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Compare Korea, South (2001) - World (2003)

Compare Korea, South (2001) z World (2003)

 Korea, South (2001)World (2003)
 Korea, SouthWorld
Administrative divisions 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 7 metropolitan cities* (gwangyoksi, singular and plural); Cheju-do, Cholla-bukto, Cholla-namdo, Ch'ungch'ong-bukto, Ch'ungch'ong-namdo, Inch'on-gwangyoksi*, Kangwon-do, Kwangju-gwangyoksi*, Kyonggi-do, Kyongsang-bukto, Kyongsang-namdo, Pusan-gwangyoksi*, Soul-t'ukpyolsi*, Taegu-gwangyoksi*, Taejon-gwangyoksi*, Ulsan-gwangyoksi* 268 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries
Age structure 0-14 years:
21.59% (male 5,475,453; female 4,864,918)

15-64 years:
71.14% (male 17,291,202; female 16,789,380)

65 years and over:
7.27% (male 1,352,312; female 2,131,105) (2001 est.)
0-14 years: 29.2% (male 932,581,592; female 885,688,851)


15-64 years: 63.7% (male 2,009,997,089; female 1,964,938,201)


65 years and over: 7.1% (male 193,549,180; female 247,067,032) (2003 est.)


note: some countries do not maintain age structure information, thus a slight discrepancy exists between the total world population and the total for world age structure
Agriculture - products rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; cattle, pigs, chickens, milk, eggs; fish -
Airports 102 (2000 est.) -
Airports - with paved runways total:
68

over 3,047 m:
2

2,438 to 3,047 m:
18

1,524 to 2,437 m:
16

914 to 1,523 m:
11

under 914 m:
21 (2000 est.)
-
Airports - with unpaved runways total:
34

914 to 1,523 m:
2

under 914 m:
32 (2000 est.)
-
Area total:
98,480 sq km

land:
98,190 sq km

water:
290 sq km
total: 510.072 million sq km


land: 148.94 million sq km


water: 361.132 million sq km


note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land
Area - comparative slightly larger than Indiana land area about 16 times the size of the US
Background After World War II, a republic was set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a communist-style government was installed in the north. The Korean War (1950-53) had US and other UN forces intervene to defend South Korea from North Korean attacks supported by the Chinese. An armistice was signed in 1953 splitting the peninsula at the 38th parallel known as the DMZ. Thereafter, South Korea achieved rapid economic growth, with per capita income rising to 13 times the level of North Korea. In 1997, the nation suffered a severe financial crisis from which it continues to make a solid recovery. South Korea has also maintained its commitment to democratize its political processes. In June 2000, a historic first south-north summit took place between the south's President KIM Dae-jung and the north's leader KIM Chong-il. In December 2000, President KIM Dae-jung won the Noble Peace Prize for his lifeling committment to democracy and human rights in Asia. He is the first Korean to win a Nobel Prize. Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war).
Birth rate 14.85 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) 20.43 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Budget revenues:
$81.8 billion

expenditures:
$94.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $6.1 billion (1999)
-
Capital Seoul -
Climate temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates
Coastline 2,413 km 356,000 km
Constitution 25 February 1988 -
Country name conventional long form:
Republic of Korea

conventional short form:
South Korea

local long form:
Taehan-min'guk

local short form:
none

note:
the South Koreans generally use the term "Han-guk" to refer to their country

abbreviation:
ROK
-
Currency South Korean won (KRW) -
Death rate 5.93 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) 8.83 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Debt - external $137 billion (November 2000) $2 trillion for less developed countries (2002 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US chief of mission:
Ambassador (vacant)

embassy:
82 Sejong-ro, Chongro-ku, Seoul 110-710

mailing address:
American Embassy, Unit 15550, APO AP 96205-0001

telephone:
[82] (2) 397-4114

FAX:
[82] (2) 738-8845
-
Diplomatic representation in the US chief of mission:
Ambassador YANG Song-chol

chancery:
2450 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:
[1] (202) 939-5600

