Norfolk Island (2005) | Cameroon (2008) | |
Administrative divisions | none (territory of Australia) | 10 provinces; Adamaoua, Centre, Est, Extreme-Nord, Littoral, Nord, Nord-Ouest, Ouest, Sud, Sud-Ouest |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 20.2%
15-64 years: 63.9% 65 years and over: 15.9% (2005 est.) |
0-14 years: 41.3% (male 3,763,332/female 3,695,053)
15-64 years: 55.5% (male 5,029,658/female 4,994,786) 65 years and over: 3.2% (male 266,616/female 310,937) (2007 est.) |
Agriculture - products | Norfolk Island pine seed, Kentia palm seed, cereals, vegetables, fruit; cattle, poultry | coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber, bananas, oilseed, grains, root starches; livestock; timber |
Airports | 1 (2004 est.) | 45 (2007) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
total: 11
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2007) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | - | total: 34
1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 20 under 914 m: 8 (2007) |
Area | total: 34.6 sq km
land: 34.6 sq km water: 0 sq km |
total: 475,440 sq km
land: 469,440 sq km water: 6,000 sq km |
Area - comparative | about 0.2 times the size of Washington, DC | slightly larger than California |
Background | Two British attempts at establishing the island as a penal colony (1788-1814 and 1825-55) were ultimately abandoned. In 1856, the island was resettled by Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions. | The former French Cameroon and part of British Cameroon merged in 1961 to form the present country. Cameroon has generally enjoyed stability, which has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, and railways, as well as a petroleum industry. Despite a slow movement toward democratic reform, political power remains firmly in the hands of President Paul BIYA. |
Birth rate | NA | 35.07 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $20 million
expenditures: $20 million, including capital expenditures of $2 million (FY99/00) |
revenues: $4.14 billion
expenditures: $3.3 billion (2007 est.) |
Capital | Kingston | name: Yaounde
geographic coordinates: 3 52 N, 11 31 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Climate | subtropical; mild, little seasonal temperature variation | varies with terrain, from tropical along coast to semiarid and hot in north |
Coastline | 32 km | 402 km |
Constitution | Norfolk Island Act of 1979 | 20 May 1972 approved by referendum, adopted 2 June 1972; revised January 1996 |
Country name | conventional long form: Territory of Norfolk Island
conventional short form: Norfolk Island |
conventional long form: Republic of Cameroon
conventional short form: Cameroon local long form: Republique du Cameroun/Republic of Cameroon local short form: Cameroun/Cameroon former: French Cameroon, British Cameroon, Federal Republic of Cameroon, United Republic of Cameroon |
Death rate | NA | 12.66 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Debt - external | NA | $2.449 billion (31 December 2007 est.) |
Dependency status | territory of Australia; Canberra administers Commonwealth responsibilities on Norfolk Island through the Department of Environment, Sport, and Territories | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none (territory of Australia) | chief of mission: Ambassador Janet E. GARVEY
embassy: Avenue Rosa Parks, Yaounde mailing address: P. O. Box 817, Yaounde; pouch: American Embassy, US Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-2520 telephone: [237] 2220 15 00; Consular: [237] 2220 16 03 FAX: [237] 2220 16 00 Ext. 4531; Consular FAX: [237] 2220 17 52 branch office(s): Douala |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none (territory of Australia) | chief of mission: Ambassador Jerome MENDOUGA
chancery: 2349 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 265-8790 FAX: [1] (202) 387-3826 |
Disputes - international | none | Joint Border Commission with Nigeria reviewed 2002 ICJ ruling on the entire boundary and bilaterally resolved differences, including June 2006 Greentree Agreement that immediately cedes sovereignty of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon with a phase-out of Nigerian control within two years while resolving patriation issues; implementation of the ICJ ruling on the Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea is pending due to imprecisely defined coordinates and a sovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty, which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries |
Economic aid - recipient | NA | $413.8 million in January 2001, the Paris Club agreed to reduce Cameroon's debt of $1.3 billion by $900 million; debt relief now totals $1.26 billion (2005) |
Economy - overview | Tourism, the primary economic activity, has steadily increased over the years and has brought a level of prosperity unusual among inhabitants of the Pacific islands. The agricultural sector has become self-sufficient in the production of beef, poultry, and eggs. | Because of its modest oil resources and favorable agricultural conditions, Cameroon has one of the best-endowed primary commodity economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Still, it faces many of the serious problems facing other underdeveloped countries, such as a top-heavy civil service and a generally unfavorable climate for business enterprise. Since 1990, the government has embarked on various IMF and World Bank programs designed to spur business investment, increase efficiency in agriculture, improve trade, and recapitalize the nation's banks. In June 2000, the government completed an IMF-sponsored, three-year structural adjustment program; however, the IMF is pressing for more reforms, including increased budget transparency, privatization, and poverty reduction programs. International oil and cocoa prices have a significant impact on the economy. |
Electricity - consumption | NA kWh | 3.435 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - exports | - | 0 kWh (2005) |
Electricity - imports | - | 0 kWh (2005) |
Electricity - production | NA kWh | 4.09 billion kWh (2005) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Bates 319 m |
