Compare Lesotho (2007) - Christmas Island (2008)

Compare Lesotho (2007) z Christmas Island (2008)

	Lesotho (2007)	Christmas Island (2008)

Administrative divisions	10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing, Thaba-Tseka	none (territory of Australia)
Age structure	0-14 years: 35.7% (male 382,308/female 377,303) 15-64 years: 59.3% (male 613,979/female 645,818) 65 years and over: 5% (male 42,621/female 63,233) (2007 est.)	0-14 years: NA 15-64 years: NA 65 years and over: NA
Agriculture - products	corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock	NA
Airports	28 (2007)	1 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 3 over 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2007)	total: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways	total: 25 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 21 (2007)	-
Area	total: 30,355 sq km land: 30,355 sq km water: 0 sq km	total: 135 sq km land: 135 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than Maryland	about three-quarters the size of Washington, DC
Background	Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. The Basuto National Party ruled for the first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and reinstated in 1995. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after 7 years of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswanan military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Constitutional reforms have since restored political stability; peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002.	Named in 1643 for the day of its discovery, the island was annexed and settlement began by the UK in 1888. Phosphate mining began in the 1890s. The UK transferred sovereignty to Australia in 1958. Almost two-thirds of the island has been declared a national park.
Birth rate	24.72 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)	NA
Budget	revenues: $995.8 million expenditures: $763.2 million (2006 est.)	revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA
Capital	name: Maseru geographic coordinates: 29 19 S, 27 29 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)	name: The Settlement geographic coordinates: 10 25 S, 105 43 E time difference: UTC+7 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Climate	temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers	tropical with a wet season (December to April) and dry season; heat and humidity moderated by trade winds
Coastline	0 km (landlocked)	138.9 km
Constitution	2 April 1993	Christmas Island Act of 1958-59 (1 October 1958) as amended by the Territories Law Reform Act of 1992
Country name	conventional long form: Kingdom of Lesotho conventional short form: Lesotho local long form: Kingdom of Lesotho local short form: Lesotho former: Basutoland	conventional long form: Territory of Christmas Island conventional short form: Christmas Island
Death rate	22.49 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)	NA
Debt - external	$652 million (2006 est.)	-
Dependency status	-	non-self governing territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Australian Attorney-General's Department
Diplomatic representation from the US	chief of mission: Ambassador June Carter PERRY embassy: 254 Kingsway, Maseru West (Consular Section) mailing address: P. O. Box 333, Maseru 100, Lesotho telephone: [266] 22 312666 FAX: [266] 22 310116	none (territory of Australia)
Diplomatic representation in the US	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	none (territory of Australia)
Disputes - international	none	none
Economic aid - recipient	$68.82 million (2005)	$NA
Economy - overview	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. However, the government has recently 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 and also generates royalties for Lesotho. Lesotho produces about 90% of its own electrical power needs. 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, as well as a rapidly expanding apparel-assembly sector. The latter has grown significantly mainly due to Lesotho qualifying for the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. 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.	Phosphate mining had been the only significant economic activity, but in December 1987 the Australian Government closed the mine. In 1991, the mine was reopened. With the support of the government, a $34 million casino opened in 1993, but closed in 1998. The Australian Government in 2001 agreed to support the creation of a commercial space-launching site on the island, expected to begin operations in the near future.
Electricity - consumption	338.5 million kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - imports	13 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2005)	-
Electricity - production	350 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2005)	-
Elevation extremes	lowest point: junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Murray Hill 361 m
Environment - current issues	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	loss of rainforest; impact of phosphate mining
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea	-
Ethnic groups	Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other 0.3%,	Chinese 70%, European 20%, Malay 10% note: no indigenous population (2001)
Exchange rates	maloti per US dollar - 6.85 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.541 (2002)	Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.2137 (2007), 1.3285 (2006), 1.3095 (2005), 1.3598 (2004), 1.5419 (2003)
Executive branch	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, that 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 depose the monarch, determine who is next in the line of succession, or who shall serve as regent in the event that the successor is not of mature age	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by the Australian governor general head of government: Administrator Neil LUCAS (since 30 January 2006) elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; administrator appointed by the governor general of Australia and represents the monarch and Australia
Exports	NA bbl/day	$NA
Exports - commodities	manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000)	phosphate
Exports - partners	US 81.9%, Belgium 15%, Canada 1.9% (2006)	Australia, NZ (2006)
Fiscal year	1 April - 31 March	1 July - 30 June
Flag description	three horizontal stripes of blue (top), white, and green in the proportions of 3:4:3; the colors represent rain, peace, and prosperity respectively; centered in the white stripe is a black Basotho hat representing the indigenous people; the flag was unfurled in October 2006 to celebrate 40 years of independence	territorial flag; divided diagonally from upper hoist to lower fly; the upper triangle is green with a yellow image of the Golden Bosun Bird superimposed, while the lower triangle is blue with the Southern Cross constellation, representing Australia, superimposed; a centered yellow disk displays a green map of the island note: the flag of Australia is used for official purposes
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: 18.2% industry: 40.8% services: 41% (2006 est.)	-
