Ecuador (2005) | Kosovo (2008) | |
Administrative divisions | 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 | 30 municipalities (komunat, singular - komuna in Albanian; opstine, singular - opstina in Serbian); Decan (Decani), Dragash (Dragas), Ferizaj (Urosevac), Fushe Kosove (Kosovo Polje), Gjakove (Dakovica), Gllogoc/Drenas (Glogovac), Gjilan (Gnjilane), Istog (Istok), Kacanik, Kline (Klina), Kamenice/Dardana (Kamenica), Leposaviq (Leposavic), Lipjan (Lipljan), Malisheve (Malisevo), Mitrovice (Mitrovica), Novoberde (Novo Brdo), Obiliq (Obilic), Peje (Pec), Podujeve (Podujevo), Prishtine (Pristina), Prizren, Rahovec (Orahovac), Shtime (Stimlje), Shterpce (Strpce), Skenderaj (Srbica), Suhareke (Suva Reka), Viti (Vitina), Vushtrri (Vucitrn), Zubin Potok, Zvecan |
Age structure | 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.) |
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Agriculture - products | bananas, coffee, cocoa, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp | NA |
Airports | 205 (2004 est.) | 10 (2008) |
Airports - with paved runways | 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.) |
total: 6
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 4 (2008) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 143
914 to 1,523 m: 30 under 914 m: 113 (2004 est.) |
total: 4
under 914 m: 4 (2008) |
Area | total: 283,560 sq km
land: 276,840 sq km water: 6,720 sq km note: includes Galapagos Islands |
total: 10,887 sq km
land: 10,887 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Nevada | slightly larger than Delaware |
Background | 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. | Serbs migrated to the territories of modern Kosovo in the 7th century, but did not fully incorporate them into the Serbian realm until the early 13th century. The Serbian defeat at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 led to five centuries of Ottoman rule, during which large numbers of Turks and Albanians moved to Kosovo. By the end of the 19th century, Albanians replaced the Serbs as the dominant ethnic group in Kosovo. Serbia reacquired control over Kosovo from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War (1912), and after World War II (1945) the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia led by Josip Broz TITO reorganized Kosovo as an autonomous province within the constituent republic of Serbia. Over the next four decades, Kosovo Albanians lobbied for greater autonomy and Kosovo was granted the status almost equal to that of a republic in the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution. Despite the legislative concessions, Albanian nationalism increased in the 1980s leading to nationalist riots and calls for Kosovo's independence. Serbs in Kosovo complained of mistreatment and Serb nationalist leaders, such as Slobodan MILOSEVIC, exploited those charges to win support among Serbian voters, many of whom viewed Kosovo as their cultural heartland. Under MILOSEVIC's leadership, Serbia instituted a new constitution in 1989 that drastically curtailed Kosovo's autonomy and Kosovo Albanian leaders responded in 1991 by organizing a referendum that declared Kosovo independent from Serbia. The MILOSEVIC regime carried out repressive measures against the Albanians in the early 1990s as the unofficial government of Kosovo, led by Ibrahim RUGOVA, tried to use passive resistance to gain international assistance and recognition of its demands for independence. In 1995, Albanians dissatisfied with RUGOVA's nonviolent strategy created the Kosovo Liberation Army and launched an insurgency. In 1998, MILOSEVIC authorized a counterinsurgency campaign that resulted in massacres and massive expulsions of ethnic Albanians by Serbian military, police, and paramilitary forces. The international community tried to resolve the conflict peacefully, but MILOSEVIC rejected the proposed international settlement - the Rambouillet Accords - leading to a three-month NATO bombing of Serbia beginning in March 1999, which forced Serbia to withdraw its military and police forces from Kosovo in June 1999. UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999) placed Kosovo under a transitional administration, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), pending a determination of Kosovo's future status. Under the resolution, Serbia's territorial integrity was protected, but it was UNMIK who assumed responsibility for governing Kosovo. In 2001, UNMIK promulgated a Constitutional Framework, which established Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG), and in succeeding years UNMIK increasingly devolved responsibilities to the PISG. A UN-led process began in late 2005 to determine Kosovo's future status. Negotiations held intermittently between 2006 and 2007 on issues related to decentralization, religious heritage, and minority rights failed to yield a resolution between Serbia's willingness to grant a high degree of autonomy and the Albanians' call for full independence for Kosovo. On 17 February 2008, the Kosovo Assembly declared its independence from Serbia. |
