Guadeloupe (2001) | Lesotho (2004) | |
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Administrative divisions | none (overseas department of France) | 10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing, Thaba-Tseka |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
24.99% (male 55,030; female 52,722) 15-64 years: 66.22% (male 141,294; female 144,232) 65 years and over: 8.79% (male 15,901; female 21,991) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 37.3% (male 350,288; female 345,815)
15-64 years: 57.2% (male 521,434; female 545,183) 65 years and over: 5.5% (male 41,903; female 60,417) (2004 est.) |
Agriculture - products | bananas, sugarcane, tropical fruits and vegetables; cattle, pigs, goats | corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock |
Airports | 9 (2000 est.) | 28 (2003 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
8 over 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 5 (2000 est.) |
total: 3
over 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
1 under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
total: 25
914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 21 (2004 est.) |
Area | total:
1,780 sq km land: 1,706 sq km water: 74 sq km note: Guadeloupe is an archipelago of nine inhabited islands, including Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Desirade, Iles des Saintes (2), Saint-Barthelemy, Iles de la Petite Terre, and Saint-Martin (French part of the island of Saint Martin |
total: 30,355 sq km
land: 30,355 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | 10 times the size of Washington, DC | slightly smaller than Maryland |
Background | Guadeloupe has been a French possession since 1635. The island of Saint-Martin is divided with the Netherlands (whose southern portion is named Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands Antilles). | Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after 23 years of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody South African military intervention. Constitutional reforms have since restored political stability; peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002. |
Birth rate | 16.91 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 26.91 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$225 million expenditures: $390 million, including capital expenditures of $105 million (1996) |
revenues: $625.4 million
expenditures: $675.2 million, including capital expenditures of $15 million (2003 est.) |
Capital | Basse-Terre | Maseru |
Climate | subtropical tempered by trade winds; moderately high humidity | temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers |
Coastline | 306 km | 0 km (landlocked) |
Constitution | 28 September 1958 (French Constitution) | 2 April 1993 |
Country name | conventional long form:
Department of Guadeloupe conventional short form: Guadeloupe local long form: Departement de la Guadeloupe local short form: Guadeloupe |
conventional long form: Kingdom of Lesotho
conventional short form: Lesotho former: Basutoland |
Currency | French franc (FRF); euro (EUR) | loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR) |
Death rate | 6.02 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 24.79 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Debt - external | $NA | $735 million (2002) |
Dependency status | overseas department of France | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none (overseas department of France) | chief of mission: Ambassador Robert G. LOFTIS
embassy: 254 Kingsway, Maseru West (Consular Section) mailing address: P. O. Box 333, Maseru 100, Lesotho telephone: [266] 312666 FAX: [266] 310116 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none (overseas department of France) | chief of mission: Ambassador Molelekeng E. RAPOLAKI
chancery: 2511 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 797-5533 through 5536 FAX: [1] (202) 234-6815 |
Disputes - international | none | none |
Economic aid - donor | - | ODA $4.4 million |
Economic aid - recipient | $NA; note - substantial annual French subsidies | $41.5 million (2000) |
Economy - overview | The economy depends on agriculture, tourism, light industry, and services. It also depends on France for large subsidies and imports. Tourism is a key industry, with most tourists from the US; an increasingly large number of cruise ships visit the islands. The traditional sugarcane crop is slowly being replaced by other crops, such as bananas (which now supply about 50% of export earnings), eggplant, and flowers. Other vegetables and root crops are cultivated for local consumption, although Guadeloupe is still dependent on imported food, mainly from France. Light industry features sugar and rum production. Most manufactured goods and fuel are imported. Unemployment is especially high among the young. Hurricanes periodically devastate the economy. | Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union for the majority of government revenue, but the government has strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa, also generating royalties for Lesotho. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries and a rapidly growing apparel-assembly sector. The economy is still primarily based on subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF. |
Electricity - consumption | 1.209 billion kWh (1999) | 40 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (1999) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (1999) | 40 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2001) |
Electricity - production | 1.3 billion kWh (1999) | 0 kWh NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2001) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
100% hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1999) |
- |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: Soufriere 1,467 m |
lowest point: junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m
highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m |
Environment - current issues | NA | population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and soil exhaustion; desertification; Highlands Water Project controls, stores, and redirects water to South Africa |
Environment - international agreements | - | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
