Main page Compare countries Index countries Index fields

Query:
##ciekawa_strona##

Compare Southern Ocean (2007) - Austria (2005)

Compare Southern Ocean (2007) z Austria (2005)

 Southern Ocean (2007)Austria (2005)
 Southern OceanAustria
Administrative divisions - 9 states (Bundeslaender, singular - Bundesland); Burgenland, Kaernten, Niederoesterreich, Oberoesterreich, Salzburg, Steiermark, Tirol, Vorarlberg, Wien (Vienna)
Age structure - 0-14 years: 15.6% (male 656,058/female 624,574)


15-64 years: 67.8% (male 2,790,673/female 2,756,612)


65 years and over: 16.6% (male 543,626/female 813,148) (2005 est.)
Agriculture - products - grains, potatoes, sugar beets, wine, fruit; dairy products, cattle, pigs, poultry; lumber
Airports - 55 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways - total: 24


over 3,047 m: 1


2,438 to 3,047 m: 5


1,524 to 2,437 m: 1


914 to 1,523 m: 3


under 914 m: 14 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways - total: 31


1,524 to 2,437 m: 1


914 to 1,523 m: 3


under 914 m: 27 (2004 est.)
Area total: 20.327 million sq km


note: includes Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, part of the Drake Passage, Ross Sea, a small part of the Scotia Sea, Weddell Sea, and other tributary water bodies
total: 83,870 sq km


land: 82,444 sq km


water: 1,426 sq km
Area - comparative slightly more than twice the size of the US slightly smaller than Maine
Background A large body of recent oceanographic research has shown that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), an ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica, plays a crucial role in global ocean circulation. The region where the cold waters of the ACC meet and mingle with the warmer waters of the north defines a distinct border - the Antarctic Convergence - which fluctuates with the seasons, but which encompasses a discrete body of water and a unique ecologic region. The Convergence concentrates nutrients, which promotes marine plant life, and which in turn allows for a greater abundance of animal life. In the spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization decided to delimit the waters within the Convergence as a fifth world ocean - the Southern Ocean - by combining the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude, which coincides with the Antarctic Treaty Limit and which approximates the extent of the Antarctic Convergence. As such, the Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean). It should be noted that inclusion of the Southern Ocean does not imply recognition of this feature as one of the world's primary oceans by the US Government. Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria's status remained unclear for a decade. A State Treaty signed in 1955 ended the occupation, recognized Austria's independence, and forbade unification with Germany. A constitutional law that same year declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as a condition for Soviet military withdrawal. Following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995, some Austrians have called into question this neutrality. A prosperous, democratic country, Austria entered the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999.
Birth rate - 8.81 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Budget - revenues: $142.5 billion


expenditures: $146.4 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)
Capital - Vienna
Climate sea temperatures vary from about 10 degrees Celsius to -2 degrees Celsius; cyclonic storms travel eastward around the continent and frequently are intense because of the temperature contrast between ice and open ocean; the ocean area from about latitude 40 south to the Antarctic Circle has the strongest average winds found anywhere on Earth; in winter the ocean freezes outward to 65 degrees south latitude in the Pacific sector and 55 degrees south latitude in the Atlantic sector, lowering surface temperatures well below 0 degrees Celsius; at some coastal points intense persistent drainage winds from the interior keep the shoreline ice-free throughout the winter temperate; continental, cloudy; cold winters with frequent rain and some snow in lowlands and snow in mountains; moderate summers with occasional showers
Coastline 17,968 km 0 km (landlocked)
Constitution - 1920; revised 1929 (reinstated 1 May 1945)
Country name - conventional long form: Republic of Austria


conventional short form: Austria


local long form: Republik Oesterreich


local short form: Oesterreich
Death rate - 9.7 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Debt - external - $15.5 billion (2003 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US - chief of mission: Ambassador William Lee LYONS BROWN, Jr.


embassy: Boltzmanngasse 16, A-1090, Vienna


mailing address: use embassy street address


telephone: [43] (1) 31339-0, 31375, 31335


FAX: [43] (1) 3100682
Diplomatic representation in the US - chief of mission: Ambassador Eva NOWOTNY