FAX:
[1] (202) 387-0205

consulate(s) general:
Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle

consulate(s):
Hagatna (Guam)
-
Disputes - international Demarcation Line with North Korea; Liancourt Rocks (Takeshima/Tokdo) disputed with Japan Globally, there are over 250,000 km of international land boundaries that separate the world's 192 independent states, along with 70 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities. Maritime states have claimed limits and have so far established over 130 maritime boundaries and joint development zones to allocate ocean resources and to provide for their national security at sea. On land, ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries. All of these factors have contributed to a wide array of boundary, borderland, and territorial disagreements that vary in intensity from unresolved or dormant to outright war. Territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural animosities, or they may be brought on by resource competition. Ethnic clashes continue to be responsible for territorial fragmentation around the world. Undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and political confrontation over boundary allocations. Other sources of contention include the use of water and mineral (especially petroleum) resources, fisheries, dams, and nuclear power plants. Many islands or island groups are also disputed, including those at sea and in streams. Nonetheless, many nations are actively cooperating to clarify, delineate, and demarcate their international borders. The tragic aspect of international discord is the impact on the sustenance and welfare of populations caught in the conflict. It is frequently left to members of the world community to cope with enormous refugee situations, and the resultant hunger, disease, and impoverishment that they create.
Economic aid - recipient $NA official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion
Economy - overview As one of the Four Dragons of East Asia, South Korea has achieved an incredible record of growth. Three decades ago GDP per capita was comparable with levels in the poorer countries of Africa and Asia. Today its GDP per capita is seven times India's, 16 times North Korea's, and comparable to the lesser economies of the European Union. This success through the late 1980s was achieved by a system of close government/business ties, including directed credit, import restrictions, sponsorship of specific industries, and a strong labor effort. The government promoted the import of raw materials and technology at the expense of consumer goods and encouraged savings and investment over consumption. The Asian financial crisis of 1997-99 exposed certain longstanding weaknesses in South Korea's development model, including high debt/equity ratios, massive foreign borrowing, and an undisciplined financial sector. By 1999 GDP growth had recovered, reversing the substantial decline of 1998. Seoul has pressed the country's largest business groups to restructure and to strengthen their financial base. Growth in 2001 likely will be a more sustainable rate of 5%. Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) fell from 4.8% in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001 and 2.7% in 2002. The causes: sluggishness in the US economy (21% of GWP) and in the 15 EU economies (19% of GWP); continued stagnation in the Japanese economy (7.2% of GWP); and spillover effects in the less developed regions of the world. China, the second-largest economy in the world (12% of GWP), proved an exception, continuing its rapid annual growth, officially announced as 8% but estimated by many observers as perhaps two percentage points lower. Russia (2.6% of GWP), with 4% growth, continued to make uneven progress, its GDP per capita still only one-third that of the leading industrial nations. The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 5% range of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decision-making powers to international bodies. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2002, see the individual country entries.)
Electricity - consumption 232.767 billion kWh (1999) 13.93 trillion kWh (2001 est.)
Electricity - exports 0 kWh (1999) -
Electricity - imports 0 kWh (1999) -
Electricity - production 250.287 billion kWh (1999) 14.85 trillion kWh (2001 est.)
Electricity - production by source fossil fuel:
59.22%

hydro:
1.64%

nuclear:
39.12%

other:
0.02% (1999)
fossil fuel: NA%


hydro: NA%


nuclear: NA%


other: NA%
Elevation extremes lowest point:
Sea of Japan 0 m

highest point:
Halla-san 1,950 m
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m


note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean


highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)
Environment - current issues air pollution in large cities; acid rain; water pollution from the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents; drift net fishing large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion
Environment - international agreements party to:
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
-
Ethnic groups homogeneous (except for about 20,000 Chinese) -
Exchange rates South Korean won per US dollar - 1,271.89 (January 2001), 1,130.96 (2000), 1,188.82 (1999), 1,401.44 (1998), 951.29 (1997), 804.45 (1996) -
Executive branch chief of state:
President KIM Dae-jung (since 25 February 1998)

head of government:
Prime Minister YI Han-tong (since 23 May 2000)

cabinet:
State Council appointed by the president on the prime minister's recommendation

elections:
president elected by popular vote for a single five-year term; election last held 18 December 1997 (next to be held by 18 December 2002); prime minister appointed by the president; deputy prime ministers appointed by the president on the prime minister's recommendation

