Portugal (2006) | Eritrea (2002) | |
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Administrative divisions | 18 districts (distritos, singular - distrito) and 2 autonomous regions* (regioes autonomas, singular - regiao autonoma); Aveiro, Acores (Azores)*, Beja, Braga, Braganca, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Evora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisboa, Madeira*, Portalegre, Porto, Santarem, Setubal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, Viseu | 6 regions (regions, singular - region); Central, Anelba, Southern Red Sea, Northern Red Sea, Southern, Gash-Barka |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 16.5% (male 915,604/female 839,004)
15-64 years: 66.3% (male 3,484,545/female 3,544,674) 65 years and over: 17.2% (male 751,899/female 1,070,144) (2006 est.) |
0-14 years: 42.9% (male 958,564; female 955,625)
15-64 years: 53.9% (male 1,192,454; female 1,213,313) 65 years and over: 3.2% (male 73,017; female 72,678) (2002 est.) |
Agriculture - products | grain, potatoes, tomatoes, olives, grapes; sheep, cattle, goats, swine, poultry, dairy products; fish | sorghum, lentils, vegetables, corn, cotton, tobacco, coffee, sisal; livestock, goats; fish |
Airports | 66 (2006) | 21 (2001) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 43
over 3,047 m: 5 2,438 to 3,047 m: 9 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 13 under 914 m: 11 (2006) |
total: 4
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 23
914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 22 (2006) |
total: 14
over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 2 (2002) |
Area | total: 92,391 sq km
land: 91,951 sq km water: 440 sq km note: includes Azores and Madeira Islands |
total: 121,320 sq km
land: 121,320 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Indiana | slightly larger than Pennsylvania |
Background | Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil as a colony. A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades, repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986. | Eritrea was awarded to Ethiopia in 1952 as part of a federation. Ethiopia's annexation of Eritrea as a province 10 years later sparked a 30-year struggle for independence that ended in 1991 with Eritrean rebels defeating governmental forces; independence was overwhelmingly approved in a 1993 referendum. A two and a half year border war with Ethiopia that erupted in 1998 ended under UN auspices on 12 December 2000. Eritrea currently hosts a UN peacekeeping operation that will monitor the border region until an international commission determines and demarcates the boundary between the two countries. |
Birth rate | 10.72 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 42.25 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $78.84 billion
expenditures: $90.27 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.) |
revenues: $206.4 million
expenditures: $615.7 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.) |
Capital | name: Lisbon
geographic coordinates: 38 43 N, 9 08 W time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
Asmara (formerly Asmera) |
Climate | maritime temperate; cool and rainy in north, warmer and drier in south | hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually); semiarid in western hills and lowlands; rainfall heaviest during June-September except in coastal desert |
Coastline | 1,793 km | 2,234 km total; mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km |
Constitution | 25 April 1976; revised many times | the transitional constitution, decreed on 19 May 1993, was replaced by a new constitution adopted on 23 May 1997, but not yet implemented |
Country name | conventional long form: Portuguese Republic
conventional short form: Portugal local long form: Republica Portuguesa local short form: Portugal |
conventional long form: State of Eritrea
conventional short form: Eritrea local long form: Hagere Ertra local short form: Ertra former: Eritrea Autonomous Region in Ethiopia |
Currency | - | nakfa (ERN) |
Death rate | 10.5 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 11.82 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $287.8 billion (2005 est.) | $281 million (2000 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Alfred J. HOFFMAN Jr.
