Compare South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2008) - Iran (2006)

Compare South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2008) z Iran (2006)

	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2008)	Iran (2006)

Administrative divisions	-	30 provinces (ostanha, singular - ostan); Ardabil, Azarbayjan-e Gharbi, Azarbayjan-e Sharqi, Bushehr, Chahar Mahall va Bakhtiari, Esfahan, Fars, Gilan, Golestan, Hamadan, Hormozgan, Ilam, Kerman, Kermanshah, Khorasan-e Janubi, Khorasan-e Razavi, Khorasan-e Shemali, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh va Buyer Ahmad, Kordestan, Lorestan, Markazi, Mazandaran, Qazvin, Qom, Semnan, Sistan va Baluchestan, Tehran, Yazd, Zanjan
Age structure	-	0-14 years: 26.1% (male 9,204,785/female 8,731,429) 15-64 years: 69% (male 24,133,919/female 23,245,255) 65 years and over: 4.9% (male 1,653,827/female 1,719,218) (2006 est.)
Agriculture - products	-	wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, cotton; dairy products, wool; caviar
Airports	-	321 (2006)
Airports - with paved runways	-	total: 129 over 3,047 m: 41 2,438 to 3,047 m: 26 1,524 to 2,437 m: 25 914 to 1,523 m: 31 under 914 m: 6 (2006)
Airports - with unpaved runways	-	total: 192 over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 140 under 914 m: 43 (2006)
Area	total: 3,903 sq km land: 3,903 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Shag Rocks, Black Rock, Clerke Rocks, South Georgia Island, Bird Island, and the South Sandwich Islands, which consist of 11 islands	total: 1.648 million sq km land: 1.636 million sq km water: 12,000 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly larger than Rhode Island	slightly larger than Alaska
Background	The islands, which have large bird and seal populations, lie approximately 1,000 km east of the Falkland Islands and have been under British administration since 1908 - except for a brief period in 1982 when Argentina occupied them. Grytviken, on South Georgia, was a 19th and early 20th century whaling station. Famed explorer Ernest SHACKLETON stopped there in 1914 en route to his ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica on foot. He returned some 20 months later with a few companions in a small boat and arranged a successful rescue for the rest of his crew, stranded off the Antarctic Peninsula. He died in 1922 on a subsequent expedition and is buried in Grytviken. Today, the station houses scientists from the British Antarctic Survey. Recognizing the importance of preserving the marine stocks in adjacent waters, the UK, in 1993, extended the exclusive fishing zone from 12 nm to 200 nm around each island.	Known as Persia until 1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling monarchy was overthrown and the shah was forced into exile. Conservative clerical forces established a theocratic system of government with ultimate political authority nominally vested in a learned religious scholar. Iranian-US relations have been strained since a group of Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979 and held it until 20 January 1981. During 1980-88, Iran fought a bloody, indecisive war with Iraq that eventually expanded into the Persian Gulf and led to clashes between US Navy and Iranian military forces between 1987-1988. Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism for its activities in Lebanon and elsewhere in the world and remains subject to US economic sanctions and export controls because of its continued involvement. Following the elections of a reformist president and Majlis in the late 1990s, attempts to foster political reform in response to popular dissatisfaction floundered as conservative politicians prevented reform measures from being enacted, increased repressive measures, and made electoral gains against reformers. Parliamentary elections in 2004 and the August 2005 inauguration of a conservative stalwart as president, completed the reconsolidation of conservative power in Iran's government.
Birth rate	-	17 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Budget	-	revenues: $48.82 billion expenditures: $60.4 billion; including capital expenditures of $7.6 billion (2005 est.)
Capital	-	name: Tehran geographic coordinates: 35 40 N, 51 26 E time difference: UTC+3.5 (8.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Climate	variable, with mostly westerly winds throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls as snow	mostly arid or semiarid, subtropical along Caspian coast
Coastline	NA km	2,440 km; note - Iran also borders the Caspian Sea (740 km)
Constitution	-	2-3 December 1979; revised 1989 to expand powers of the presidency and eliminate the prime ministership
Country name	conventional long form: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands conventional short form: none abbreviation: SGSSI	conventional long form: Islamic Republic of Iran conventional short form: Iran local long form: Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran local short form: Iran former: Persia
Death rate	-	5.55 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Debt - external	-	$19.06 billion (2005 est.)
