Pacific Ocean (2008) | Cambodia (2001) | |
Administrative divisions | - | 20 provinces (khett, singular and plural) and 4 municipalities* (krong, singular and plural); Banteay Mean Cheay, Batdambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Spoe, Kampong Thum, Kampot, Kandal, Kaoh Kong, Keb*, Kracheh, Mondol Kiri, Otdar Mean Cheay, Pailin*, Phnum Penh*, Pouthisat, Preah Seihanu* (Sihanoukville), Preah Vihear, Prey Veng, Rotanah Kiri, Siem Reab, Stoeng Treng, Svay Rieng, Takev |
Age structure | - | 0-14 years:
41.25% (male 2,626,821; female 2,526,510) 15-64 years: 55.28% (male 3,253,611; female 3,651,129) 65 years and over: 3.47% (male 177,577; female 255,853) (2001 est.) |
Agriculture - products | - | rice, rubber, corn, vegetables |
Airports | - | 19 (2000 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | - | total:
6 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2000 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | - | total:
13 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 11 (2000 est.) |
Area | total: 155.557 million sq km
note: includes Bali Sea, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Tonkin, Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, South China Sea, Tasman Sea, and other tributary water bodies |
total:
181,040 sq km land: 176,520 sq km water: 4,520 sq km |
Area - comparative | about 15 times the size of the US; covers about 28% of the global surface; larger than the total land area of the world | slightly smaller than Oklahoma |
Background | The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world's five oceans (followed by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean). Strategically important access waterways include the La Perouse, Tsugaru, Tsushima, Taiwan, Singapore, and Torres Straits. The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of 60 degrees south. | Following a five-year struggle, communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh in 1975 and ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns; over 1 million displaced people died from execution or enforced hardships. A 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside and touched off 13 years of fighting. UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy, as did the rapid diminishment of the Khmer Rouge in the mid-1990s. A coalition government, formed after national elections in 1998, brought renewed political stability and the surrender of remaining Khmer Rouge forces. |
Birth rate | - | 33.16 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Budget | - | revenues:
$363 million expenditures: $532 million, including capital expenditures of $225 million (2000 est.) |
Capital | - | Phnom Penh |
Climate | planetary air pressure systems and resultant wind patterns exhibit remarkable uniformity in the south and east; trade winds and westerly winds are well-developed patterns, modified by seasonal fluctuations; tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico from June to October and affect Mexico and Central America; continental influences cause climatic uniformity to be much less pronounced in the eastern and western regions at the same latitude in the North Pacific Ocean; the western Pacific is monsoonal - a rainy season occurs during the summer months, when moisture-laden winds blow from the ocean over the land, and a dry season during the winter months, when dry winds blow from the Asian landmass back to the ocean; tropical cyclones (typhoons) may strike southeast and east Asia from May to December | tropical; rainy, monsoon season (May to November); dry season (December to April); little seasonal temperature variation |
Coastline | 135,663 km | 443 km |
Constitution | - | promulgated 21 September 1993 |
Country name | - | conventional long form:
Kingdom of Cambodia conventional short form: Cambodia local long form: Preahreacheanachakr Kampuchea local short form: Kampuchea former: Khmer Republic, Kampuchea Republic |
Currency | - | riel (KHR) |
Death rate | - | 10.65 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Debt - external | - | $829 million (1999 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | - | chief of mission:
Ambassador Kent M. WIEDEMANN embassy: 16-18 Mongkol lem St. 228, Phnom Penh mailing address: Box P, APO AP 96546 telephone: [855] (23) 216-436 FAX: [855] (23) 216-437 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | - | chief of mission:
Ambassador Roland ENG chancery: 4500 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20011 telephone: [1] (202) 726-7742 FAX: [1] (202) 726-8381 |
Disputes - international | some maritime disputes (see littoral states) | portions of boundary with Vietnam are disputed; parts of border with Thailand are indefinite |
Economic aid - recipient | - | $548 million pledged in grants and concessional loans for 2001 by international donors |
Economy - overview | The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor to the world economy and particularly to those nations its waters directly touch. It provides low-cost sea transportation between East and West, extensive fishing grounds, offshore oil and gas fields, minerals, and sand and gravel for the construction industry. In 1996, over 60% of the world's fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean. Exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an ever-increasing role in the energy supplies of the US, Australia, NZ, China, and Peru. The high cost of recovering offshore oil and gas, combined with the wide swings in world prices for oil since 1985, has led to fluctuations in new drillings. | Cambodia's economy slowed dramatically in 1997-98 due to the regional economic crisis, civil violence, and political infighting. Foreign investment and tourism fell off. In 1999, the first full year of peace in 30 years, progress was made on economic reforms and growth resumed at 4%. GDP growth for 2000 had been projected to reach 5.5%, but the worst flooding in 70 years severely damaged agricultural crops, and high oil prices hurt industrial production, and growth for the year is estimated at only 4%. Tourism is Cambodia's fastest growing industry, with arrivals up 34% in 2000. The long-term development of the economy after decades of war remains a daunting challenge. The population lacks education and productive skills, particularly in the poverty-ridden countryside, which suffers from an almost total lack of basic infrastructure. Fear of renewed political instability and corruption within the government discourage foreign investment and delay foreign aid. On the brighter side, the government is addressing these issues with assistance from bilateral and multilateral donors. |
