Saint Martin (2007) | Bolivia (2006) | |
Administrative divisions | - | 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija |
Age structure | - | 0-14 years: 35% (male 1,603,982/female 1,542,319)
15-64 years: 60.4% (male 2,660,806/female 2,771,807) 65 years and over: 4.6% (male 182,412/female 227,720) (2006 est.) |
Agriculture - products | - | soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber |
Airports | 1 | 1,084 (2006) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 |
total: 16
over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 3 (2006) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | - | total: 1,068
over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 60 914 to 1,523 m: 207 under 914 m: 797 (2006) |
Area | total: 54.4 sq km
land: 54.4 sq km water: NEGL |
total: 1,098,580 sq km
land: 1,084,390 sq km water: 14,190 sq km |
Area - comparative | more than one-third the size of Washington, DC | slightly less than three times the size of Montana |
Background | Although sighted by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1493 and claimed for Spain, it was the Dutch who occupied the island in 1631 and set about exploiting its salt deposits. The Spanish retook the island in 1633, but continued to be harassed by the Dutch. The Spanish finally relinquished St. Martin to the French and Dutch, who divided it amongst themselves in 1648. The cultivation of sugar cane introduced slavery to the island in the late 18th century; the practice was not abolished until 1848. The island became a free port in 1939; the tourism industry was dramatically expanded during the 1970s and 1980s. In 2003, the populace of St. Martin voted to secede from Guadeloupe and in 2007, the northern portion of the island became a French overseas collectivity. | Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor majority. However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands. |
Birth rate | - | 23.3 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Budget | - | revenues: $2.848 billion
expenditures: $3.189 billion; including capital expenditures of $741 million (2005 est.) |
Capital | name: Marigot
geographical coordinates: 18 04 N, 63 05 W time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour behind Washington, DC, during Standard Time) daylight savings: +1 hour |
name: La Paz (adminstrative capital)
geographic coordinates: 16 30 S, 68 09 W time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) note: Sucre (constitutional capital) |
Climate | temperature averages 80-85 degrees all year long; low humidity, gentle trade winds, brief, intense rain showers; July-Novemeber is the hurricane season | varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid |
Coastline | 58.9 km (for entire island) | 0 km (landlocked) |
Constitution | 4 October 1958 (French Constitution) | 2 February 1967; revised in August 1994 |
Country name | conventional long form: Overseas Collectivity of Saint Martin
conventional short form: Saint Martin local long form: Collectivity d'outre mer de Saint-Martin local short form: Saint-Martin |
conventional long form: Republic of Bolivia
conventional short form: Bolivia local long form: Republica de Bolivia local short form: Bolivia |
Death rate | - | 7.53 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Debt - external | - | $6.309 billion (2005 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none (overseas collectivity of France) | chief of mission: Ambassador Philip S. GOLDBERG
embassy: Avenida Arce 2780, La Paz mailing address: P. O. Box 425, La Paz; APO AA 34032 telephone: [591] (2) 216-8000 FAX: [591] (2) 216-8111 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none (overseas collectivity of France) | chief of mission: Ambassador Gustavo GUZMAN Saldana
chancery: 3014 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 483-4410 FAX: [1] (202) 328-3712 consulate(s) general: Houston, Miami, New York, Oklahoma City, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, DC |
Disputes - international | - | Chile rebuffs Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, offering instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile for Bolivian natural gas and other commodities |
Economic aid - recipient | - | $221 million (2005 est.) |
Economy - overview | The economy of Saint Martin centers around tourism with 85% of the labor force engaged in this sector. Over one million visitors come to the island each year with most arriving through the Princess Juliana International Airport in Sint Maarten. No significant agriculture and limited local fishing means that almost all food must be imported. Energy resources and manufactured goods are also imported, primarily from Mexico and the United States. Saint Martin is reported to have the highest per capita income in the Caribbean. | Bolivia, long one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries, reformed its economy after suffering a disastrous economic crisis in the early 1980s. The reforms spurred real GDP growth, which averaged 4% in the 1990s, and poverty rates fell. Economic growth, however, lagged again beginning in 1999 because of a global slowdown and homegrown factors such as political turmoil, civil unrest, and soaring fiscal deficits, all of which hurt investor confidence. In 2003, violent protests against the pro-foreign investment economic policies of President SANCHEZ DE LOZADA led to his resignation and the cancellation of plans to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial natural gas law that imposes on the oil and gas firms significantly higher taxes as well as new contracts that give the state control of their operations. Bolivian officials are in the process of implementing the law; meanwhile, foreign investors have stopped investing and have taken the first legal steps to secure their investments. Real GDP growth in 2003-05 - helped by increased demand for natural gas in neighboring Brazil - was positive, but still below the levels seen during the 1990s. Bolivia's fiscal position has improved in recent years, but the country remains dependent on foreign aid from multilateral lenders and foreign governments to meet budget shortfalls. In 2005, the G8 announced a $2 billion debt-forgiveness plan over the next few decades that should help reduce some fiscal pressures on the government in the near term. |