embassy: Avenida das Forcas Armadas, 1600-081 Lisbon mailing address: Apartado 43033, 1601-301 Lisboa; PSC 83, APO AE 09726 telephone: [351] (21) 727-3300 FAX: [351] (21) 726-9109 consulate(s): Ponta Delgada (Azores) |
chief of mission: Ambassador Donald J. McCONNELL
embassy: Franklin D. Roosevelt Street, Asmara mailing address: P. O. Box 211, Asmara telephone: [291] (1) 120004 FAX: [291] (1) 127584 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Pedro Manuel Dos Reis Alves CATARINO
chancery: 2012 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: [1] (202) 350-5400 FAX: [1] (202) 462-3726 consulate(s) general: Boston, New York, Newark (New Jersey), San Francisco consulate(s): New Bedford (Massachusetts), Providence (Rhode Island) |
chief of mission: Ambassador GIRMA Asmerom
chancery: 1708 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 319-1991 FAX: [1] (202) 319-1304 consulate(s) general: Oakland (California) |
Disputes - international | Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz | Eritrea and Ethiopia have expressed general approval of the April 2002 arbitration commission ruling re-delimiting the boundary, the focus of their 1998-2000 war; United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) will monitor activities within the 25-km wide temporary security zone in Eritrea until demarcation and de-mining are complete; Yemen has asserted traditional fishing rights to islands ceded to Eritrea in ICJ ruling |
Economic aid - donor | ODA, $271 million (1995) | - |
Economic aid - recipient | - | $77 million (1999) (1999) |
Economy - overview | Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy since joining the European Community in 1986. Over the past decade, successive governments have privatized many state-controlled firms and liberalized key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and began circulating the euro on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU member economies. Economic growth had been above the EU average for much of the past decade, but fell back in 2001-05. GDP per capita stands at two-thirds that of the Big Four EU economies. A poor educational system, in particular, has been an obstacle to greater productivity and growth. Portugal has been increasingly overshadowed by lower-cost producers in Central Europe and Asia as a target for foreign direct investment. The government faces tough choices in its attempts to boost Portugal's economic competitiveness while keeping the budget deficit within the eurozone's 3%-of-GDP ceiling. | Since independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993, Eritrea has faced the economic problems of a small, desperately poor country. Like the economies of many African nations, the economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture, with 80% of the population involved in farming and herding. The Ethiopian-Eritrea war in 1998-2000 severely hurt Eritrea's economy. GDP growth in 1999 fell to less than 1%, and GDP decreased by 8.2% in 2000. The May 2000 Ethiopian offensive into northern Eritrea caused some $600 million in property damage and loss, including losses of $225 million in livestock and 55,000 homes. The attack prevented planting of crops in Eritrea's most productive region, causing food production to drop by 62%. Even during the war, Eritrea developed its transportation infrastructure, asphalting new roads, improving its ports, and repairing war damaged roads and bridges. Eritrea's economic future remains mixed. The cessation of Ethiopian trade, which mainly used Eritrean ports before the war, leaves Eritrea with a large economic hole to fill. Eritrea's economic future depends upon its ability to master fundamental social problems like illiteracy, unemployment, and low skills, and to convert the diaspora's money and expertise into economic growth. |
Electricity - consumption | 44.01 billion kWh (2003) | 195.3 million kWh (2000) |
Electricity - exports | 3.1 billion kWh (2003) | 0 kWh NA kWh (2000) |
Electricity - imports | 5.9 billion kWh (2003) | 0 kWh NA kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production | 44.32 billion kWh (2003) | 210 million kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2000) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Ponta do Pico (Pico or Pico Alto) on Ilha do Pico in the Azores 2,351 m |
lowest point: near Kulul within the Denakil depression -75 m
highest point: Soira 3,018 m |
Environment - current issues | soil erosion; air pollution caused by industrial and vehicle emissions; water pollution, especially in coastal areas | deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Environmental Modification |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | homogeneous Mediterranean stock; citizens of black African descent who immigrated to mainland during decolonization number less than 100,000; since 1990 East Europeans have entered Portugal | ethnic Tigrinya 50%, Tigre and Kunama 40%, Afar 4%, Saho (Red Sea coast dwellers) 3%, other 3% |