chancery: 3524 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008-3035


telephone: [1] (202) 895-6700


FAX: [1] (202) 895-6750


consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York
Disputes - international Antarctic Treaty defers claims (see Antarctica entry), but Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, NZ, Norway, and UK assert claims (some overlapping), including the continental shelf in the Southern Ocean; several states have expressed an interest in extending those continental shelf claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to include undersea ridges; the US and most other states do not recognize the land or maritime claims of other states and have made no claims themselves (the US and Russia have reserved the right to do so); no formal claims exist in the waters in the sector between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west none
Economic aid - donor - ODA, $520 million (2002)
Economy - overview Fisheries in 2003-04 landed 136,262 metric tons, of which 87% (118,166 tons) was krill and 8% (11,182 tons) Patagonian toothfish, compared to 142,555 tons in 2002-03 of which 83% (117,728 tons) was krill and 12% (16,479 tons) Patagonian toothfish (estimated fishing from the area covered by the Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which extends slightly beyond the Southern Ocean area). International agreements were adopted in late 1999 to reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, which in the 2000-01 season landed, by one estimate, 8,376 metric tons of Patagonian and Antarctic toothfish. In the 2004-05 Antarctic summer, 28,202 tourists, most of them seaborne (approximately 97%), visited the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, compared to 14,762 in 1999-2000. Austria, with its well-developed market economy and high standard of living, is closely tied to other EU economies, especially Germany's. The economy features up-to-date industrial and agricultural sectors. Timber is a key industry, 47% of the land area being forested. Membership in the EU has drawn an influx of foreign investors attracted by Austria's access to the single European market and proximity to the new EU economies. Slow growth in Europe has held the economy to 0.7% growth in 2001, 1.4% in 2002, 0.8% in 2003, and 1.9% in 2004. To meet increased competition from both EU and Central European countries, particularly the new EU members, Austria will need to emphasize knowledge-based sectors of the economy, continue to deregulate the service sector, and encourage much greater participation in the labor market by its aging population. The aging phenomenon, together with already high health and pension costs, poses fundamental problems in tax and welfare policies.
Electricity - consumption - 55.09 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports - 14.7 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports - 15.4 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - production - 58.49 billion kWh (2002)
Elevation extremes lowest point: -7,235 m at the southern end of the South Sandwich Trench


highest point: sea level 0 m
lowest point: Neusiedler See 115 m


highest point: Grossglockner 3,798 m
Environment - current issues increased solar ultraviolet radiation resulting from the Antarctic ozone hole in recent years, reducing marine primary productivity (phytoplankton) by as much as 15% and damaging the DNA of some fish; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in recent years, especially the landing of an estimated five to six times more Patagonian toothfish than the regulated fishery, which is likely to affect the sustainability of the stock; large amount of incidental mortality of seabirds resulting from long-line fishing for toothfish


note: the now-protected fur seal population is making a strong comeback after severe overexploitation in the 18th and 19th centuries
some forest degradation caused by air and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of agricultural chemicals; air pollution results from emissions by coal- and oil-fired power stations and industrial plants and from trucks transiting Austria between northern and southern Europe
Environment - international agreements the Southern Ocean is subject to all international agreements regarding the world's oceans; in addition, it is subject to these agreements specific to the Antarctic region: International Whaling Commission (prohibits commercial whaling south of 40 degrees south [south of 60 degrees south between 50 degrees and 130 degrees west]); Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (limits sealing); Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (regulates fishing)


note: many nations (including the US) prohibit mineral resource exploration and exploitation south of the fluctuating Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence), which is in the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and serves as the dividing line between the cold polar surface waters to the south and the warmer waters to the north
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling


signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Ethnic groups - Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croatians, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4% (2001 census)
Exchange rates - euros per US dollar - 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000)
Executive branch - chief of state: President Heinz FISCHER (since 8 July 2004)


head of government: Chancellor Wolfgang SCHUESSEL (OeVP)(since 4 February 2000); Vice Chancellor Hubert GORBACH (since 21 October 2003)


cabinet: Council of Ministers chosen by the president on the advice of the chancellor


elections: president elected by direct popular vote for a six-year term; presidential election last held 25 April 2004 (next to be held April 2010); chancellor traditionally chosen by the president from the plurality party in the National Council; vice chancellor chosen by the president on the advice of the chancellor


election results: Heinz FISCHER elected president; percent of vote - Heinz FISCHER (SPOe) 52.4%, Benita FERRERO-WALDNER (OeVP) 47.6%


note: government coalition - OeVP and FPOe
Exports - 35,470 bbl/day (2001)
Exports - commodities - machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, paper and paperboard, metal goods, chemicals, iron and steel; textiles, foodstuffs
Exports - partners - Germany 32%, Italy 8.9%, US 6%, Switzerland 4.8%, France 4.2%, UK 4.2% (2004)
Fiscal year - calendar year
Flag description - three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red
GDP - composition by sector - agriculture: 2.3%


