Monaco (2005) | Lesotho (2002) | |
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Administrative divisions | none; there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US Government, but there are four quarters (quartiers, singular - quartier); Fontvieille, La Condamine, Monaco-Ville, Monte-Carlo | 10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohales Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing, Thaba-Tseka |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 15.5% (male 2,563/female 2,445)
15-64 years: 62.1% (male 9,909/female 10,217) 65 years and over: 22.4% (male 2,972/female 4,303) (2005 est.) |
0-14 years: 39% (male 433,229; female 427,926)
15-64 years: 56.3% (male 600,476; female 642,538) 65 years and over: 4.7% (male 43,691; female 60,094) (2002 est.) |
Agriculture - products | none | corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock |
Airports | none; linked to the airport at Nice, France by helicopter service (2004 est.) | 28 (2001) |
Airports - with paved runways | - | total: 4
over 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 2 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | - | total: 24
914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 20 (2002) |
Area | total: 1.95 sq km
land: 1.95 sq km water: 0 sq km |
total: 30,355 sq km
land: 30,355 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | about three times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC | slightly smaller than Maryland |
Background | Economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with a railroad linkup to France and the opening of a casino. Since then, the principality's mild climate, splendid scenery, and gambling facilities have made Monaco world famous as a tourist and recreation center. | 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. |
Birth rate | 9.26 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 30.72 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $518 million
expenditures: $531 million, including capital expenditures of NA (1995) |
revenues: $76 million
expenditures: $80 million, including capital expenditures of $15 million |
Capital | Monaco | Maseru |
Climate | Mediterranean with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers | temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers |
Coastline | 4.1 km | 0 km (landlocked) |
Constitution | 17 December 1962 | 2 April 1993 |
Country name | conventional long form: Principality of Monaco
conventional short form: Monaco local long form: Principaute de Monaco local short form: Monaco |
conventional long form: Kingdom of Lesotho
conventional short form: Lesotho former: Basutoland |
Currency | - | loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR) |
Death rate | 12.71 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 16.81 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $18 billion (2000 est.) | $715 million (2001 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | the US does not have an embassy in Monaco; the US Consul General in Marseille (France) is accredited to Monaco | 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 | Monaco does not have an embassy in the US
consulate(s) general: New York |
chief of mission: Ambassador Dr. Lebohang Kenneth MOLEKO
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 - recipient | NA | $123.7 million (1995) (1995) |
Economy - overview | Monaco, bordering France on the Mediterranean coast, is a popular resort, attracting tourists to its casino and pleasant climate. In 2001, a major construction project extended the pier used by cruise ships in the main harbor. The principality has successfully sought to diversify into services and small, high-value-added, nonpolluting industries. The state has no income tax and low business taxes and thrives as a tax haven both for individuals who have established residence and for foreign companies that have set up businesses and offices. The state retains monopolies in a number of sectors, including tobacco, the telephone network, and the postal service. Living standards are high, roughly comparable to those in prosperous French metropolitan areas. Monaco does not publish national income figures; the estimates below are extremely rough. | Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho's primary natural resource is water. Its economy is based on subsistence agriculture, livestock, remittances from miners employed in South Africa, and a rapidly growing apparel-assembly sector. The number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years. A small manufacturing base depends largely on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries. Agricultural products are exported primarily to South Africa. Proceeds from membership in a common customs union with South Africa form the majority of government revenue. Although drought has decreased agricultural activity over the past few years, completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa, generating royalties for Lesotho. The pace of privatization has increased in recent years. In December 1999, the government embarked on a nine-month IMF staff-monitored program aimed at structural adjustment and stabilization of macroeconomic fundamentals. The government is in the process of applying for a three-year successor program with the IMF under its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. Lesotho has a marked inequality in income distribution and serious unemployment/underemployment problems that will not yield to short-run solutions. |
Electricity - consumption | NA kWh | 100 million kWh (2000) |
Electricity - exports | - | 0 kWh (2000) |
Electricity - imports | NA kWh
note: electricity supplied by France |
100 million kWh
note: electricity supplied by South Africa (2000) |
Electricity - production | - | 0 kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2000) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mont Agel 140 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: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping |
Ethnic groups | French 47%, Monegasque 16%, Italian 16%, other 21% | Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other 0.3%, |
Exchange rates | euros per US dollar - 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000) | maloti per US dollar - 11.58786 (January 2002), 8.60918 (2001), 6.93983 (2000), 6.10948 (1999), 5.52828 (1998), 4.60796 (1997); note - the Lesotho loti is at par with the South African rand which is also legal tender; maloti is the plural form of loti |
Executive branch | chief of state: Prince ALBERT II (since 6 April 2005)
head of government: Minister of State Jean-Paul PROUST (since 1 June 2005) cabinet: Council of Government is under the authority of the monarch elections: none; the monarchy is hereditary; minister of state appointed by the monarch from a list of three French national candidates presented by the French Government |
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 | $NA; full customs integration with France, which collects and rebates Monegasque trade duties; also participates in EU market system through customs union with France | $250 million f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | - | manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals |
Exports - partners | - | South African Customs Union 53.9%, North America 45.6% (1999) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | 1 April - 31 March |