Dependency status	overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina; administered from the Falkland Islands by a commissioner, who is concurrently governor of the Falkland Islands, representing Queen ELIZABETH II	-
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)	none; note - protecting power in Iran is Switzerland
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)	none; note - Iran has an Interests Section in the Pakistani Embassy; address: Iranian Interests Section, Pakistani Embassy, 2209 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007; telephone: [1] (202) 965-4990; FAX [1] (202) 965-1073
Disputes - international	Argentina, which claims the islands in its constitution and briefly occupied them by force in 1982, agreed in 1995 to no longer seek settlement by force	Iran protests Afghanistan's limiting flow of dammed tributaries to the Helmand River in periods of drought; Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf; Iran and UAE dispute Tunb Islands and Abu Musa Island, which are occupied by Iran; Iran stands alone among littoral states in insisting upon a division of the Caspian Sea into five equal sectors
Economic aid - recipient	-	$408 million (2002 est.)
Economy - overview	Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. There is a potential source of income from harvesting finfish and krill. The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK, sale of fishing licenses, and harbor and landing fees from tourist vessels. Tourism from specialized cruise ships is increasing rapidly.	Iran's economy is marked by a bloated, inefficient state sector, over reliance on the oil sector, and statist policies that create major distortions throughout. Most economic activity is controlled by the state. Private sector activity is typically small-scale - workshops, farming, and services. President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD has continued to follow the market reform plans of former President RAFSANJANI, with limited progress. Relatively high oil prices in recent years have enabled Iran to amass some $40 billion in foreign exchange reserves, but have not eased economic hardships such as high unemployment and inflation. The proportion of the economy devoted to the development of weapons of mass destruction remains a contentious issue with leading Western nations.
Electricity - consumption	-	132.1 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - exports	-	840 million kWh (2003)
Electricity - imports	-	600 million kWh (2003)
Electricity - production	-	142.3 billion kWh (2003)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Paget (South Georgia) 2,934 m	lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m highest point: Kuh-e Damavand 5,671 m
Environment - current issues	NA	air pollution, especially in urban areas, from vehicle emissions, refinery operations, and industrial effluents; deforestation; overgrazing; desertification; oil pollution in the Persian Gulf; wetland losses from drought; soil degradation (salination); inadequate supplies of potable water; water pollution from raw sewage and industrial waste; urbanization
Environment - international agreements	-	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation
Ethnic groups	-	Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%
Exchange rates	-	rials per US dollar - 8,964 (2005), 8,614 (2004), 8,193.9 (2003), 6,907 (2002), 1,753.6 (2001) note: Iran has been using a managed floating exchange rate regime since unifying multiple exchange rates in March 2002
Executive branch	-	chief of state: Supreme Leader Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI (since 4 June 1989) head of government: President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD (since 3 August 2005); First Vice President Parviz DAVUDI (since 11 September 2005) cabinet: Council of Ministers selected by the president with legislative approval; the Supreme Leader has some control over appointments to the more sensitive ministries note: also considered part of the Executive branch of government are three oversight bodies: 1) Assembly of Experts, a popularly elected body of 86 religious scholars constitutionally charged with determining the succession of the Supreme Leader, reviewing his performance, and deposing him if deemed necessary; 2) Expediency Council or Council for the Discernment of Expediency is a policy advisory and implementation board consisting of permanent and temporary members representing all major government factions, some of whom are appointed by the Supreme Leader; the Council exerts supervisory authority over the executive, judicial, and legislative branches and resolves legislative issues on which the Majles and the Council of Guardians disagree; 3) Council of Guardians or Council of Guardians of the Constitution is a 12-member board of clerics and jurists serving six-year terms that determines whether proposed legislation is both constitutional and faithful to Islamic law; the Council also vets candidates for suitability and supervises national elections elections: Supreme Leader appointed for life by the Assembly of Experts; president elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 17 June 2005 with a two-candidate runoff on 24 June 2005 (next to be held in 2009) election results: Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD elected president; percent of vote - Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD 62%, Ali Akbar Hashemi RAFSANJANI 36%
Exports	-	2.5 million bbl/day (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities	-	petroleum 80%, chemical and petrochemical products, fruits and nuts, carpets
Exports - partners	-	Japan 16.6%, China 11%, Italy 5.8%, South Korea 5.7%, South Africa 5.7%, Turkey 5.6%, Netherlands 4.5%, France 4.3% (2005)
Fiscal year	-	21 March - 20 March
Flag description	blue, with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands coat of arms centered on the outer half of the flag; the coat of arms features a shield with a golden lion centered; the shield is supported by a fur seal on the left and a penguin on the right; a reindeer appears above the shield, and below it on a scroll is the motto LEO TERRAM PROPRIAM PROTEGAT (Let the Lion Protect its Own Land)	three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red; the national emblem (a stylized representation of the word Allah in the shape of a tulip, a symbol of martyrdom) in red is centered in the white band; ALLAH AKBAR (God is Great) in white Arabic script is repeated 11 times along the bottom edge of the green band and 11 times along the top edge of the red band
GDP - composition by sector	-	agriculture: 11.6% industry: 42.4% services: 46% (2005 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	-	6.9% (2005 est.)