Electricity - consumption | - | 136.7 million kWh (1999) |
Electricity - exports | - | 0 kWh (1999) |
Electricity - imports | - | 0 kWh (1999) |
Electricity - production | - | 147 million kWh (1999) |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel:
59.18% hydro: 40.82% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1999) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench -10,924 m
highest point: sea level 0 m |
lowest point:
Gulf of Thailand 0 m highest point: Phnum Aoral 1,810 m |
Environment - current issues | endangered marine species include the dugong, sea lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine Sea and South China Sea | illegal logging activities throughout the country and strip mining for gems in the western region along the border with Thailand have resulted in habitat loss and declining biodiversity (in particular, destruction of mangrove swamps threatens natural fisheries); soil erosion; in rural areas, a majority of the population does not have access to potable water; toxic waste delivery from Taiwan sparked unrest in Kampong Saom (Sihanoukville) in December 1998 |
Environment - international agreements | - | party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Marine Life Conservation, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping |
Ethnic groups | - | Khmer 90%, Vietnamese 5%, Chinese 1%, other 4% |
Exchange rates | - | riels per US dollar - 3,909.0 (January 2001), 3,840.8 (2000), 3,807.8 (1999), 3,744.4 (1998), 2,946.3 (1997), 2,624.1 (1996) |
Executive branch | - | chief of state:
King Norodom SIHANOUK (reinstated 24 September 1993) head of government: Prime Minister HUN SEN (since 30 November 1998) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the monarch elections: none; the monarch is chosen by a Royal Throne Council; prime minister appointed by the monarch after a vote of confidence by the National Assembly |
Exports | - | $942 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Exports - commodities | - | timber, garments, rubber, rice, fish |
Exports - partners | - | Vietnam 18%, Thailand 15%, US 10%, Singapore 8%, China 5% (1997) |
Fiscal year | - | calendar year |
Flag description | - | three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (double width), and blue with a white three-towered temple representing Angkor Wat outlined in black in the center of the red band |
GDP | - | purchasing power parity - $16.1 billion (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | - | agriculture:
43% industry: 20% services: 37% (1998 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $1,300 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | - | 4% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 0 00 N, 160 00 W | 13 00 N, 105 00 E |
Geography - note | the major chokepoints are the Bering Strait, Panama Canal, Luzon Strait, and the Singapore Strait; the Equator divides the Pacific Ocean into the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean; dotted with low coral islands and rugged volcanic islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean | a land of paddies and forests dominated by the Mekong River and Tonle Sap |
Heliports | - | 3 (2000 est.) |
Highways | - | total:
35,769 km paved: 4,165 km unpaved: 31,604 km (1997) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | - | lowest 10%:
2.9% highest 10%: 33.8% (1997) |
Illicit drugs | - | possible money laundering; narcotics-related corruption reportedly involving some in the government, military, and police; possible small-scale opium, heroin, and amphetamine production; large producer of cannabis for the international market |
Imports | - | $1.3 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Imports - commodities | - | cigarettes, gold, construction materials, petroleum products, machinery, motor vehicles |
Imports - partners | - | Thailand 16%, Vietnam 9%, Japan 7%, Hong Kong 5%, China 5% (1997) |
Independence | - | 9 November 1953 (from France) |
Industrial production growth rate | - | NA% |
Industries | - | garments, tourism, rice milling, fishing, wood and wood products, rubber, cement, gem mining, textiles |
Infant mortality rate | - | 65.41 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | - | 1.6% (2000 est.) |
International organization participation | - | ACCT, ARF, AsDB, ASEAN, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (subscriber), ITU, NAM, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer) |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 2 (2000) |
Irrigated land | - | 920 sq km (1993 est.) |
Judicial branch | - | Supreme Council of the Magistracy (provided for in the constitution and formed in December 1997); Supreme Court (and lower courts) exercises judicial authority |
Labor force | - | 6 million (1998 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | - | agriculture 80% (1999 est.) |
Land boundaries | - | total:
2,572 km border countries: Laos 541 km, Thailand 803 km, Vietnam 1,228 km |
Land use | - | arable land:
13% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 11% forests and woodland: 66% other: 10% (1993 est.) |
Languages | - | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
Legal system | - | primarily a civil law mixture of French-influenced codes from the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) period, royal decrees, and acts of the legislature, with influences of customary law and remnants of communist legal theory; increasing influence of common law in recent years |
Legislative branch | - | bicameral consists of the National Assembly (122 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and the Senate (61 seats; two members appointed by the monarch, two elected by the National Assembly, and 57 elected by "functional constituencies"; members serve five-year terms