Electricity - consumption | - | 3.963 billion kWh (2003) |
Electricity - exports | - | 0 kWh (2003) |
Electricity - imports | - | 10 million kWh (2003) |
Electricity - production | - | 4.25 billion kWh (2003) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Caribbean Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pic du Paradis 424 m |
lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m
highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m |
Environment - current issues | fresh water supply is dependent on desalinization of sea water | the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical timber are contributing to deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification; loss of biodiversity; industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation |
Environment - international agreements | - | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection |
Ethnic groups | creole (mulatto), black, Guadeloupe Mestizo (French-East Asia), white, East Indian | Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15% |
Exchange rates | euros per US dollar - 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002) | bolivianos per US dollar - 8.0661 (2005), 7.9363 (2004), 7.6592 (2003), 7.17 (2002), 6.6069 (2001) |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Nicolas SARKOZY (since 16 May 2007), represented by Prefect Dominique LACROIX (since 21 March 2007)
head of government: President of the Territorial Council Louis-Constant FLEMING (since 16 July 2007) cabinet: Executive Council; note - there is also an advisory economic, social, and cultural council election: French president elected by popular vote to a five-year term; prefect appointed by the French president on the advice of the French Ministry of Interior; president of the Territorial Council is elected by the members of the Council for a five-year term election results: Louis-Constant FLEMING unanimously elected president by the Territorial Council on 16 July 2007 |
chief of state: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006); Vice President Alvaro GARCIA Linera (since 22 January 2006); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006); Vice President Alvaro GARCIA Linera (since 22 January 2006); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a single five-year term; election last held 18 December 2005 (next to be held in 2010) election results: Juan Evo MORALES Ayma elected president; percent of vote - Juan Evo MORALES Ayma 53.7%; Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez 28.6%; Samuel DORIA MEDINA Arana 7.8%; Michiaki NAGATANI Morishit 6.5%; Felipe QUISPE Huanca 2.2%; Guildo ANGULA Cabrera 0.7% |
Exports | - | NA bbl/day |
Exports - commodities | - | natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin |
Exports - partners | - | Brazil 41.2%, US 14.1%, Colombia 8.8%, Argentina 7.6%, Peru 5.5% (2005) |
Fiscal year | - | calendar year |
Flag description | the flag of France is used | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band; similar to the flag of Ghana, which has a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 1%
industry: 15% services: 84% (2000) |
agriculture: 12.8%
industry: 35.2% services: 52% (2005 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | - | 4.1% (2005 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 18 05 N, 63 57 W | 17 00 S, 65 00 W |
Geography - note | the island of Saint Martin is the smallest landmass in the World shared by two independent states, the French territory of Saint Martin and the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten | landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | - | lowest 10%: 1.3%
highest 10%: 32% (1999) |
Illicit drugs | - | world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and Peru) with an estimated 26,500 hectares under cultivation in August 2005, an 8% increase from 2004; intermediate coca products and cocaine exported mostly to or through Brazil, Argentina, and Chile to European drug markets; cultivation steadily increasing despite eradication and alternative crop programs; money-laundering activity related to narcotics trade, especially along the borders with Brazil and Paraguay |
Imports | - | NA bbl/day |
Imports - commodities | crude petroleum, food, manufactured items | petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans |
Imports - partners | US, Mexico (2006) | Brazil 21.9%, Argentina 16.7%, US 13.8%, Chile 6.9%, Peru 6.5%, Japan 6.1%, China 5.8% (2005) |
Independence | none (overseas collectivity of France) | 6 August 1825 (from Spain) |
Industrial production growth rate | - | 5.7% (2004 est.) |
Industries | tourism, light industry and manufacturing, heavy industry | mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing |
Infant mortality rate | - | total: 51.77 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 55.31 deaths/1,000 live births female: 48.05 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | - | 5.4% (2005 est.) |
International organization participation | UPU | CAN, CSN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMISET, UNOCI, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO |
Irrigated land | - | 1,320 sq km (2003) |
Judicial branch | - | Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges appointed for 10-year terms by National Congress); District Courts (one in each department); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases) |
Labor force | - | 4.22 million (2005 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | 85% directly or indirectly employed in tourist industry | agriculture: NA%
industry: NA% services: NA% |
Land boundaries | total: 15 km
border countries: Netherlands Antilles (Sint Maarten) 15 km |
total: 6,743 km
border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,400 km, Chile 861 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 900 km |
