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Compare Solomon Islands (2002) - World (2003)

Compare Solomon Islands (2002) z World (2003)

 Solomon Islands (2002)World (2003)
 Solomon IslandsWorld
Administrative divisions 9 provinces and 1 capital territory*; Central, Choiseul (Lauru), Guadalcanal, Honiara*, Isabel, Makira, Malaita, Rennell/Bellona, Temotu, Western 268 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries
Age structure 0-14 years: 43.4% (male 109,339; female 105,170)


15-64 years: 53.5% (male 134,125; female 130,804)


65 years and over: 3.1% (male 7,467; female 7,881) (2002 est.)
0-14 years: 29.2% (male 932,581,592; female 885,688,851)


15-64 years: 63.7% (male 2,009,997,089; female 1,964,938,201)


65 years and over: 7.1% (male 193,549,180; female 247,067,032) (2003 est.)


note: some countries do not maintain age structure information, thus a slight discrepancy exists between the total world population and the total for world age structure
Agriculture - products cocoa, beans, coconuts, palm kernels, rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruit; cattle, pigs; timber; fish -
Airports 31 (2001) -
Airports - with paved runways total: 2


1,524 to 2,437 m: 1


914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2002)
-
Airports - with unpaved runways total: 30


1,524 to 2,437 m: 1


914 to 1,523 m: 9


under 914 m: 20 (2002)
-
Area total: 28,450 sq km


land: 27,540 sq km


water: 910 sq km
total: 510.072 million sq km


land: 148.94 million sq km


water: 361.132 million sq km


note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land
Area - comparative slightly smaller than Maryland land area about 16 times the size of the US
Background The UK established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in the 1890s. Some of the most bitter fighting of World War II occurred on these islands. Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence two years later. Ethnic violence, government malfeasance, and endemic crime have undermined stability and civil society. Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war).
Birth rate 33.26 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) 20.43 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Budget revenues: $38 million (2001)


expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001)
-
Capital Honiara -
Climate tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates
Coastline 5,313 km 356,000 km
Constitution 7 July 1978 -
Country name conventional long form: none


conventional short form: Solomon Islands


former: British Solomon Islands
-
Currency Solomon Islands dollar (SBD) -
Death rate 4.19 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) 8.83 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Debt - external $137 million (2001 est.) $2 trillion for less developed countries (2002 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US the US does not have an embassy in Solomon Islands (embassy closed July 1993); the ambassador to Papua New Guinea is accredited to the Solomon Islands -
Diplomatic representation in the US chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Jeremiah MANELE


chancery: 800 Second Avenue, Suite 400L, New York, NY 10017


telephone: [1] (212) 599-6192, 6193


FAX: [1] (212) 661-8925
-
Disputes - international none Globally, there are over 250,000 km of international land boundaries that separate the world's 192 independent states, along with 70 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities. Maritime states have claimed limits and have so far established over 130 maritime boundaries and joint development zones to allocate ocean resources and to provide for their national security at sea. On land, ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries. All of these factors have contributed to a wide array of boundary, borderland, and territorial disagreements that vary in intensity from unresolved or dormant to outright war. Territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural animosities, or they may be brought on by resource competition. Ethnic clashes continue to be responsible for territorial fragmentation around the world. Undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and political confrontation over boundary allocations. Other sources of contention include the use of water and mineral (especially petroleum) resources, fisheries, dams, and nuclear power plants. Many islands or island groups are also disputed, including those at sea and in streams. Nonetheless, many nations are actively cooperating to clarify, delineate, and demarcate their international borders. The tragic aspect of international discord is the impact on the sustenance and welfare of populations caught in the conflict. It is frequently left to members of the world community to cope with enormous refugee situations, and the resultant hunger, disease, and impoverishment that they create.
Economic aid - recipient $28 million mainly from Japan, Australia, China, and NZ (2001 est.) official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion
Economy - overview The bulk of the population depends on agriculture, fishing, and forestry for at least part of their livelihood. Most manufactured goods and petroleum products must be imported. The islands are rich in undeveloped mineral resources such as lead, zinc, nickel, and gold. However, severe ethnic violence, the closing of key business enterprises, and an empty government treasury have led to serious economic disarray, indeed near collapse. Tanker deliveries of crucial fuel supplies (including those for electrical generation) have become sporadic due to the government's inability to pay and attacks against ships. Telecommunications are threatened by the nonpayment of bills and by the lack of technical and maintenance staff many of whom have left the country. Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) fell from 4.8% in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001 and 2.7% in 2002. The causes: sluggishness in the US economy (21% of GWP) and in the 15 EU economies (19% of GWP); continued stagnation in the Japanese economy (7.2% of GWP); and spillover effects in the less developed regions of the world. China, the second-largest economy in the world (12% of GWP), proved an exception, continuing its rapid annual growth, officially announced as 8% but estimated by many observers as perhaps two percentage points lower. Russia (2.6% of GWP), with 4% growth, continued to make uneven progress, its GDP per capita still only one-third that of the leading industrial nations. The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 5% range of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decision-making powers to international bodies. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2002, see the individual country entries.)
Electricity - consumption 29.76 million kWh (2000) 13.93 trillion kWh (2001 est.)
Electricity - exports 0 kWh (2000) -
Electricity - imports 0 kWh (2000) -
Electricity - production 32 million kWh (2000) 14.85 trillion kWh (2001 est.)
Electricity - production by source fossil fuel: 100%