Birth rate | 22.67 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Budget | revenues: $7.9 billion
expenditures: planned $7.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.6 billion (2004 est.) |
revenues: $893.2 million
expenditures: $796.6 million (2006 est.) |
Capital | Quito | name: Pristina (Prishtine)
geographic coordinates: 42 40 N, 21 10 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
Climate | tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands | influenced by continental air masses resulting in relatively cold winters with heavy snowfall and hot, dry summers and autumns; Mediterranean and alpine influences create regional variation; maximum rainfall between October and December |
Coastline | 2,237 km | 0 km (landlocked) |
Constitution | 10 August 1998 | Constitutional Framework of 2001; note - the Kosovo Government is charged with putting forward an AHTISAARI (UN Special Envoy) Plan-compliant draft of a new constitution soon after independence |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Ecuador
conventional short form: Ecuador local long form: Republica del Ecuador local short form: Ecuador |
conventional long form: Republic of Kosovo
conventional short form: Kosovo local long form: Republika e Kosoves (Republika Kosova) local short form: Kosova (Kosovo) former: Kosovo i Metohija, Autonomna Pokrajina |
Death rate | 4.24 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Debt - external | $16.81 billion (2004 est.) | Serbia continued to pay Kosovo's external debt, which it claimed was around $1.2 billion; Kosovo was willing to accept around $900 million, according to the national bank of Serbia (2007) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | 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 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | 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 |
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Disputes - international | organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia penetrate across Ecuador's shared border and caused over 20,000 refugees to flee into Ecuador in 2004 | Serbia with several other states protest the US and other states' recognition of Kosovo's declaring itself as a sovereign and independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities along Kosovo's northern border challenge final status of Kosovo-Serbia boundary; several thousand NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers under UNMIK authority continue to keep the peace within Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo; Kosovo authorities object to alignment of the Kosovo boundary with Macedonia in accordance with the 2000 Macedonia-Serbia and Montenegro delimitation agreement |
Economic aid - recipient | $216 million (2002) | $252 million (2006) |
Economy - overview | 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. | Kosovo's economy has largely transitioned to a market-based system but is highly dependent on the international community and the diaspora for financial and technical assistance. Remittances from the diaspora - located mainly in Germany and Switzerland - account for about 30% of GDP. Kosovo's citizens are the poorest in Europe with an average per capita income of only $1900 - about one-third the level of neighboring Albania. Unemployment - at 50% of the population - is a severe problem that encourages outward migration. Most of Kosovo's population lives in rural towns outside of the largest city, Pristina. Inefficient, near-subsistence farming is common - the result of small plots, limited mechanization, and lack of technical expertise. The complexity of Serbia and Kosovo's political and legal relationships created uncertainty over property rights and hindered the privatization of state-owned assets. Minerals and metals - including lignite, lead, zinc, nickel, chrome, aluminum, magnesium, and a wide variety of construction materials - once formed the backbone of industry, but output has declined because investment is insufficient to replace ageing Eastern Bloc equipment. Technical and financial problems in the power sector also impede industrial development, and deter foreign investment. Economic growth is largely driven by the private sector - mostly small-scale retail businesses. Both the euro and the Serbian dinar circulate. Kosovo's tie to the euro has helped keep inflation low. Kosovo has maintained a budget surplus as a result of efficient tax collection and inefficient spending. While maintaining ultimate oversight, UNMIK continues to work with the EU and Kosovo's provisional government to accelerate economic growth, lower unemployment, and attract foreign investment. In order to help integrate Kosovo into regional economic structures, UNMIK signed (on behalf of Kosovo) its accession to the Central Europe Free Trade Area (CEFTA) in 2006. |
Electricity - consumption | 10.79 billion kWh (2002) | 4.281 billion kWh (2006) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - imports | 57 million kWh (2002) | - |
Electricity - production | 11.54 billion kWh (2002) | 3.996 billion kWh (2006) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Chimborazo 6,267 m |