Exchange rates | euros per US dollar - 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001) | nakfa (ERN) per US dollar - 9.5 (January 2000), 7.6 (January 1999), 7.2 (March 1998 est.) |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Anibal CAVACO Silva (since 9 March 2006)
head of government: Prime Minister Jose SOCRATES (since 12 March 2005) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister note: there is also a Council of State that acts as a consultative body to the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 22 January 2006 (next to be held January 2011); following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president election results: Anibal CAVACO Silva elected president; percent of vote - Anibal CAVACO Silva 50.6%, Manuel ALEGRE 20.7%, Mario SOARES 14.3%, Jeronimo de SOUSA 8.5%, Franciso LOUCA 5.3% |
chief of state: President Afworki ISAIAS (since 8 June 1993); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government and is head of the State Council and National Assembly
head of government: President Afworki ISAIAS (since 8 June 1993); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government and is head of the State Council and National Assembly cabinet: State Council is the collective executive authority; members appointed by the president elections: president elected by the National Assembly; election last held 8 June 1993 (next election date uncertain as the National Assembly did not hold a presidential election in December 2001 as anticipated) election results: ISAIAS Afworki elected president; percent of National Assembly vote - ISAIAS Afworki 95% |
Exports | 28,830 bbl/day (2001) | $34.8 million f.o.b. (2000) |
Exports - commodities | clothing and footwear, machinery, chemicals, cork and paper products, hides | livestock, sorghum, textiles, food, small manufactures |
Exports - partners | Spain 25.9%, France 13.1%, Germany 11.9%, UK 8%, US 5.4%, Italy 4.3% (2005) | Sudan 27.2%, Ethiopia 26.5%, Japan 13.2%, UAE 7.3%, Italy 5.3% (1998) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | two vertical bands of green (hoist side, two-fifths) and red (three-fifths) with the Portuguese coat of arms centered on the dividing line | red isosceles triangle (based on the hoist side) dividing the flag into two right triangles; the upper triangle is green, the lower one is blue; a gold wreath encircling a gold olive branch is centered on the hoist side of the red triangle |
GDP | - | purchasing power parity - $3.2 billion (2001 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 5.3%
industry: 27.4% services: 67.3% (2005 est.) |
agriculture: 17%
industry: 29% services: 54% (2001 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $740 (2001 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 0.4% (2005 est.) | 7% (2001 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 39 30 N, 8 00 W | 15 00 N, 39 00 E |
Geography - note | Azores and Madeira Islands occupy strategic locations along western sea approaches to Strait of Gibraltar | strategic geopolitical position along world's busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993 |
Highways | - | total: 3,850 km
paved: 810 km unpaved: 3,040 km (2000) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 28.4% (1995 est.) |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
Illicit drugs | gateway country for Latin American cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin entering the European market (especially from Brazil); transshipment point for hashish from North Africa to Europe; consumer of Southwest Asian heroin | - |
Imports | 357,300 bbl/day (2001) | $470.5 million c.i.f. (2000) |
Imports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum, textiles, agricultural products | machinery, petroleum products, food, manufactured goods |
Imports - partners | Spain 29%, Germany 13.4%, France 8.5%, Italy 5.2%, Netherlands 4.3%, UK 4.2% (2005) | Italy 17.4%, UAE 16.2%, Germany 5.7%, UK 4.5%, Korea 4.4% (1998) |
Independence | 1143 (Kingdom of Portugal recognized); 5 October 1910 (independent republic proclaimed) | 24 May 1993 (from Ethiopia) |
Industrial production growth rate | 0% (2005 est.) | NA% |
Industries | textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metals and metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; rubber and plastic products; ceramics; electronics and communications equipment; rail transportation equipment; aerospace equipment; ship construction and refurbishment; wine; tourism | food processing, beverages, clothing and textiles |