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Fako 4,095 m (on Mt. Cameroon) |
Environment - current issues | NA | waterborne diseases are prevalent; deforestation; overgrazing; desertification; poaching; overfishing |
Environment - international agreements | - | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | descendants of the Bounty mutineers, Australian, New Zealander, Polynesians | Cameroon Highlanders 31%, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, Northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, other African 13%, non-African less than 1% |
Exchange rates | Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.3598 (2004), 1.5419 (2003), 1.8406 (2002), 1.9334 (2001), 1.7248 (2000) | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003) |
Executive branch | chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); the UK and Australia are represented by Administrator Grant TAMBLING (since 1 November 2003)
head of government: Assembly President and Chief Minister Geoffrey Robert GARDNER (since 5 December 2001) cabinet: Executive Council is made up of four of the nine members of the Legislative Assembly; the council devises government policy and acts as an advisor to the administrator elections: the monarch is hereditary; administrator appointed by the governor general of Australia; chief minister elected by the Legislative Assembly for a term of not more than three years; election last held 20 Ocotber 2004 (next to be held by December 2007) election results: Geoffrey Robert GARDNER elected chief minister; percent of Legislative Assembly vote - 17.2% |
chief of state: President Paul BIYA (since 6 November 1982)
head of government: Prime Minister Ephraim INONI (since 8 December 2004) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president from proposals submitted by the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 11 October 2004 (next to be held by October 2011); prime minister appointed by the president election results: President Paul BIYA reelected; percent of vote - Paul BIYA 70.9%, John FRU NDI 17.4%, Adamou Ndam NJOYA 4.5%, Garga Haman ADJI 3.7% |
Exports | $1.5 million f.o.b. (FY99/00) | 107,400 bbl/day (2004) |
Exports - commodities | postage stamps, seeds of the Norfolk Island pine and Kentia palm, small quantities of avocados | crude oil and petroleum products, lumber, cocoa beans, aluminum, coffee, cotton |
Exports - partners | Australia, other Pacific island countries, NZ, Asia, Europe | Spain 21.4%, Italy 15.4%, France 11.6%, South Korea 7.3%, Netherlands 7.2%, US 5.7%, Belgium 4.2% (2006) |
Fiscal year | 1 July - 30 June | 1 July - 30 June |
Flag description | three vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and green with a large green Norfolk Island pine tree centered in the slightly wider white band | three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), red, and yellow with a yellow five-pointed star centered in the red band
note: uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: NA
industry: NA services: NA |
agriculture: 44.3%
industry: 15.9% services: 39.8% (2007 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - NA | - |
GDP - real growth rate | NA | 3.2% (2007 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 29 02 S, 167 57 E | 6 00 N, 12 00 E |
Geography - note | most of the 32-km coastline consists of almost inaccessible cliffs, but the land slopes down to the sea in one small southern area on Sydney Bay, where the capital of Kingston is situated | sometimes referred to as the hinge of Africa; throughout the country there are areas of thermal springs and indications of current or prior volcanic activity; Mount Cameroon, the highest mountain in Sub-Saharan west Africa, is an active volcano |
Highways | total: 80 km
paved: 53 km unpaved: 27 km (2001) |
- |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 35.4% (2001) |
Imports | $17.9 million c.i.f. (FY91/92) | 63,710 bbl/day (2004) |
Imports - commodities | NA | machinery, electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, food |
Imports - partners | Australia, other Pacific island countries, NZ, Asia, Europe | France 23.6%, Nigeria 13.2%, China 7.2%, Belgium 6.1%, US 4.5% (2006) |
Independence | none (territory of Australia) | 1 January 1960 (from French-administered UN trusteeship) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA | 3.5% (2007 est.) |
Industries | tourism, light industry, ready mixed concrete | petroleum production and refining, aluminum production, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, lumber, ship repair |
Infant mortality rate | total: NA
male: NA female: NA |
total: 65.84 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 70.73 deaths/1,000 live births female: 60.79 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | NA | 2% (2007 est.) |
International organization participation | UPU | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, BDEAC, C, CEMAC, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO |
Irrigated land | NA | 260 sq km (2003) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court; Court of Petty Sessions | Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president); High Court of Justice (consists of nine judges and six substitute judges, elected by the National Assembly) |
Labor force | 1,345 | 6.68 million (2007 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | tourism 90%, subsistence agriculture 10% | agriculture: 70%
industry: 13% services: 17% (2001 est.) |
Land boundaries | 0 km | total: 4,591 km
border countries: Central African Republic 797 km, Chad 1,094 km, Republic of the Congo 523 km, Equatorial Guinea 189 km, Gabon 298 km, Nigeria 1,690 km |
Land use | arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2001) |
arable land: 12.54%
permanent crops: 2.52% other: 84.94% (2005) |
Languages | English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
Legal system | based on the laws of Australia, local ordinances and acts; English common law applies in matters not covered by either Australian or Norfolk Island law | based on French civil law system, with common law influence; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | unicameral Legislative Assembly (9 seats; members elected by electors who have nine equal votes each but only four votes can be given to any one candidate; members serve three-year terms)