Ethnic groups | black or mulatto 90%, white 5%, East Indian, Lebanese, Chinese less than 5% | Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other 0.3%, |
Exchange rates | Euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January 2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); French francs per US dollar - 5.8995 (1998), 5.8367 (1997), 5.1155 (1996) | maloti per US dollar - 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002), 8.6092 (2001), 6.9398 (2000), 6.1095 (1999) |
Executive branch | chief of state:
President Jacques CHIRAC of France (since 17 May 1995), represented by Prefect Jean FEDINI (since NA 1996) head of government: President of the General Council Marcellin LUBETH (since NA March 1998); President of the Regional Council Lucette MICHAUX-CHEVRY (since 22 March 1992) cabinet: NA elections: French president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; prefect appointed by the French president on the advice of the French Ministry of Interior; the presidents of the General and Regional Councils are elected by the members of those councils election results: NA |
chief of state: King LETSIE III (since 7 February 1996); note - King LETSIE III formerly occupied the throne from November 1990 to February 1995, while his father was in exile
head of government: Prime Minister Pakalitha MOSISILI (since 23 May 1998) cabinet: Cabinet elections: none; according to the constitution, the leader of the majority party in the Assembly automatically becomes prime minister; the monarch is hereditary, but, under the terms of the constitution, which came into effect after the March 1993 election, the monarch is a "living symbol of national unity" with no executive or legislative powers; under traditional law the college of chiefs has the power to determine who is next in the line of succession, who shall serve as regent in the event that the successor is not of mature age, and may even depose the monarch |
Exports | $140 million (f.o.b., 1997) | NA (2001) |
Exports - commodities | bananas, sugar, rum | manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000) |
Exports - partners | France 60%, Martinique 18%, US 4% (1997) | US 97.6%, Canada 1.5%, France 0.5% (2003) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | 1 April - 31 March |
Flag description | three horizontal bands, a narrow green band (top), a wide red band, and a narrow green band; the green bands are separated from the red band by two narrow white stripes; a gold five-pointed star is centered in the red band toward the hoist side; the flag of France is used for official occasions | divided diagonally from the lower hoist side corner; the upper half is white, bearing the brown silhouette of a large shield with crossed spear and club; the lower half is a diagonal blue band with a green triangle in the corner |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $3.7 billion (1997 est.) | purchasing power parity - $5.583 billion (2003 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
15% industry: 17% services: 68% (1997 est.) |
agriculture: 15.3%
industry: 43.3% services: 41.4% (2003) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $9,000 (1997 est.) | purchasing power parity - $3,000 (2003 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | NA% | 4% (2003 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 16 15 N, 61 35 W | 29 30 S, 28 30 E |
Geography - note | - | landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 meters above sea level |
Highways | total:
2,560 km paved: 965 km unpaved: 1,595 km (1996) |
total: 5,940 km
paved: 1,087 km unpaved: 4,853 km (1999) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: 0.9%
highest 10%: 43.4% |
Imports | $1.7 billion (c.i.f., 1997) | NA (2001) |
Imports - commodities | foodstuffs, fuels, vehicles, clothing and other consumer goods, construction materials | food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products (2000) |
Imports - partners | France 63%, Germany 4%, US 3%, Japan 2%, Netherlands Antilles 2% (1997) | Hong Kong 36.6%, Taiwan 36.2%, China 12%, Germany 9.9% (2003) |
Independence | none (overseas department of France) | 4 October 1966 (from UK) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | 15.5% (1999) |
Industries | construction, cement, rum, sugar, tourism | food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts; construction; tourism |
Infant mortality rate | 9.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | total: 85.22 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 90.19 deaths/1,000 live births female: 80.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | NA | 6.1% (2003 est.) |
International organization participation | FZ, WCL, WFTU | ACP, AfDB, AU, C, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 3 (2000) | - |
Irrigated land | 30 sq km (1993 est.) | 10 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Court of Appeal or Cour d'Appel with jurisdiction over Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Martinique | High Court (chief justice appointed by the monarch); Court of Appeal; Magistrate's Court; customary or traditional court |
Labor force | 125,900 (1997) | 838,000 (2000) |
Labor force - by occupation | NA | 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa |
Land boundaries | total:
10.2 km border countries: Netherlands Antilles (Sint Maarten) 10.2 km |
total: 909 km
border countries: South Africa 909 km |
Land use | arable land:
14% permanent crops: 4% permanent pastures: 14% forests and woodland: 39% other: 29% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 10.87%
permanent crops: 0.13% other: 89% (2001) |
Languages | French (official) 99%, Creole patois | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Legal system | French legal system | based on English common law and Roman-Dutch law; judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | unicameral General Council or Conseil General (42 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the unicameral Regional Council or Conseil Regional (41 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms)