Infant mortality rate | total: 4.98 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 5.45 deaths/1,000 live births female: 4.48 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) |
73.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 2.3% (2005 est.) | 15% (2001 est.) |
International organization participation | AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MIGA, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, ONUB, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, SECI (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, ZC | ACP, AfDB, CCC, ECA, FAO, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS (associate), IGAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 5 (2001) |
Irrigated land | 6,500 sq km (2003) | 220 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Supremo Tribunal de Justica (judges appointed for life by the Conselho Superior da Magistratura) | High court, regional, subregional, and village courts; also have military and special courts |
Labor force | 5.52 million (2005 est.) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 10%
industry: 30% services: 60% (1999 est.) |
agriculture 80%, industry and services 20% |
Land boundaries | total: 1,214 km
border countries: Spain 1,214 km |
total: 1,626 km
border countries: Djibouti 109 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km |
Land use | arable land: 17.29%
permanent crops: 7.84% other: 74.87% (2005) |
arable land: 3.87%
permanent crops: 0.02% other: 96.11% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used) | Afar, Amharic, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages |
Legal system | civil law system; the Constitutional Tribunal reviews the constitutionality of legislation; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations | primary basis is the Ethiopian legal code of 1957, with revisions; new civil, commercial, and penal codes have not yet been promulgated; also relies on customary and post-independence-enacted laws and, for civil cases involving Muslims, Sharia law |
Legislative branch | unicameral Assembly of the Republic or Assembleia da Republica (230 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 20 February 2005 (next to be held February 2009) election results: percent of vote by party - PS 45.1%, PSD 28.7%, CDU 7.6%, PP 7.3%, BE 6.4%; seats by party - PS 121, PSD 75, CDU 14, PP 12, BE 8 |
unicameral National Assembly (150 seats; term limits not established)
elections: in May 1997, following the adoption of the new constitution, 75 members of the PFDJ Central Committee (the old Central Committee of the EPLF), 60 members of the 527-member Constituent Assembly which had been established in 1997 to discuss and ratify the new constitution, and 15 representatives of Eritreans living abroad were formed into a Transitional National Assembly to serve as the country's legislative body until countrywide elections to a National Assembly were held; although only 75 of 150 members of the Transitional National Assembly were elected, the constitution stipulates that once past the transition stage, all members of the National Assembly will be elected by secret ballot of all eligible voters; National Assembly elections scheduled for December 2001 were postponed indefinately |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 77.7 years
male: 74.43 years female: 81.2 years (2006 est.) |
total population: 56.57 years
male: 54.09 years female: 59.13 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 93.3% male: 95.5% female: 91.3% (2003 est.) |
definition: NA
total population: 25% male: NA% female: NA% |
Location | Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Spain | Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan |
Map references | Europe | Africa |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation |
territorial sea: 12 NM |
Merchant marine | total: 111 ships (1000 GRT or over) 1,077,300 GRT/1,363,435 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 11, cargo 27, chemical tanker 15, container 7, liquefied gas 11, passenger 9, passenger/cargo 10, petroleum tanker 8, roll on/roll off 4, vehicle carrier 9 foreign-owned: 82 (Australia 1, Belgium 8, Cyprus 1, Denmark 4, Germany 17, Greece 4, Italy 12, Japan 9, Malta 1, Mexico 1, Netherlands 1, Norway 4, Spain 15, Switzerland 3, US 1) registered in other countries: 16 (Cyprus 2, Hong Kong 1, Malta 3, Panama 10) (2006) |
total: 6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 19,100 GRT/23,399 DWT
ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 2, liquefied gas 1, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 1 (2002 est.) |
