Moussa Ali 2,028 m |
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Sage 521 m |
Environment - current issues | inadequate supplies of potable water; limited arable land; desertification; endangered species | 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) |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
- |
Ethnic groups | Somali 60%, Afar 35%, French, Arab, Ethiopian, and Italian 5% | black 83%, white, Indian, Asian and mixed |
Exchange rates | Djiboutian francs per US dollar - 177.72 (2005), 177.72 (2004), 177.72 (2003), 177.72 (2002), 177.72 (2001) | the US dollar is used |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Ismail Omar GUELLEH (since 8 May 1999)
head of government: Prime Minister Mohamed Dileita DILEITA (since 4 March 2001) cabinet: Council of Ministers responsible to the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 8 April 2005 (next to be held by April 2011); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Ismail Omar GUELLEH reelected president; percent of vote - Ismail Omar GUELLEH 100% |
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor Tom MACAN (since 14 October 2002)
head of government: Chief Minister Orlando SMITH (since 17 June 2003) 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 | NA bbl/day | NA (2001) |
Exports - commodities | reexports, hides and skins, coffee (in transit) | rum, fresh fish, fruits, animals; gravel, sand |
Exports - partners | Somalia 55.2%, Yemen 19.5%, Ethiopia 17.9% (2005) | Virgin Islands (US), Puerto Rico, US |
Fiscal year | calendar year | 1 April - 31 March |
Flag description | two equal horizontal bands of light blue (top) and light green with a white isosceles triangle based on the hoist side bearing a red five-pointed star in the center | 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 - $320 million (2002 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 17.9%
industry: 22.5% services: 59.6% (2001 est.) |
agriculture: 1.8%
industry: 6.2% services: 92% (1996 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $16,000 (2002 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 3.2% (2005 est.) | 1% (2002 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 11 30 N, 43 00 E | 18 30 N, 64 30 W |
Geography - note | strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes and close to Arabian oilfields; terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia; mostly wasteland; Lac Assal (Lake Assal) is the lowest point in Africa | strong ties to nearby US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico |
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%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
Illicit drugs | - | transshipment point for South American narcotics destined for the US and Europe; large offshore financial center |
Imports | NA bbl/day | NA (2001) |
Imports - commodities | foods, beverages, transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum products | building materials, automobiles, foodstuffs, machinery |
Imports - partners | Saudi Arabia 21.7%, India 18.5%, China 10%, Ethiopia 4.8%, France 4.5%, US 4.3%, Japan 4.2% (2005) | Virgin Islands (US), Puerto Rico, US |
Independence | 27 June 1977 (from France) | none (overseas territory of the UK) |
Industrial production growth rate | 3% (1996 est.) | NA |
Industries | construction, agricultural processing, salt | tourism, light industry, construction, rum, concrete block, offshore financial center |
Infant mortality rate | total: 102.44 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 110.07 deaths/1,000 live births female: 94.58 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) |
total: 18.8 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 21.86 deaths/1,000 live births female: 15.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 3% (2005 est.) | 2.5% (2002) |
International organization participation | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AFESD, AMF, AU, COMESA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ITU, LAS, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW (signatory), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | Caricom (associate), CDB, ECLAC (associate), Interpol (subbureau), IOC, OECS (associate), UNESCO (associate) |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 16 (2000) |
Irrigated land | 10 sq km (2003) | NA sq km |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Cour Supreme | 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 | 282,000 (2000) | 4,911 (1980) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: NA%
industry: NA% services: NA% |
agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total: 516 km
border countries: Eritrea 109 km, Ethiopia 349 km, Somalia 58 km |
0 km |
Land use | arable land: 0.04%
permanent crops: 0% other: 99.96% (2005) |
arable land: 20%
permanent crops: 6.67% other: 73.33% (1998 est.) |
Languages | French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar | English (official) |
Legal system | based on French civil law system, traditional practices, and Islamic law | English law |
Legislative branch | unicameral Chamber of Deputies or Chambre des Deputes (65 seats; members elected by popular vote for five-year terms)
