Compare Pacific Ocean (2008) - Cocos (Keeling) Islands (2007)

Compare Pacific Ocean (2008) z Cocos (Keeling) Islands (2007)

	Pacific Ocean (2008)	Cocos (Keeling) Islands (2007)

Administrative divisions	-	none (territory of Australia)
Age structure	-	0-14 years: NA 15-64 years: NA 65 years and over: NA
Agriculture - products	-	vegetables, bananas, pawpaws, coconuts
Airports	-	1 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	-	total: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2007)
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: 14 sq km land: 14 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes the two main islands of West Island and Home Island
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	about 24 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
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.	There are 27 coral islands in the group. Captain William KEELING discovered the islands in 1609, but they remained uninhabited until the 19th century. From the 1820s to 1978, members of the CLUNIE-ROSS family controlled the islands and the copra produced from local coconuts. Annexed by the UK in 1857, the Cocos Islands were transferred to the Australian Government in 1955. The population on the two inhabited islands generally is split between the ethnic Europeans on West Island and the ethnic Malays on Home Island.
Birth rate	-	NA
Budget	-	revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA
Capital	-	name: West Island geographic coordinates: 12 10 S, 96 50 E time difference: UTC+6.5 (11.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
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 with high humidity, moderated by the southeast trade winds for about nine months of the year
Coastline	135,663 km	26 km
Constitution	-	Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act of 1955 (23 November 1955) as amended by the Territories Law Reform Act of 1992
Country name	-	conventional long form: Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands conventional short form: Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Death rate	-	NA
Dependency status	-	non-self governing territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services
Diplomatic representation from the US	-	none (territory of Australia)
Diplomatic representation in the US	-	none (territory of Australia)
Disputes - international	some maritime disputes (see littoral states)	none
Economic aid - recipient	-	$NA
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.	Grown throughout the islands, coconuts are the sole cash crop. Small local gardens and fishing contribute to the food supply, but additional food and most other necessities must be imported from Australia. There is a small tourist industry.
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench -10,924 m highest point: sea level 0 m	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location 5 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	fresh water resources are limited to rainwater accumulations in natural underground reservoirs
Ethnic groups	-	Europeans, Cocos Malays
Exchange rates	-	Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.3285 (2006), 1.3095 (2005), 1.3598 (2004), 1.5419 (2003), 1.8406 (2002)
Executive branch	-	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by the Australian governor general head of government: Administrator (nonresident) Neil LUCAS (since 30 January 2006) cabinet: NA elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; administrator appointed by the governor general of Australia and represents the monarch and Australia
Exports	-	$NA
Exports - commodities	-	copra
Exports - partners	-	Australia (2006)
Fiscal year	-	1 July - 30 June
Flag description	-	the flag of Australia is used
Geographic coordinates	0 00 N, 160 00 W	12 30 S, 96 50 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	islands are thickly covered with coconut palms and other vegetation
Imports	-	$NA
Imports - commodities	-	foodstuffs
Imports - partners	-	Australia (2006)
Independence	-	none (territory of Australia)
Industries	-	copra products and tourism
Infant mortality rate	-	total: NA male: NA female: NA
International organization participation	-	none
Irrigated land	-	NA
Judicial branch	-	Supreme Court; Magistrate's Court
Labor force	-	NA
Labor force - by occupation	-	note: the Cocos Islands Cooperative Society Ltd. employs construction workers, stevedores, and lighterage workers; tourism employs others
Land boundaries	-	0 km
Land use	-	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2005)
Languages	-	Malay (Cocos dialect), English
Legal system	-	based upon the laws of Australia and local laws
Legislative branch	-	unicameral Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire Council (7 seats) elections: held every two years with half the members standing for election; last held in May 2005 (next to be held in May 2007)
Life expectancy at birth	-	total population: NA male: NA female: NA
Literacy	-	NA
Location	body of water between the Southern Ocean, Asia, Australia, and the Western Hemisphere	Southeastern Asia, group of islands in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Indonesia, about halfway from Australia to Sri Lanka
Map references	Political Map of the World	Southeast Asia
Maritime claims	-	territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Military - note	-	defense is the responsibility of Australia; the territory has a five-person police force
National holiday	-	Australia Day, 26 January (1788)
Nationality	-	noun: Cocos Islander(s) adjective: Cocos Islander
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	cyclone season is October to April
Natural resources	oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish	fish
Net migration rate	-	NA
Political parties and leaders	-	none
Political pressure groups and leaders	-	none
Population	-	596 (July 2007 est.)
Population growth rate	-	0% (2007 est.)
Radio broadcast stations	-	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (2004)
Religions	-	Sunni Muslim 80%, other 20% (2002 est.)
Suffrage	-	NA
Telephone system	-	general assessment: connected within Australia's telecommunication system domestic: NA international: country code - 61; telephone, telex, and facsimile communications with Australia and elsewhere via satellite; 1 INTELSAT satellite earth station (2001)
Telephones - main lines in use	-	287 (1992)
Television broadcast stations	-	NA
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	flat, low-lying coral atolls
Total fertility rate	-	NA
Transportation - note	Inside Passage offers protected waters from southeast Alaska to Puget Sound (Washington state)	-
Unemployment rate	-	60% (2000 est.)

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