Geographic coordinates	54 30 S, 37 00 W	32 00 N, 53 00 E
Geography - note	the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which provide good anchorage; reindeer, introduced early in the 20th century, live on South Georgia	strategic location on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, which are vital maritime pathways for crude oil transport
Heliports	-	15 (2006)
Household income or consumption by percentage share	-	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%
Illicit drugs	-	despite substantial interdiction efforts, Iran remains a key transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin to Europe; domestic narcotics consumption remains a persistent problem and according to official Iranian statistics there are at least 2 million drug users in the country; lacks anti-money-laundering laws
Imports	-	NA bbl/day
Imports - commodities	-	industrial raw materials and intermediate goods, capital goods, foodstuffs and other consumer goods, technical services, military supplies
Imports - partners	-	Germany 13.8%, UAE 8.3%, China 8.3%, Italy 7%, France 6.2%, South Korea 5.4%, Russia 4.8% (2005)
Independence	-	1 April 1979 (Islamic Republic of Iran proclaimed)
Industrial production growth rate	-	3% excluding oil (2005 est.)
Industries	-	petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production), metal fabrication, armaments
Infant mortality rate	-	total: 40.3 deaths/1,000 live births male: 40.49 deaths/1,000 live births female: 40.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	-	13.5% (2005 est.)
International organization participation	-	ABEDA, CP, ECO, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, SCO (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO (observer)
Irrigated land	0 sq km	76,500 sq km (2003)
Judicial branch	-	Supreme Court - above a special clerical court, a revolutionary court, and a special administrative court
Labor force	-	23.68 million note: shortage of skilled labor (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	-	agriculture: 30% industry: 25% services: 45% (2001 est.)
Land boundaries	0 km	total: 5,440 km border countries: Afghanistan 936 km, Armenia 35 km, Azerbaijan-proper 432 km, Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave 179 km, Iraq 1,458 km, Pakistan 909 km, Turkey 499 km, Turkmenistan 992 km
Land use	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (largely covered by permanent ice and snow with some sparse vegetation consisting of grass, moss, and lichen) (2005)	arable land: 9.78% permanent crops: 1.29% other: 88.93% (2005)
Languages	-	Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%
Legal system	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply; the senior magistrate from the Falkland Islands presides over the Magistrates Court	the Constitution codifies Islamic principles of government
Legislative branch	-	unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami (290 seats - formerly 270 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 20 February 2004 with a runoff held 7 May 2004 (by-elections next to be held in December 2006; general election to be held in February 2008) election results: percent of vote - NA; seats by party - conservatives/Islamists 190, reformers 50, independents 43, religious minorities 5, and 2 seats unaccounted for
Life expectancy at birth	-	total population: 70.26 years male: 68.86 years female: 71.74 years (2006 est.)
Literacy	-	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 79.4% male: 85.6% female: 73% (2003 est.)
Location	Southern South America, islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the tip of South America	Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea, between Iraq and Pakistan
Map references	Antarctic Region	Middle East
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: bilateral agreements or median lines in the Persian Gulf continental shelf: natural prolongation
Merchant marine	-	total: 141 ships (1000 GRT or over) 5,086,702 GRT/8,878,829 DWT by type: bulk carrier 39, cargo 45, chemical tanker 4, container 12, liquefied gas 1, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 6, petroleum tanker 30, roll on/roll off 3 foreign-owned: 1 (UAE 1) registered in other countries: 22 (Bolivia 1, Cyprus 2, Malta 14, Panama 4, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1) (2006)
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of the UK	-
Military branches	-	Islamic Republic of Iran Regular Forces (Artesh): Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force (Niruye Havayi Jomhuriye Islamiye Iran; includes air defense); Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami, IRGC): Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force, Qods Force (special operations), and Basij Force (Popular Mobilization Army); Law Enforcement Forces (2006)
Military expenditures - dollar figure	-	$4.3 billion (2003 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	-	3.3% (2003 est.)