elections: last held 20 October 2004 (next to be held by December 2007) election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats - independents 9 (note - no political parties) |
unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (180 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve five-year terms); note - the president can either lengthen or shorten the term of the legislature
elections: last held 22 July 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - RDCP 140, SDF 14, UDC 4, UNDP 4, MP 1, vacant 17; note - vacant seats will be determined in a yet to be scheduled by-election after the Supreme Court nullified results in five districts note: the constitution calls for an upper chamber for the legislature, to be called a Senate, but it has yet to be established |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: NA
male: NA female: NA |
total population: 52.86 years
male: 52.15 years female: 53.59 years (2007 est.) |
Literacy | NA | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 67.9% male: 77% female: 59.8% (2001 est.) |
Location | Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Australia | Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Biafra, between Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria |
Map references | Oceania | Africa |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm |
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm |
Merchant marine | - | total: 1 ship (1000 GRT or over) 38,613 GRT/68,820 DWT
by type: petroleum tanker 1 foreign-owned: 1 (France 1) (2007) |
Military - note | defense is the responsibility of Australia | - |
Military branches | - | Cameroon Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes naval infantry), Air Force (Armee de l'Air du Cameroun, AAC) (2008) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | 1.3% (2006) |
National holiday | Bounty Day (commemorates the arrival of Pitcairn Islanders), 8 June (1856) | Republic Day (National Day), 20 May (1972) |
Nationality | noun: Norfolk Islander(s)
adjective: Norfolk Islander(s) |
noun: Cameroonian(s)
adjective: Cameroonian |
Natural hazards | typhoons (especially May to July) | volcanic activity with periodic releases of poisonous gases from Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun volcanoes |
Natural resources | fish | petroleum, bauxite, iron ore, timber, hydropower |
Net migration rate | NA | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Pipelines | - | gas 27 km; liquid petroleum gas 5 km; oil 1,110 km (2007) |
Political parties and leaders | none | Cameroonian Democratic Union or UDC [Adamou Ndam NJOYA]; Cameroon People's Democratic Movement or RDPC [Paul BIYA]; Movement for the Defense of the Republic or MDR [Dakole DAISSALA]; Movement for the Liberation and Development of Cameroon or MLDC [Marcel YONDO]; National Union for Democracy and Progress or UNDP [Maigari BELLO BOUBA]; Progressive Movement or MP; Social Democratic Front or SDF [John FRU NDI]; Union of Peoples of Cameroon or UPC [Augustin Frederic KODOCK] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | none | Southern Cameroon National Council [Ayamba Ette OTUN]; Human Rights Defense Group [Albert MUKONG, president] |
Population | 1,828 (July 2005 est.) | 18,060,382
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.) |
Population below poverty line | NA | 48% (2000 est.) |
Population growth rate | -0.01% (2005 est.) | 2.241% (2007 est.) |
Ports and harbors | none; loading jetties at Kingston and Cascade | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 3, shortwave 0 (2005) | AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 3 (2001) |
Railways | - | total: 987 km
narrow gauge: 987 km 1.000-m gauge (2006) |
Religions | Anglican 34.9%, Roman Catholic 11.7%, Uniting Church in Australia 11.2%, Seventh-Day Adventist 2.8%, Australian Christian 2.4%, Jehovah's Witness 0.9%, other 2.7%, unspecified 15.3%, none 18.1% (2001 census) | indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian 40%, Muslim 20% |
Sex ratio | NA | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.018 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.007 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.857 male(s)/female total population: 1.007 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 20 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: adequate
domestic: free local calls international: country code - 672; undersea coaxial cable links with Australia, New Zealand, and Canada; satellite earth station |
general assessment: fixed-line connections stand at less than 1 per 100 persons; equipment is old and outdated, and connections with many parts of the country are unreliable; mobile-cellular usage, in part a reflection of the poor condition and general inadequacy of the fixed-line network, has been increasing steadily and currently stands at 14 per 100 persons
domestic: cable, microwave radio relay, and tropospheric scatter international: country code - 237; landing point for the SAT-3/WASC fiber-optic submarine cable that provides connectivity to Europe and Asia; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2007) |
Telephones - main lines in use | 2,532; note - a mix of analog (2500) and digital (32) circuits (2004) | 100,300 (2005) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 0 (proposed cellular service disallowed in August 2002 island referendum) (2002) | 2.253 million (2005) |
Television broadcast stations | 1 (local programming station plus two repeaters that bring in Australian programs by satellite) (2005) | 1 (2001) |
Terrain | volcanic formation with mostly rolling plains | diverse, with coastal plain in southwest, dissected plateau in center, mountains in west, plains in north |
Total fertility rate | NA | 4.49 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 0% | 30% (2001 est.) |
Waterways | - | navigation mainly on Benue River; limited during rainy season (2005) |