elections: last held 10 January 2003 (next to be held January 2008) election results: percent of vote - RPP 62.2%, FRUD 36.9%; seats - RPP 65, FRUD 0; note - RPP (the ruling party) dominated the election |
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 16 May 2003 (next to be held NA 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NDP 8, VIP 5 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 43.17 years
male: 41.86 years female: 44.52 years (2006 est.) |
total population: 76.06 years
male: 75.07 years female: 77.1 years (2003 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 67.9% male: 78% female: 58.4% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.8% (1991 est.) male: NA% female: NA% |
Location | Eastern Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, between Eritrea and Somalia | Caribbean, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Puerto Rico |
Map references | Africa | Central America and the Caribbean |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 3 NM |
Merchant marine | total: 1 ship (1000 GRT or over) 1,369 GRT/3,030 DWT
by type: cargo 1 (2006) |
total: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) 19,203 GRT/28,864 DWT
ships by type: cargo 1 (2002 est.) |
Military - note | - | defense is the responsibility of the UK |
Military branches | Djibouti National Army (includes Navy and Air Force) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $29.05 million (2005 est.) | - |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 4.3% (2005 est.) | - |
National holiday | Independence Day, 27 June (1977) | Territory Day, 1 July |
Nationality | noun: Djiboutian(s)
adjective: Djiboutian |
noun: British Virgin Islander(s)
adjective: British Virgin Islander |
Natural hazards | earthquakes; droughts; occasional cyclonic disturbances from the Indian Ocean bring heavy rains and flash floods | hurricanes and tropical storms (July to October) |
Natural resources | geothermal areas, gold, clay, granite, limestone, marble, salt, diatomite, gypsum, pumice, petroleum | NEGL |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 10.45 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Political parties and leaders | Democratic National Party or PND [ADEN Robleh Awaleh]; Democratic Renewal Party or PRD [Abdillahi HAMARITEH]; Djibouti Development Party or PDD [Mohamed Daoud CHEHEM]; Front pour la Restauration de l'Unite Democratique or FRUD [Ali Mohamed DAOUD]; People's Progress Assembly or RPP [Ismail Omar GUELLEH] (governing party); Peoples Social Democratic Party or PPSD [Moumin Bahdon FARAH]; Republican Alliance for Democracy or ARD [Ahmed Dini AHMED]; Union for Democracy and Justice or UDJ | 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 | Union for Presidential Majority UMP (coalition includes RPP, FRUD, PPSD and PND); Union for Democratic Changeover or UAD (opposition coalition includes ARD, MRDD, UDJ, and PDD) [Ahmed Dini AHMED] | NA |
Population | 486,530 (July 2006 est.) | 21,730 (July 2003 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 50% (2001 est.) | NA% |
Population growth rate | 2.02% (2006 est.) | 2.1% (2003 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Road Town |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (2001) | AM 1, FM 4, shortwave 0 (1998) |
Railways | total: 100 km (Djibouti segment of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway)
narrow gauge: 100 km 1.000-m gauge note: railway under joint control of Djibouti and Ethiopia (2005) |
0 km |
Religions | Muslim 94%, Christian 6% | Protestant 86% (Methodist 33%, Anglican 17%, Church of God 9%, Seventh-Day Adventist 6%, Baptist 4%, Jehovah's Witnesses 2%, other 15%), Roman Catholic 10%, none 2%, other 2% (1991) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.09 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.02 male(s)/female total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2006 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.15 male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2003 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal adult | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: telephone facilities in the city of Djibouti are adequate, as are the microwave radio relay connections to outlying areas of the country
domestic: microwave radio relay network international: country code - 253; submarine cable to Jiddah, Suez, Sicily, Marseille, Colombo, and Singapore; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat; Medarabtel regional microwave radio relay telephone network |
general assessment: worldwide telephone service
domestic: NA international: submarine cable to Bermuda |
Telephones - main lines in use | 11,100 (2004) | 10,000 (1996) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 34,500 (2004) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 1 (2002) | 1 (plus one cable company) (1997) |
Terrain | coastal plain and plateau separated by central mountains | coral islands relatively flat; volcanic islands steep, hilly |
Total fertility rate | 5.31 children born/woman (2006 est.) | 1.72 children born/woman (2003 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 50% (2004 est.) | 3% (1995) |
Waterways | - | none |