hydro: 0%


nuclear: 0%


other: 0% (2000)
fossil fuel: NA%


hydro: NA%


nuclear: NA%


other: NA%
Elevation extremes lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m


highest point: Mount Makarakomburu 2,447 m
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m


note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean


highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)
Environment - current issues deforestation; soil erosion; many of the surrounding coral reefs are dead or dying large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion
Environment - international agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling


signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
-
Ethnic groups Melanesian 93%, Polynesian 4%, Micronesian 1.5%, European 0.8%, Chinese 0.3%, other 0.4% -
Exchange rates Solomon Islands dollars per US dollar - 5.3728 (December 2001), 5.0889 (2000), 4.8381 (1999), 4.8156 (1998), 3.7169 (1997) -
Executive branch chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor General Sir John LAPLI (since NA 1999)


head of government: Prime Minister Allan KEMAKEZA (since 17 December 2001); Deputy Prime Minister Snyder RINI (since 17 December 2001)


cabinet: Cabinet consists of 20 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister from among the members of Parliament


elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch on the advice of Parliament for up to five years; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of a majority coalition is usually elected prime minister by Parliament; deputy prime minister appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister from among the members of Parliament
-
Exports $165 million f.o.b. (1999 est.) 703.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Exports - commodities timber, fish, copra, palm oil, cocoa the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Exports - partners Japan 22%, China 15%, Philippines 13%, South Korea 12%, UK 12%, Thailand 5% (2000) US 17.4%, Germany 7.6%, UK 5.4%, France 5.1%, Japan 4.8%, China 4% (2002)
Fiscal year calendar year -
Flag description divided diagonally by a thin yellow stripe from the lower hoist-side corner; the upper triangle (hoist side) is blue with five white five-pointed stars arranged in an X pattern; the lower triangle is green -
GDP purchasing power parity - $800 million (2001 est.) GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $49 trillion (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector agriculture: 42%


industry: 11%


services: 47% (2000 est.)
agriculture: 4%


industry: 32%


services: 64% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2001 est.) purchasing power parity - $7,900 (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate -10% (2001 est.) 2.7% (2001 est.)
Geographic coordinates 8 00 S, 159 00 E -
Geography - note strategic location on sea routes between the South Pacific Ocean, the Solomon Sea, and the Coral Sea the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe
Highways total: 1,360 km


paved: 34 km


unpaved: 1,326 km (includes about 800 km of private plantation roads) (1996 est.)
total: NA km


paved: NA km


unpaved: NA km
Household income or consumption by percentage share lowest 10%: NA%


highest 10%: NA%
lowest 10%: NA%


highest 10%: NA%
Illicit drugs - cocaine: worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 205,450 hectares - almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia; potential cocaine production during 2002 is estimated at 938 metric tons (or 1,200 metric tons of export quality cocaine at an average of 78% purity); coca eradication programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, and 292 metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to have been seized in 2002; consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been 875 metric tons


opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an estimated 141,213 hectares in 2002 and potentially produced 2,183 metric tons of opium - which conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 238 metric tons of pure heroin; opium eradication programs have been undertaken in Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam, and the annual average for opiates seized worldwide over the past five years (1998-2002) has been 45 metric tons of pure heroin equivalent; estimates for average annual consumption over this time period are 315 metric tons pure heroin equivalent
Imports $152 million f.o.b. (1999 est.) 697.5 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Imports - commodities plant and equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals, fuels, chemicals the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Imports - partners Australia 27%, Singapore 25%, NZ 5.5%, Japan 5.3%, US 5.1% (2000) US 11.2%, Germany 9.2%, China 7%, Japan 6.8%, France 4.7%, UK 4% (2002)
Independence 7 July 1978 (from UK) -
Industrial production growth rate NA% 3% (2002 est.)
Industries fish (tuna), mining, timber dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems
Infant mortality rate 23.68 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) total: 51.38 deaths/1,000 live births