elections: General Council - last held 22 March 1998 (next to be held by NA 2004); Regional Council - last held 15 March 1998 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: General Council - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - diverse left parties 11, PS 8, RPR 8, PPDG 6, diverse right parties 5, PCG 3, UDF 1; Regional Council - percent of vote by party - RPR 48.03%, PS/PPDG/diverse left parties 24.49%, PCG 5.29%, diverse right parties 5.73%; seats by party - RPR 25, PS/PPDG/diverse left parties 12, PCG 2, diverse right parties 2 note: Guadeloupe elects two representatives to the French Senate; elections last held NA September 1995 (next to be held NA September 2004); percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - RPR 1, FGPS 1; Guadeloupe elects four representatives to the French National Assembly; elections last held 25 May - 1 June 1997 (next to be held NA 2002); percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - FGPS 2, RPR 1, PPDG 1 |
bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (33 members - 22 principal chiefs and 11 other members appointed by the ruling party) and the Assembly (120 seats, 80 by direct popular vote and 40 by proportional vote; members elected by popular vote for five-year terms); note - number of seats in the Assembly rose from 80 to 120 in the May 2002 election
elections: last held 25 May 2002 (next to be held NA May 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - LCD 54%, BNP 21%, LPC 7%, other 18%; seats by party - LCD 76, BNP 21, LPC 5, other 18 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
77.16 years male: 74.01 years female: 80.48 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 36.81 years
male: 36.81 years female: 36.81 years (2004 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 90% male: 90% female: 90% (1982 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 84.8% male: 74.5% female: 94.5% (2003 est.) |
Location | Caribbean, islands in the eastern Caribbean Sea, southeast of Puerto Rico | Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa |
Map references | Central America and the Caribbean | Africa |
Maritime claims | exclusive economic zone:
200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
none (landlocked) |
Merchant marine | total:
1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,240 GRT/109 DWT ships by type: passenger 1 (2000 est.) |
- |
Military - note | defense is the responsibility of France | the Lesotho Government in 1999 began an open debate on the future structure, size, and role of the armed forces, especially considering the Lesotho Defense Force's (LDF) history of intervening in political affairs |
Military branches | French Forces, Gendarmerie | Lesotho Defense Force (LDF; with Army and Air Wing) |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $32.5 million (2003) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | 2.6% (2003) |
Military manpower - availability | - | males age 15-49: 465,827 (2004 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | - | males age 15-49: 253,974 (2004 est.) |
National holiday | Bastille Day, 14 July (1789) | Independence Day, 4 October (1966) |
Nationality | noun:
Guadeloupian(s) adjective: Guadeloupe |
noun: Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)
adjective: Basotho |
Natural hazards | hurricanes (June to October); Soufriere is an active volcano | periodic droughts |
Natural resources | cultivable land, beaches and climate that foster tourism | water, agricultural and grazing land, some diamonds and other minerals |
Net migration rate | -0.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | -0.74 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Political parties and leaders | Communist Party of Guadeloupe or PCG [Christian CELESTE]; Progressive Democratic Party or PPDG [Henri BANGOU]; Rally for the Republic or RPR [Aldo BLAISE]; Socialist Party or PS [Georges LOUISOR]; Union for French Democracy or UDF [Marcel ESDRAS] | Basotho Congress Party or BCP [Tseliso MAKHAKHE]; Basotho National Party or BNP [Maj. Gen. Justine Metsing LEKHANYA]; Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD [Phebe MOTEBANO, chairwoman; Pakalitha MOSISILI, leader] - the governing party; Lesotho People's Congress or LPC [Kelebone MAOPE]; United Democratic Party or UDP [Charles MOFELI]; Marematlou Freedom Party or MFP and Setlamo Alliance [Vincent MALEBO]; Progressive National Party or PNP [Chief Peete Nkoebe PEETE]; Sefate Democratic Party or SDP [Bofihla NKUEBE] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Christian Movement for the Liberation of Guadeloupe or KLPG; General Federation of Guadeloupe Workers or CGT-G; General Union of Guadeloupe Workers or UGTG; Movement for Independent Guadeloupe or MPGI | NA |
Population | 431,170 (July 2001 est.) | 1,865,040
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2004 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | 49% (1999) |
Population growth rate | 1.07% (2001 est.) | 0.14% (2004 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Basse-Terre, Gustavia (on Saint Barthelemy), Marigot, Pointe-a-Pitre | none |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 17, shortwave 0 (1998) | AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998) |
Radios | 113,000 (1997) | - |
Railways | total:
NA km; privately owned, narrow-gauge plantation lines |
- |
Religions | Roman Catholic 95%, Hindu and pagan African 4%, Protestant 1% | Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20% |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment:
domestic facilities inadequate domestic: NA international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); microwave radio relay to Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Martinique |
general assessment: rudimentary system
domestic: consists of a few landlines, a small microwave radio relay system, and a minor radiotelephone communication system; a cellular mobile telephone system is growing international: country code - 266; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
Telephones - main lines in use | 171,000 (1996) | 28,600 (2002) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | NA | 92,000 (2002) |
Television broadcast stations | 5 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997) | 1 (2000) |
Terrain | Basse-Terre is volcanic in origin with interior mountains; Grande-Terre is low limestone formation; most of the seven other islands are volcanic in origin | mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains |
Total fertility rate | 1.93 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 3.44 children born/woman (2004 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 27.8% (1998) | 45% (2002) |
Waterways | none | - |