Flag description | two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and white; similar to the flag of Indonesia which is longer and the flag of Poland which is white (top) and red | 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 - $5.3 billion (2001 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 17%
industry: NA% services: NA% (2001 est.) |
agriculture: 18%
industry: 38% services: 44% (2001) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $27,000 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $2,450 (2001 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 0.9% (2000 est.) | 2.6% (2001 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 43 44 N, 7 24 E | 29 30 S, 28 30 E |
Geography - note | second-smallest independent state in the world (after Holy See); almost entirely urban | landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 meters above sea level |
Heliports | 1 (shuttle service between the international airport at Nice, France, and Monaco's heliport at Fontvieille) (2004 est.) | - |
Highways | total: 50 km
paved: 50 km unpaved: 0 km (1999 est.) |
total: 4,955 km
paved: 887 km unpaved: 4,068 km (1996) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: 1%
highest 10%: 43% (1986-87) |
Imports | $NA; full customs integration with France, which collects and rebates Monegasque trade duties; also participates in EU market system through customs union with France | $720 million f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | - | food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products |
Imports - partners | - | South African Customs Union 89.5%, Asia 7% (1999) |
Independence | 1419 (beginning of the rule by the House of Grimaldi) | 4 October 1966 (from UK) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | 15.5% (1999 est.) |
Industries | tourism, construction, small-scale industrial and consumer products | food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts; construction; tourism |
Infant mortality rate | total: 5.43 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 6.29 deaths/1,000 live births female: 4.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
82.57 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 1.9% (2000) | 6.9% (2001 est.) |
International organization participation | ACCT, CE, FAO, IAEA, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ITU, OPCW, OSCE, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNITAR, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO | ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 1 (2000) |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | 10 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Tribunal Supreme (judges appointed by the monarch on the basis of nominations by the National Council) | High Court (chief justice appointed by the monarch); Court of Appeal; Magistrate's Court; customary or traditional court |
Labor force | 30,540 (January 1994) | 700,000 economically active |
Labor force - by occupation | - | 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa |
Land boundaries | total: 4.4 km
border countries: France 4.4 km |
total: 909 km
border countries: South Africa 909 km |
Land use | arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (urban area) (2001) |
arable land: 10.71%
permanent crops: 0% other: 89.29% (1998 est.) |
Languages | French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Legal system | based on French law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | 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 National Council or Conseil National (24 seats; 16 members elected by list majority system, 8 by proportional representation; to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 9 February 2003 (next to be held February 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - UNAM 21, UND 3 |
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: 79.57 years
male: 75.7 years female: 83.63 years (2005 est.) |
total population: 47 years
male: 46.3 years female: 47.8 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition: NA
total population: 99% male: NA% female: NA% |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 83% male: 72% female: 93% (1999 est.) |
Location | Western Europe, bordering the Mediterranean Sea on the southern coast of France, near the border with Italy | Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa |
Map references | Europe | Africa |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm | none (landlocked) |
Merchant marine | registered in other countries: 54 (2005) | - |
Military - note | defense is the responsibility of France; the Palace Guard performs ceremonial duties (2003) | 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 | - | Lesotho Defense Force (LDF; including Army and Air Wing), Royal Lesotho Mounted Police |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $34 million (1999) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | NA% |
Military manpower - availability | - | males age 15-49: 526,332 (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | - | males age 15-49: 283,203 (2002 est.) |
National holiday | National Day (Prince of Monaco Holiday), 19 November | Independence Day, 4 October (1966) |
Nationality | noun: Monegasque(s) or Monacan(s)
adjective: Monegasque or Monacan |
noun: Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)
adjective: Basotho |
Natural hazards | NA | periodic droughts |
Natural resources | none | water, agricultural and grazing land, some diamonds and other minerals |
Net migration rate | 7.71 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | -0.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Political parties and leaders | National and Democratic Union or UND [Jean-Louis CAMPORA]; Union for Monaco or UPM (including National Union for the Future of Monaco or UNAM) [leader NA] | 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 | NA | NA |
Population | 32,409 (July 2005 est.) | 2,207,954
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 2002 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | 49% (1999 est.) |
Population growth rate | 0.43% (2005 est.) | 1.33% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Monaco | none |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM NA, shortwave 8 (1998) | AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998) |
Radios | - | NA (2002) |
Railways | - | total: 2.6 km; note - owned by, operated by, and included in the statistics of South Africa
narrow gauge: 2.6 km 1.067-m gauge (1995) |
Religions | Roman Catholic 90% | Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20% |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female total population: 0.91 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 21 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: modern automatic telephone system
domestic: NA international: country code - 377; no satellite earth stations; connected by cable into the French communications system |
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: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
Telephones - main lines in use | 33,700 (2002) | 22,200 (2000) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 19,300 (2002) | 21,600 (2000) |
Television broadcast stations | 5 (1998) | 1 (2000) |
Terrain | hilly, rugged, rocky | mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains |
Total fertility rate | 1.76 children born/woman (2005 est.) | 4.01 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 22% (1999) | 45% (2000 est.) |
Waterways | - | none |