GDP - real growth rate	6.2% (2006 est.)	-
Geographic coordinates	29 30 S, 28 30 E	10 30 S, 105 40 E
Geography - note	landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 meters above sea level	located along major sea lanes of Indian Ocean
Household income or consumption by percentage share	lowest 10%: 0.9% highest 10%: 43.4% (2002 est.)	-
Imports	NA bbl/day	$NA
Imports - commodities	food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products	consumer goods
Imports - partners	Hong Kong 33.4%, China 31.2%, Germany 7.7%, India 7.3% (2006)	principally Australia (2006)
Independence	4 October 1966 (from UK)	none (territory of Australia)
Industrial production growth rate	15.5% (1999)	-
Industries	food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism	tourism, phosphate extraction (near depletion)
Infant mortality rate	total: 79.85 deaths/1,000 live births male: 84.4 deaths/1,000 live births female: 75.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)	total: NA male: NA female: NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	6.1% (2006 est.)	-
International organization participation	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, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO	none
Irrigated land	30 sq km (2003)	NA
Judicial branch	High Court (chief justice appointed by the monarch acting on the advice of the Prime Minister); Court of Appeal; Magistrate Courts; customary or traditional court	Supreme Court; District Court; Magistrate's Court
Labor force	838,000 (2000)	NA
Labor force - by occupation	agriculture: 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa industry and services: 14% (2002 est.)	-
Land boundaries	total: 909 km border countries: South Africa 909 km	0 km
Land use	arable land: 10.87% permanent crops: 0.13% other: 89% (2005)	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (mainly tropical rainforest; 63% of the island is a national park) (2005)
Languages	Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa	English (official), Chinese, Malay
Legal system	based on English common law and Roman-Dutch law; judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations	under the authority of the governor general of Australia and Australian law
Legislative branch	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 popular vote and 40 by proportional vote; members elected by popular vote for five-year terms) elections: last held 17 February 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LCD 61, NIP 21, ABC 17, LWP 10, ACP 4, BNP 3, other 4	unicameral Christmas Island Shire Council (9 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: held every two years with half the members standing for election; last held 20 October 2007 (next to be held in 2009) election results: percent of vote - NA; seats - independents 9
Life expectancy at birth	total population: 39.97 years male: 40.73 years female: 39.18 years (2007 est.)	total population: NA male: NA female: NA
Literacy	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 84.8% male: 74.5% female: 94.5% (2003 est.)	NA
Location	Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa	Southeastern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of Indonesia
Map references	Africa	Southeast Asia
Maritime claims	none (landlocked)	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 12 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Military - note	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	defense is the responsibility of Australia
Military branches	Lesotho Defense Force (LDF): Army and Air Wing	-
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	2.6% (2006)	-
National holiday	Independence Day, 4 October (1966)	Australia Day, 26 January (1788)
Nationality	noun: Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural) adjective: Basotho	noun: Christmas Islander(s) adjective: Christmas Island
Natural hazards	periodic droughts	the narrow fringing reef surrounding the island can be a maritime hazard
Natural resources	water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stone	phosphate, beaches
Net migration rate	-0.78 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)	NA
Political parties and leaders	Alliance of Congress Parties or ACP; All Basotho Convention or ABC [Thomas THABANE]; Basotholand African Congress or BAC [Khauhelo RALITAPOLE]; Basotho Congress Party or BCP [Ntsukunyane MPHANYA]; Basotho National Party or BNP [Maj. Gen. Justin Metsing LEKHANYA]; Kopanang Basotho Party or KPB [Pheelo MOSALA]; Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD (the governing party) [Pakalitha MOSISILI]; Lesotho Education Party or LEP [Thabo PITSO]; Lesotho Workers Party or LWP [Macaefa BILLY]; Marematlou Freedom Party or MFP [Vincent MALEBO]; National Independent Party or NIP [Anthony MANYELI]; New Lesotho Freedom Party or NLFP [Manapo MAJARA]; Popular Front for Democracy or PFD [Lekhetho RAKUOANE]; Sefate Democratic Union or SDU [Bofihla NKUEBE]; Social Democratic Party of SDP [Masitise SELESO]	none
Political pressure groups and leaders	NA	none
Population	2,125,262 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 2007 est.)	1,402 (July 2006 est.) (July 2007 est.)
Population below poverty line	49% (1999)	-
Population growth rate	0.144% (2007 est.)	0% (2007 est.)
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998)	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (2006)
Religions	Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20%	Buddhist 36%, Muslim 25%, Christian 18%, other 21% (1997)
Sex ratio	at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.013 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.951 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.674 male(s)/female total population: 0.956 male(s)/female (2007 est.)	NA
Suffrage	18 years of age; universal	-
Telephone system	general assessment: rudimentary system consisting of a modest but growing number of landlines, a small microwave radio relay system, and a small radiotelephone communication system; mobile-cellular telephone system is expanding domestic: privatized in 2001, Telecom Lesotho tasked with providing an additional 50,000 fixed-line connections within five years, a target not met; mobile-cellular service is expanding with a subscribership approaching 15 per 100 persons; rural services are scant international: country code - 266; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)	general assessment: service provided by the Australian network domestic: GSM mobile telephone service replaced older analog system in February 2005 international: country code - 61-8; satellite earth stations - 1 INTELSAT earth station provides telephone and telex service (2005)
Telephones - main lines in use	48,000 (2005)	NA
Telephones - mobile cellular	249,800 (2005)	-
Television broadcast stations	1 (2000)	0 (TV broadcasts received via satellite from mainland Australia) (2006)
Terrain	mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains	steep cliffs along coast rise abruptly to central plateau
Total fertility rate	3.21 children born/woman (2007 est.)	NA
Unemployment rate	45% (2002)	-

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