Land use | - | arable land: 2.78%
permanent crops: 0.19% other: 97.03% (2005) |
Languages | French (official language), English, Dutch, French Patois, Spanish, Papiamento (dialect of Netherlands Antilles) | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) |
Legal system | the laws of France, where applicable, apply | based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | unicameral Territorial Council (23 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 1 and 8 July 2007 (next to be held July 2012) election results: percent of seats by party - UPP 49%, RRR 42.2%, Reussir Saint-Martin 8.9%; seats by party - UPP 16, RRR 6, Reussir Saint-Martin 1 |
bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27 seats; members are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; 69 are directly elected from their districts and 61 are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms)
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 18 December 2005 (next to be held in 2010) election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PODEMOS 13, MAS 12, UN 1, MNR 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - MAS 73, PODEMOS 43, UN 8, MNR 6 |
Life expectancy at birth | - | total population: 65.84 years
male: 63.21 years female: 68.61 years (2006 est.) |
Literacy | - | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 87.2% male: 93.1% female: 81.6% (2003 est.) |
Location | island 300 km southeast of Puerto Rico | Central South America, southwest of Brazil |
Map references | Central America and the Caribbean | South America |
Maritime claims | - | none (landlocked) |
Merchant marine | - | total: 24 ships (1000 GRT or over) 127,297 GRT/198,525 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo 8, chemical tanker 1, passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 10 foreign-owned: 10 (Argentina 1, China 1, Egypt 2, Iran 1, Singapore 3, Taiwan 1, Yemen 1) (2006) |
Military - note | defense is the responsibility of France | - |
Military branches | - | Bolivian Armed Forces: Bolivian Army (Ejercito Boliviano), Bolivian Navy (Armada Boliviana; includes marines), Bolivian Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana, FAB) (2006) |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $130 million (2005 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | 1.4% (2005 est.) |
National holiday | Bastille Day, 14 July (1789); note - local holiday is Schoalcher Day (Slavery Abolition Day) 12 July (1848) | Independence Day, 6 August (1825) |
Nationality | - | noun: Bolivian(s)
adjective: Bolivian |
Natural hazards | - | flooding in the northeast (March-April) |
Natural resources | salt | tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower |
Net migration rate | - | -1.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Pipelines | - | gas 4,860 km; liquid petroleum gas 47 km; oil 2,475 km; refined products 1,589 km; unknown (oil/water) 247 km (2006) |
Political parties and leaders | Union Pour le Progres or UPP [Louis Constant FLEMING]; Rassemblement Responsabilite Reussite or RRR [Alain RICHARDSON]; Reussir Saint-Martin [Jean-Luc HAMLET] | Bolivian Socialist Falange or FSB [Romel PANTOJA]; Civic Solidarity Union or UCS [Johnny FERNANDEZ]; Free Bolivia Movement or MBL [Franz BARRIOS]; Marshal of Ayacucho Institutional Vanguard or VIMA [Freddy ZABALA]; Movement of the Revolutionary Left or MIR [Jaime PAZ Zamora]; Movement Toward Socialism or MAS [Juan Evo MORALES Ayma]; Movement Without Fear or MSM [Juan DEL GRANADO]; National Revolutionary Movement or MNR [Gonzalo SANCHEZ DE LOZADA]; New Republican Force or NFR [Manfred REYES-VILLA]; Pachakuti Indigenous Movement or MIP [Felipe QUISPE Huanca]; Poder Democratico Nacional or PODEMOS [Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez]; Socialist Party or PS [Jeres JUSTINIANO] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | - | Cocalero groups; indigenous organizations; labor unions; Sole Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia or CSUTCB [Roman LOAYZA] |
Population | 33,102 (October 2004 census) | 8,989,046 (July 2006 est.) |
Population below poverty line | - | 64% (2004 est.) |
Population growth rate | - | 1.45% (2006 est.) |
Radio broadcast stations | FM 3 (2007) | AM 171, FM 73, shortwave 77 (1999) |
Railways | - | total: 3,519 km
narrow gauge: 3,519 km 1.000-m gauge (2005) |
Religions | Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, Protestant, Hindu | Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5% |
Sex ratio | - | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2006 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age, universal | 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single) |
Telephone system | general assessment: fully integrated access
domestic: direct dial capability with both fixed and wireless systems international: country code - 590; undersea fiber-optic cable provides voice and data connectivity to Puerto Rico and Gudaloupe |
general assessment: new subscribers face bureaucratic difficulties; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz and other cities; mobile cellular telephone use expanding rapidly
domestic: primary trunk system, which is being expanded, employs digital microwave radio relay; some areas are served by fiber-optic cable; mobile cellular systems are being expanded international: country code - 591; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
Telephones - main lines in use | - | 646,300 (2005) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | - | 2.421 million (2005) |
Television broadcast stations | - | 48 (1997) |
Terrain | - | rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin |
Total fertility rate | - | 2.85 children born/woman (2006 est.) |
Transportation - note | nearest airport for international flights is Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) located in Sint Maarten | - |
Unemployment rate | - | 8% in urban areas; widespread underemployment (2005 est.) |
Waterways | - | 10,000 km (commercially navigable) (2005) |