election results:
KIM Dae-jung elected president; percent of vote - KIM Dae-jung (NCNP) 40.3% (with ULD partnership), YI Hoe-chang (GNP) 38.7%, YI In-che (NPP) 19.2%
-
Exports $172.6 billion (f.o.b., 2000) 703.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Exports - commodities electronic products, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, steel, ships; textiles, clothing, footwear; fish the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Exports - partners US 20.5%, Japan 11%, China 9.5%, Hong Kong 6.3%, Taiwan 4.4% (1999) US 17.4%, Germany 7.6%, UK 5.4%, France 5.1%, Japan 4.8%, China 4% (2002)
Fiscal year calendar year -
Flag description white with a red (top) and blue yin-yang symbol in the center; there is a different black trigram from the ancient I Ching (Book of Changes) in each corner of the white field -
GDP purchasing power parity - $764.6 billion (2000 est.) GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $49 trillion (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector agriculture:
5.6%

industry:
41.4%

services:
53% (1999 est.)
agriculture: 4%


industry: 32%


services: 64% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $16,100 (2000 est.) purchasing power parity - $7,900 (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate 9% (2000 est.) 2.7% (2001 est.)
Geographic coordinates 37 00 N, 127 30 E -
Geography - note - the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe
Heliports 203 (2000 est.) -
Highways total:
87,534 km

paved:
65,388 km (including 1,996 km of expressways)

unpaved:
22,146 km (1999)
total: NA km


paved: NA km


unpaved: NA km
Household income or consumption by percentage share lowest 10%:
2.9%

highest 10%:
24.3% (1993)
lowest 10%: NA%


highest 10%: NA%
Illicit drugs - cocaine: worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 205,450 hectares - almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia; potential cocaine production during 2002 is estimated at 938 metric tons (or 1,200 metric tons of export quality cocaine at an average of 78% purity); coca eradication programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, and 292 metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to have been seized in 2002; consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been 875 metric tons


opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an estimated 141,213 hectares in 2002 and potentially produced 2,183 metric tons of opium - which conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 238 metric tons of pure heroin; opium eradication programs have been undertaken in Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam, and the annual average for opiates seized worldwide over the past five years (1998-2002) has been 45 metric tons of pure heroin equivalent; estimates for average annual consumption over this time period are 315 metric tons pure heroin equivalent
Imports $160.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000) 697.5 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Imports - commodities machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport equipment, textiles, organic chemicals, grains the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Imports - partners US 20.8%, Japan 20.2%, China 7.4%, Saudi Arabia 4.7%, Australia 3.9% (1999) US 11.2%, Germany 9.2%, China 7%, Japan 6.8%, France 4.7%, UK 4% (2002)
Independence 15 August 1945 (from Japan) -
Industrial production growth rate 17% (2000) 3% (2002 est.)
Industries electronics, automobile production, chemicals, shipbuilding, steel, textiles, clothing, footwear, food processing dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems
Infant mortality rate 7.71 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) total: 51.38 deaths/1,000 live births


male: 53.81 deaths/1,000 live births


female: 48.83 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2.3% (2000) developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries
International organization participation AfDB, APEC, ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CP, EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MINURSO, NAM (guest), NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMOGIP, UNOMIG, UNTAET, UNU, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC -
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 11 (2000) 10,350 (2000 est.)
Irrigated land 13,350 sq km (1993 est.) 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.)
Judicial branch Supreme Court (justices are appointed by the president with the consent of the National Assembly) -
Labor force 22 million (2000) NA
Labor force - by occupation services 68%, industry 20%, agriculture 12% (1999) agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Land boundaries total:
238 km

border countries:
North Korea 238 km
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice)
Land use arable land:
19%

permanent crops:
2%

permanent pastures:
1%

forests and woodland:
65%

other:
13% (1993 est.)
arable land: 10.58%


permanent crops: 1%


other: 88.42% (1998 est.)
Languages Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)


note: percents are for "first language" speakers only
Legal system combines elements of continental European civil law systems, Anglo-American law, and Chinese classical thought all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court
Legislative branch unicameral National Assembly or Kukhoe (273 seats total - 227 elected by direct, popular vote; members serve four-year terms)

elections:
last held 13 April 2000 (next to be held NA April 2004)

election results:
percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - GNP 133, MDP 115, ULD 17, other 8
-
Life expectancy at birth total population:
74.65 years

male:
70.97 years

female:
78.74 years (2001 est.)
total population: 63.95 years


male: 62 years


female: 70.23 years (2003 est.)
Literacy definition:
age 15 and over can read and write

total population:
98%

male:
99.3%

female:
96.7% (1995 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 77%


male: 83%


female: 71% (1995 est.)
Location Eastern Asia, southern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea -
Map references Asia Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World
Maritime claims contiguous zone:
24 NM