lowest point: Drini i Bardhe/Beli Drim 297 m (located on the border with Albania)
highest point: Gjeravica/Deravica 2,565 m |
Environment - current issues | 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: 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 |
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Ethnic groups | mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 65%, Amerindian 25%, Spanish and others 7%, black 3% | Albanians 88%, Serbs 7%, other 5% (Bosniak, Gorani, Roma, Turk) |
Exchange rates | 25,000 (2004), 25,000 (2003), 25,000 (2002), 25,000 (2001), 24,988 (2000) | Serbian dinars per US dollar - 54.5 (2008 est.) |
Executive branch | 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 |
chief of state: President Fatmir SEJDIU (since 10 February 2006)
head of government: Prime Minister Hashim THACI (since 9 January 2008) cabinet: ministers; elected by the Kosovo Assembly elections: the president is elected for a 5-year term by the Kosovo Assembly; the prime minister is elected by the Kosovo Assembly election results: Fatmir SEJDIU and Hashim THACI elected to be president and prime minister respectively by the Assembly |
Exports | 387,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) | $13.08 million (2006) |
Exports - commodities | petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp | scrap metals, mining and processed metal products, plastics, wood |
Exports - partners | US 42.9%, Panama 14.3%, Peru 7.9%, Italy 4.6% (2004) | Central Europe Free Trade Area (CFTA) 56% (2006) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | 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 | centered on a dark blue field is the shape of Kosovo in a gold color surmounted by six white, five-pointed stars - each representing one of the major ethnic groups of Kosovo - arrayed in a slight arc |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 8.7%
industry: 30.5% services: 60.9% (2004 est.) |
agriculture: NA
industry: NA services: NA |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $3,700 (2004 est.) | - |
GDP - real growth rate | 5.8% (2004 est.) | 2.6% (2007) |
Geographic coordinates | 2 00 S, 77 30 W | 42 35 N, 21 00 E |
Geography - note | Cotopaxi in Andes is highest active volcano in world | - |
Heliports | 1 (2004 est.) | 2 (2008) |
Highways | total: 43,197 km
paved: 8,164 km unpaved: 35,033 km (2002) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 32% note: data for urban households only (October 2003) |
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Illicit drugs | 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 | NA | $84.99 million (2006) |
Imports - commodities | vehicles, medicinal products, telecommunications equipment, electricity | petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and electrical equipment |
Imports - partners | 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) | Central Europe Free Trade Area (CFTA) 48% (2006) |
Independence | 24 May 1822 (from Spain) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | 10% (2004 est.) | - |
Industries | petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals | NA |
Infant mortality rate | 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.) |
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Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 2% (2004 est.) | 2% (2007 est.) |
International organization participation | 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 | - |
Irrigated land | 8,650 sq km (1998 est.) | - |
Judicial branch | 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) | Supreme Court judges are appointed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG); district courts judges are appointed by the SRSG; municipal courts judges are appointed by the SRSG |
Labor force | 4.53 million (urban) (2004 est.) | 832,000 (June 2007 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 8%, industry 24%, services 68% (2001) | agriculture: 21.4%
industry: NA services: NA (2006) |
Land boundaries | total: 2,010 km
border countries: Colombia 590 km, Peru 1,420 km |
total: 700.7 km
border countries: Albania 111.8 km, Macedonia 158.7 km, Montenegro 78.6 km, Serbia 351.6 km |
Land use | arable land: 5.85%
permanent crops: 4.93% other: 89.22% (2001) |
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Languages | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) | Albanian, Serbian, Bosniak, Turkish |
Legal system | based on civil law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | evolving legal system based on terms of UN Special Envoy Martii AHTISAARI's Plan for Kosovo's supervised independence |
Legislative branch | 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 |
unicameral Kosovo Assembly of the Provisional Government (120 seats; 100 seats directly elected, 10 seats for Serbs, 10 seats for other minorities; to serve three-year terms)