male: 53.81 deaths/1,000 live births


female: 48.83 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 7.9% (2001 est.) developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries
International organization participation ACP, AsDB, C, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IOC, ITU, Sparteca, SPC, SPF, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTrO -
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 1 (2000) 10,350 (2000 est.)
Irrigated land NA sq km 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.)
Judicial branch Court of Appeal -
Labor force 26,842 NA
Labor force - by occupation agriculture 75%, industry 5%, services 20% (2000 est.) agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Land boundaries 0 km the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice)
Land use arable land: 1.5%


permanent crops: 0.64%


other: 97.86% (1998 est.)
arable land: 10.58%


permanent crops: 1%


other: 88.42% (1998 est.)
Languages Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English is official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population


note: 120 indigenous languages
Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)


note: percents are for "first language" speakers only
Legal system English common law, which is widely disregarded all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court
Legislative branch unicameral National Parliament (50 seats; members elected from single-member constituencies by popular vote to serve four-year terms)


elections: last held 5 December 2001 (next to be held by December 2005)


election results: percent of vote by party - PAP 40%, SIACC 40%, PPP 20%; seats by party - PAP 16, SIACC 13, PPP 2, SILP 1, independents 18
-
Life expectancy at birth total population: 71.82 years


male: 69.38 years


female: 74.39 years (2002 est.)
total population: 63.95 years


male: 62 years


female: 70.23 years (2003 est.)
Literacy definition: NA


total population: NA%


male: NA%


female: NA%
definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 77%


male: 83%


female: 71% (1995 est.)
Location Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea -
Map references Oceania Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World
Maritime claims measured from claimed archipelagic baselines


continental shelf: 200 NM


exclusive economic zone: 200 NM


territorial sea: 12 NM
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims: contiguous zone - 24 NM; continental shelf - 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation, or 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin; exclusive fishing zone - 200 NM; exclusive economic zone - 200 NM; territorial sea - 12 NM; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked
Merchant marine none (2002 est.) -
Military branches no regular military forces; Solomon Islands National Reconnaissance and Surveillance Force; Royal Solomon Islands Police (RSIP) -
Military expenditures - dollar figure $NA aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP NA% roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.)
National holiday Independence Day, 7 July (1978) -
Nationality noun: Solomon Islander(s)


adjective: Solomon Islander
-
Natural hazards typhoons, but rarely destructive; geologically active region with frequent earth tremors; volcanic activity large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)
Natural resources fish, forests, gold, bauxite, phosphates, lead, zinc, nickel the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address
Net migration rate 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) -
Political parties and leaders Association of Independents [Snyder RINI]; People's Alliance Party or PAP [Allan KEMAKEZA]; People's Progressive Party or PPP [Mannaseh Damukana SOGAVARE]; Solomon Islands Alliance for Change Coalition or SIACC [Bartholomew ULUFA'ALU]; Solomon Islands Labor Party or SILP [Joses TUHANUKU]


note: in general, Solomon Islands politics is characterized by fluid coalitions
-
Political pressure groups and leaders NA -
Population 494,786 (July 2002 est.) 6,302,309,691 (July 2003 est.)
Population below poverty line NA% -
Population growth rate 2.91% (2002 est.) 1.17% (2003 est.)
Ports and harbors Aola Bay, Honiara, Lofung, Noro, Viru Harbor, Yandina Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama
Radio broadcast stations AM 3, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998) AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
Radios 57,000 (1997) -
Railways 0 km total: 1,122,650 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line


broad gauge: 251,153 km


standard gauge: 710,754 km


narrow gauge: 239,430 km
Religions Anglican 45%, Roman Catholic 18%, United (Methodist/Presbyterian) 12%, Baptist 9%, Seventh-Day Adventist 7%, other Protestant 5%, indigenous beliefs 4% Christians 32.79% (of which Roman Catholics 17.33%, Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.51%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.6%, Hindus 13.31%, Buddhists 5.88%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.83%, non-religious 12.53%, atheists 2.44% (2001 est.)
Sex ratio at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female


under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 0.95 male(s)/female


total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (2002 est.)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female


under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female


total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2003 est.)
Suffrage 21 years of age; universal -
Telephone system general assessment: NA


domestic: NA


international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)
general assessment: NA


domestic: NA


international: NA
Telephones - main lines in use 8,000 (1997) NA
Telephones - mobile cellular 658 (1997) NA
Television broadcast stations 0 (1997) NA
Terrain mostly rugged mountains with some low coral atolls the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean
Total fertility rate 4.5 children born/woman (2002 est.) 2.65 children born/woman (2003 est.)
Unemployment rate NA% 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment
Waterways none -
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