continental shelf:
not specified

exclusive economic zone:
200 NM

territorial sea:
12 NM; between 3 NM and 12 NM in the Korea Strait
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims: contiguous zone - 24 NM; continental shelf - 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation, or 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin; exclusive fishing zone - 200 NM; exclusive economic zone - 200 NM; territorial sea - 12 NM; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked
Merchant marine total:
496 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,421,993 GRT/8,757,034 DWT

ships by type:
bulk 105, cargo 168, chemical tanker 38, combination bulk 5, container 49, liquefied gas 16, multi-functional large-load carrier 1, passenger 3, petroleum tanker 70, refrigerated cargo 27, roll on/roll off 4, short-sea passenger 1, specialized tanker 4, vehicle carrier 5 (2000 est.)
-
Military branches Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, National Maritime Police (Coast Guard) -
Military expenditures - dollar figure $12 billion (2000) aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP 3.2% (FY98/99) roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.)
Military manpower - availability males age 15-49:
14,148,552 (2001 est.)
-
Military manpower - fit for military service males age 15-49:
8,979,778 (2001 est.)
-
Military manpower - military age 18 years of age -
Military manpower - reaching military age annually males:
394,397 (2001 est.)
-
National holiday Liberation Day, 15 August (1945) -
Nationality noun:
Korean(s)

adjective:
Korean
-
Natural hazards occasional typhoons bring high winds and floods; low-level seismic activity common in southwest large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)
Natural resources coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower potential the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address
Net migration rate 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) -
Pipelines petroleum products 455 km; note - additionally, there is a parallel petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) pipeline being completed -
Political parties and leaders Grand National Party or GNP [YI Hoe-chang, president]; Millennium Democratic Party or MDP [KIM Dae-jung, president]; United Liberal Democrats or ULD [KIM Chong-p'il, honorary chairman, KIM Chong-ho, acting president]

note:
on 20 January 2000, the National Congress for New Politics or NCNP was renamed the Millennium Democratic Party or MDP
-
Political pressure groups and leaders Federation of Korean Industries; Federation of Korean Trade Unions; Korean Confederation of Trade Unions; Korean National Council of Churches; Korean Traders Association; Korean Veterans' Association; National Council of Labor Unions; National Democratic Alliance of Korea; National Federation of Farmers' Associations; National Federation of Student Associations -
Population 47,904,370 (July 2001 est.) 6,302,309,691 (July 2003 est.)
Population below poverty line NA% -
Population growth rate 0.89% (2001 est.) 1.17% (2003 est.)
Ports and harbors Chinhae, Inch'on, Kunsan, Masan, Mokp'o, P'ohang, Pusan, Tonghae-hang, Ulsan, Yosu Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama
Radio broadcast stations AM 106, FM 97, shortwave 6 (1999) AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
Radios 47.5 million (1997) -
Railways total:
6,240 km

standard gauge:
6,240 km 1.435-m gauge (525 km electrified) (1998 est.)
total: 1,122,650 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line


broad gauge: 251,153 km


standard gauge: 710,754 km


narrow gauge: 239,430 km
Religions Christian 49%, Buddhist 47%, Confucianist 3%, Shamanist, Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way), and other 1% Christians 32.79% (of which Roman Catholics 17.33%, Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.51%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.6%, Hindus 13.31%, Buddhists 5.88%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.83%, non-religious 12.53%, atheists 2.44% (2001 est.)
Sex ratio at birth:
1.11 male(s)/female

under 15 years:
1.13 male(s)/female

15-64 years:
1.03 male(s)/female

65 years and over:
0.63 male(s)/female

total population:
1.01 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female


under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female


total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2003 est.)
Suffrage 20 years of age; universal -
Telephone system general assessment:
excellent domestic and international services

domestic:
NA

international:
fiber-optic submarine cable to China; the Russia-Korea-Japan submarine cable; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Pacific Ocean region)
general assessment: NA


domestic: NA


international: NA
Telephones - main lines in use 24 million (1999) NA
Telephones - mobile cellular 27 million (June 2000) NA
Television broadcast stations 121 (plus 850 repeater stations and the eight-channel American Forces Korea Network) (1999) NA
Terrain mostly hills and mountains; wide coastal plains in west and south the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean
Total fertility rate 1.72 children born/woman (2001 est.) 2.65 children born/woman (2003 est.)
Unemployment rate 4.1% (2000 est.) 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment
Waterways 1,609 km

note:
restricted to small native craft
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