elections: last held 17 November 2007 (next to be held NA) election results: percent of vote by party - Democratic Party of Kosovo 34.3%, Democratic League of Kosovo 22.6%, New Kosovo Alliance 12.3%, Democratic League of Dardania-Albanian Christian Democratic Party of Kosovo 10.0%, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 9.6%; seats by party - Democratic Party of Kosovo 37, Democratic League of Kosovo 25, New Kosovo Alliance 13, Democratic League of Dardania-Albanian Christian Democratic Party of Kosovo 11, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 10 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 76.21 years
male: 73.35 years female: 79.22 years (2005 est.) |
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Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.5% male: 94% female: 91% (2003 est.) |
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Location | Western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru | Southeast Europe, between Serbia and Macedonia |
Map references | South America | Europe |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 200 nm
continental shelf: 100 nm from 2,500 meter isobath |
none (landlocked) |
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) |
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Military branches | Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry, Naval Aviation, Coast Guard), Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana, FAE) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $655 million (2004) | - |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.2% (2004) | - |
National holiday | Independence Day (independence of Quito), 10 August (1809) | - |
Nationality | noun: Ecuadorian(s)
adjective: Ecuadorian |
noun: Kosovoan
adjective: Kosovoan |
Natural hazards | frequent earthquakes, landslides, volcanic activity; floods; periodic droughts | - |
Natural resources | petroleum, fish, timber, hydropower | nickel, lead, zinc, magnesium, lignite, kaolin, chrome, bauxite |
Net migration rate | -6.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | - |
Pipelines | extra heavy crude 578 km; gas 71 km; oil 1,386 km; refined products 1,185 km (2004) | - |
Political parties and leaders | 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] | Albanian Christian Democratic Party of Kosovo or PSHDK [Mark KRASNIQI]; Alliance for the Future of Kosovo or AAK [Ramush HARADINAJ]; Alliance of Independent Social Democrats of Kososvo and Metohija or SDSKiM [Slavisa PETKOVIC]; Autonomous Liberal Party of SLS [Slobodan PETROVIC]; Bosniak Vakat Coalition [ Dzezair MURATI]; Citizens' Initiative of Gora or GIG [Murselj HALILI]; Council of Independent Social Democrats of Kosovo or SNSDKIM [Ljubisa ZIVIC]; Democratic League of Dardania or LDD [Nexhat DACI]; Democratic League of Kosovo or LDK [Fatmir SEJDIU]; Democratic Party of Ashkali of Kosovo or PDAK [Sabit RRAHMANI]; Democratic Party of Kosovo or PDK [Hashim THACI]; Kosovo Democratic Turkish Party of KDTP [Mahir YAGCILAR]; New Democratic Initiative of Kosovo or IRDK [Xhevdet Neziraj]; New Democratic Party or ND [Branislav GRBIC]; New Kosovo Alliance [Behgjet PACOLLI]; Popular Movement of Kosovo or LPK [Emrush XHEMAJLI]; Reform Party Ora; Serb National Party or SNS [Mihailo SCEPANOVIC]; Serbian Kosovo and Metohija Party or SKMS [Dragisa MIRIC]; United Roma Party of Kosovo or PREBK [Haxhi Zylfi MERXHA]; Democratic Action Party or SDA [Numan BALIC] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | 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 | 13,363,593 (July 2005 est.) | 2,126,708 (2007 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 45% (2001 est.) | 30% (2006 est.) |
Population growth rate | 1.24% (2005 est.) | - |
Ports and harbors | Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, La Libertad, Manta, Puerto Bolivar | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 392, FM 35, shortwave 29 (2001) | - |
Railways | total: 966 km
narrow gauge: 966 km 1.067-m gauge (2004) |
total: 430 km (2005) |
Religions | Roman Catholic 95%, other 5% | Muslim, Serbian Orthodox, Roman Catholic |
Sex ratio | 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.) |
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Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal, compulsory for literate persons ages 18-65, optional for other eligible voters | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: generally elementary but being expanded
domestic: facilities generally inadequate and unreliable international: country code - 593; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
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Telephones - main lines in use | 1.549 million (2003) | 106,300 (2006) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 2,394,400 (2003) | 562,000 (2006) |
Television broadcast stations | 7 (plus 14 repeaters) (2001) | - |
Terrain | coastal plain (costa), inter-Andean central highlands (sierra), and flat to rolling eastern jungle (oriente) | flat fluvial basin with an elevation of 400-700 m above sea level surrounded by several high mountain ranges with elevations of 2,000 to 2,500 m |
Total fertility rate | 2.72 children born/woman (2005 est.) | - |
Unemployment rate | 11.1%; note - underemployment of 47% (2004 est.) | 50% (2007 est.) |
Waterways | 1,500 km (most inaccessible) (2003) | - |