National holiday	-	Republic Day, 1 April (1979) note: additional holidays celebrated widely in Iran include Revolution Day, 11 February (1979); Noruz (New Year's Day), 21 March; Constitutional Monarchy Day, 5 August (1925); and various Islamic observances that change in accordance with the lunar-based hejira calendar
Nationality	-	noun: Iranian(s) adjective: Iranian
Natural hazards	the South Sandwich Islands have prevailing weather conditions that generally make them difficult to approach by ship; they are also subject to active volcanism	periodic droughts, floods; dust storms, sandstorms; earthquakes
Natural resources	fish	petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, sulfur
Net migration rate	-	-0.48 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Pipelines	-	condensate 7 km; condensate/gas 397 km; gas 17,099 km; liquid petroleum gas 570 km; oil 8,521 km; refined products 7,808 km (2006)
Political parties and leaders	-	formal political parties are a relatively new phenomenon in Iran and most conservatives still prefer to work through political pressure groups rather than parties; a loose pro-reform coalition called the 2nd Khordad Front, which includes political parties as well as less formal pressure groups and organizations, achieved considerable success at elections to the sixth Majles in early 2000; groups in the coalition include: Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), Executives of Construction Party (Kargozaran), Solidarity Party, Islamic Labor Party, Mardom Salari, Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (MIRO), and Militant Clerics Society (Ruhaniyun); the coalition participated in the seventh Majles elections in early 2004; following his defeat in the 2005 presidential elections, former MCS Secretary General Mehdi KARRUBI formed the National Trust Party; a new apparently conservative group, the Builders of Islamic Iran, took a leading position in the new Majles after winning a majority of the seats in February 2004
Political pressure groups and leaders	-	political pressure groups conduct most of Iran's political activities; groups that generally support the Islamic Republic include Ansar-e Hizballah, Muslim Students Following the Line of the Imam, Tehran Militant Clergy Association (Ruhaniyat), Islamic Coalition Party (Motalefeh), and Islamic Engineers Society; active pro-reform student groups include the Office of Strengthening Unity (OSU); opposition groups include Freedom Movement of Iran, the National Front, Marz-e Por Gohar, and various ethnic and Monarchist organizations; armed political groups that have been almost completely repressed by the government include Mujahidin-e Khalq Organization (MEK), People's Fedayeen, Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, and Komala
Population	no indigenous inhabitants note: the small military garrison on South Georgia withdrew in March 2001 replaced by a permanent group of scientists of the British Antarctic Survey, which also has a biological station on Bird Island; the South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited	68,688,433 (July 2006 est.)
Population below poverty line	-	40% (2002 est.)
Population growth rate	-	1.1% (2006 est.)
Radio broadcast stations	0 (2003)	AM 72, FM 5, shortwave 5 (1998)
Railways	-	total: 7,256 km broad gauge: 94 km 1.676-m gauge standard gauge: 7,162 km 1.435-m gauge (186 km electrified) (2005)
Religions	-	Shi'a Muslim 89%, Sunni Muslim 9%, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i 2%
Sex ratio	-	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.96 male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
Suffrage	-	15 years of age; universal
Telephone system	general assessment: NA domestic: NA international: coastal radiotelephone station at Grytviken	general assessment: inadequate, but currently being modernized and expanded with the goal of not only improving the efficiency and increasing the volume of the urban service but also bringing telephone service to several thousand villages, not presently connected domestic: as a result of heavy investing in the telephone system since 1994, the number of long-distance channels in the microwave radio relay trunk has grown substantially; many villages have been brought into the net; the number of main lines in the urban systems has approximately doubled; thousands of mobile cellular subscribers are being served; moreover, the technical level of the system has been raised by the installation of thousands of digital switches international: country code - 98; HF radio and microwave radio relay to Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Kuwait, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; submarine fiber-optic cable to UAE with access to Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line runs from Azerbaijan through the northern portion of Iran to Turkmenistan with expansion to Georgia and Azerbaijan; satellite earth stations - 9 Intelsat and 4 Inmarsat
Telephones - main lines in use	-	18.986 million (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular	-	7.222 million (2005)
Television broadcast stations	0 (2003)	28 (plus 450 low-power repeaters) (1997)
Terrain	most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep, glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active volcanoes	rugged, mountainous rim; high, central basin with deserts, mountains; small, discontinuous plains along both coasts
Total fertility rate	-	1.8 children born/woman (2006 est.)
Unemployment rate	-	11.2% (2004 est.)
Waterways	-	850 km (850 km on Karun River; additional service on Lake Urmia) (2006)

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