Military branches | Army, Navy (Marinha Portuguesa; includes Marine Corps), Air Force (Forca Aerea Portuguesa, FAP), National Republican Guard (Guarda Nacional Republicana) (2005) | Army, Navy, Air Force |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $3,497.8 million (2003) | $138.3 million (FY01) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.3% (2003) | 19.8% (FY01) |
National holiday | Portugal Day (Day of Portugal), 10 June (1580); note - also called Camoes Day, the day that revered national poet Luis de Camoes (1524-80) died | Independence Day, 24 May (1993) |
Nationality | noun: Portuguese (singular and plural)
adjective: Portuguese |
noun: Eritrean(s)
adjective: Eritrean |
Natural hazards | Azores subject to severe earthquakes | frequent droughts; locust swarms |
Natural resources | fish, forests (cork), iron ore, copper, zinc, tin, tungsten, silver, gold, uranium, marble, clay, gypsum, salt, arable land, hydropower | gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish |
Net migration rate | 3.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 7.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: UNHCR began repatriating about 150,000 Eritrean refugees from Sudan in 2001 following the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2000 (2002 est.) |
Pipelines | gas 1,099 km; oil 8 km; refined products 174 km (2006) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Green Ecologist Party or PEV [Heloisa APOLONIA]; Popular Party or PP [Jose Ribeiro e CASTRO]; Portuguese Communist Party or PCP [Jeronimo de SOUSA]; Portuguese Socialist Party or PS [Jose SOCRATES Carvalho Pinto de Sousa]; Social Democratic Party or PSD [Luis Marques MENDES]; The Left Bloc or BE [Franciso Anacleto LOUCA]; Unitarian Democratic Coalition or CDU (includes PEV and PCP) [Jeronimo de SOUSA] | People's Front for Democracy and Justice or PFDJ, the only party recognized by the government [Afworki ISAIAS]; note - a National Assembly committee drafted a law on political parties in January 2001, but the full National Assembly had not yet debated or voted on it as of December 2001 |
Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | Eritrean Islamic Jihad or EIJ; Eritrean Liberation Front or ELF [ABDULLAH Muhammed]; Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council or ELF-RC [Ahmed NASSER]; Eritrean Liberation Front-United Organization or ELF-UO [Mohammed Said NAWD]; Eritrean Public Forum or EPF [ARADOM Iyob] |
Population | 10,605,870 (July 2006 est.) | 4,465,651 (July 2002 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | NA% |
Population growth rate | 0.36% (2006 est.) | 3.8% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Assab (Aseb), Massawa (Mits'iwa) |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 47, FM 172 (many are repeaters), shortwave 2 (1998) | AM 2, FM NA, shortwave 2 (2000) |
Radios | - | 345,000 (1997) |
Railways | total: 2,850 km
broad gauge: 2,576 km 1.668-m gauge (623 km electrified) narrow gauge: 274 km 1.000-m gauge (2005) |
total: 317 km
narrow gauge: 317 km 0.950-m gauge note: links Ak'ordat and Asmara with the port of Massawa; nonoperational since 1978 except for about a 5 km stretch that was reopened in Massawa in 1994; rehabilitation of the remainder and of the rolling stock is under way (2001 est.) |
Religions | Roman Catholic 94%, Protestant (1995) | Muslim, Coptic Christian, Roman Catholic, Protestant |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.09 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2006 est.) |
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: Portugal's telephone system has achieved a state-of-the-art network with broadband, high-speed capabilities
domestic: integrated network of coaxial cables, open-wire, microwave radio relay, and domestic satellite earth stations international: country code - 351; 6 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to Azores; note - an earth station for Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region) is planned |
general assessment: inadequate
domestic: very inadequate; most telephones are in Asmara; government is seeking international tenders to improve the system (2002) international: NA; note - international connections exist |
Telephones - main lines in use | 4.234 million (2005) | 30,000 (2001) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 11.448 million (2005) | NA; note - mobile cellular service was introduced in May 2001 |
Television broadcast stations | 62 (plus 166 repeaters)
note: includes Azores and Madeira Islands (1995) |
1 (2000) |
Terrain | mountainous north of the Tagus River, rolling plains in south | dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain, on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling plains |
Total fertility rate | 1.47 children born/woman (2006 est.) | 5.8 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 7.6% (2005 est.) | NA% |
Waterways | 210 km (on Douro River from Porto) (2003) | none |