elections: National Assembly - last held 26 July 1998 (next to be held NA 2003); Senate - last held 2 March 1999 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: National Assembly - percent of vote by party - CPP 41%, FUNCINPEC 32%, SRP 14%, other 13%; seats by party - CPP 64, FUNCINPEC 43, SRP 15; Senate - seats by party - CPP 31, FUNCINPEC 21, SRP 7 |
Life expectancy at birth | - | total population:
56.82 years male: 54.62 years female: 59.12 years (2001 est.) |
Literacy | - | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 35% male: 48% female: 22% (1990 est.) |
Location | body of water between the Southern Ocean, Asia, Australia, and the Western Hemisphere | Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos |
Map references | Political Map of the World | Southeast Asia |
Maritime claims | - | contiguous zone:
24 NM continental shelf: 200 NM exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
Merchant marine | - | total:
295 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,305,932 GRT/1,853,487 DWT ships by type: bulk 22, cargo 237, chemical tanker 1, combination bulk 3, container 8, liquefied gas 1, livestock carrier 2, multi-functional large-load carrier 1, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 7, refrigerated cargo 6, roll on/roll off 5, short-sea passenger 1 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Cyprus 3, South Korea 1, Malta 1, Panama 1, Russia 1, Singapore 1 (2000 est.) |
Military branches | - | Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), including Army, Navy, and Air Force - created in 1993 by the merger of the Cambodian People's Armed Forces and the two noncommunist resistance armies
note: Khmer Rouge and royalist insurgent forces were integrated into the RCAF in 1999 |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $112 million (FY01 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | 3% (FY01 est.) |
Military manpower - availability | - | males age 15-49:
2,877,137 (2001 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | - | males age 15-49:
1,610,761 (2001 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | - | 18 years of age |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | - | males:
162,643 (2001 est.) |
National holiday | - | Independence Day, 9 November (1953) |
Nationality | - | noun:
Cambodian(s) adjective: Cambodian |
Natural hazards | surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and earthquake activity sometimes referred to as the "Pacific Ring of Fire"; subject to tropical cyclones (typhoons) in southeast and east Asia from May to December (most frequent from July to October); tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico and strike Central America and Mexico from June to October (most common in August and September); cyclical El Nino/La Nina phenomenon occurs in the equatorial Pacific, influencing weather in the Western Hemisphere and the western Pacific; ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north from October to May; persistent fog in the northern Pacific can be a maritime hazard from June to December | monsoonal rains (June to November); flooding; occasional droughts |
Natural resources | oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish | timber, gemstones, some iron ore, manganese, phosphates, hydropower potential |
Net migration rate | - | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Political parties and leaders | - | Buddhist Liberal Party or BLP [IENG MOULY]; Cambodian Pracheachon Party or Cambodian People's Party or CPP [CHEA SIM]; Khmer Citizen Party or KCP [NGUON SOEUR]; National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia or FUNCINPEC [Prince NORODOM RANARIDDH]; Sam Rangsi Party or SRP (formerly Khmer Nation Party or KNP) [SAM RANGSI] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | - | NA |
Population | - | 12,491,501
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 2001 est.) |
Population below poverty line | - | 36% (1997 est.) |
Population growth rate | - | 2.25% (2001 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Kampong Saom (Sihanoukville), Kampot, Krong Kaoh Kong, Phnom Penh |
Radio broadcast stations | - | AM 7, FM 3, shortwave 3 (1999) |
Radios | - | 1.34 million (1997) |
Railways | - | total:
603 km narrow gauge: 603 km 1.000-m gauge |
Religions | - | Theravada Buddhist 95%, other 5% |
Sex ratio | - | at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.89 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
Suffrage | - | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | - | general assessment:
adequate landline and/or cellular service in Phnom Penh and other provincial cities; rural areas have little telephone service domestic: NA international: adequate but expensive landline and cellular service available to all countries from Phnom Penh and major provincial cities; satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) |
Telephones - main lines in use | - | 21,800 (mid-1998) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | - | 80,000 (2000) |
Television broadcast stations | - | 5 (1999) |
Terrain | surface currents in the northern Pacific are dominated by a clockwise, warm-water gyre (broad circular system of currents) and in the southern Pacific by a counterclockwise, cool-water gyre; in the northern Pacific, sea ice forms in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk in winter; in the southern Pacific, sea ice from Antarctica reaches its northernmost extent in October; the ocean floor in the eastern Pacific is dominated by the East Pacific Rise, while the western Pacific is dissected by deep trenches, including the Mariana Trench, which is the world's deepest | mostly low, flat plains; mountains in southwest and north |
Total fertility rate | - | 4.74 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
Transportation - note | Inside Passage offers protected waters from southeast Alaska to Puget Sound (Washington state) | - |
Unemployment rate | - | 2.8% (1999 est.) |
Waterways | - | 3,700 km
note: navigable all year to craft drawing 0.6 m or less; 282 km navigable to craft drawing as much as 1.8 m |