industry: 30.8%


services: 66.9% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita - purchasing power parity - $31,300 (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate - 1.9% (2004 est.)
Geographic coordinates 60 00 S, 90 00 E (nominally), but the Southern Ocean has the unique distinction of being a large circumpolar body of water totally encircling the continent of Antarctica; this ring of water lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the coast of Antarctica and encompasses 360 degrees of longitude 47 20 N, 13 20 E
Geography - note the major chokepoint is the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica; the Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence) is the best natural definition of the northern extent of the Southern Ocean; it is a distinct region at the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that separates the cold polar surface waters to the south from the warmer waters to the north; the Front and the Current extend entirely around Antarctica, reaching south of 60 degrees south near New Zealand and near 48 degrees south in the far South Atlantic coinciding with the path of the maximum westerly winds landlocked; strategic location at the crossroads of central Europe with many easily traversable Alpine passes and valleys; major river is the Danube; population is concentrated on eastern lowlands because of steep slopes, poor soils, and low temperatures elsewhere
Heliports - 1 (2004 est.)
Highways - total: 200,000 km


paved: 200,000 km (including 1,645 km of expressways)


unpaved: 0 km (2002)
Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10%: 2.5%


highest 10%: 22.5% (1995)
Illicit drugs - transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and South American cocaine destined for Western Europe
Imports - 262,000 bbl/day (2001)
Imports - commodities - machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal goods, oil and oil products; foodstuffs
Imports - partners - Germany 46.3%, Italy 6.8%, Switzerland 4.3% (2004)
Independence - 1156 (Duchy of Austria founded); 12 November 1918 (republic proclaimed)
Industrial production growth rate - 3.3% (2004 est.)
Industries - construction, machinery, vehicles and parts, food, metals, chemicals, lumber and wood processing, paper and paperboard, communications equipment, tourism
Infant mortality rate - total: 4.66 deaths/1,000 live births


male: 5.74 deaths/1,000 live births


female: 3.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) - 1.8% (2004 est.)
International organization participation - AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 9, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MINURSO, NAM (guest), NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIK, UNOMIG, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU (observer), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, ZC
Irrigated land - 457 sq km (2000 est.)
Judicial branch - Supreme Judicial Court or Oberster Gerichtshof; Administrative Court or Verwaltungsgerichtshof; Constitutional Court or Verfassungsgerichtshof
Labor force - 3.45 million (2004 est.)
Labor force - by occupation - agriculture and forestry 4%, industry and crafts 29%, services 67% (2001 est.)
Land boundaries - total: 2,562 km


border countries: Czech Republic 362 km, Germany 784 km, Hungary 366 km, Italy 430 km, Liechtenstein 35 km, Slovakia 91 km, Slovenia 330 km, Switzerland 164 km
Land use - arable land: 16.91%


permanent crops: 0.86%


other: 82.23% (2001)
Languages - German (official nationwide), Slovene (official in Carinthia), Croatian (official in Burgenland), Hungarian (official in Burgenland)
Legal system - civil law system with Roman law origin; judicial review of legislative acts by the Constitutional Court; separate administrative and civil/penal supreme courts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Legislative branch - bicameral Federal Assembly or Bundesversammlung consists of Federal Council or Bundesrat (62 members; members represent each of the states on the basis of population, but with each state having at least three representatives; members serve a five- or six-year term) and the National Council or Nationalrat (183 seats; members elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)


elections: National Council - last held 24 November 2002 (next to be held in the fall of 2006)


election results: National Council - percent of vote by party - OeVP 42.3%, SPOe 36.5%, FPOe 10.0%, Greens 9.5%; seats by party - OeVP 79, SPOe 69, FPOe 18, Greens 17; seating as of May 2005 after split within the Freedom Party: OeVP 79, SPOe 69, Greens 17, BZOe 11, FPOe 7
Life expectancy at birth - total population: 78.92 years


male: 76.03 years


female: 81.96 years (2005 est.)
Literacy - definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 98%


male: NA%


female: NA%
Location body of water between 60 degrees south latitude and Antarctica Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia
Map references Antarctic Region Europe
Maritime claims - none (landlocked)
Merchant marine - total: 8 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 29,624 GRT/37,425 DWT


by type: cargo 6, container 2


foreign-owned: 2 (Netherlands 2)


registered in other countries: 19 (2005)
Military branches - Land Forces (KdoLdSK), Air Forces (KdoLuSK)
Military expenditures - dollar figure - $1.497 billion (FY01/02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP - 0.9% (2004)
National holiday - National Day, 26 October (1955); note - commemorates the State Treaty restoring national sovereignty and the end of occupation and the passage of the law on permanent neutrality
Nationality - noun: Austrian(s)


adjective: Austrian
Natural hazards huge icebergs with drafts up to several hundred meters; smaller bergs and iceberg fragments; sea ice (generally 0.5 to 1 m thick) with sometimes dynamic short-term variations and with large annual and interannual variations; deep continental shelf floored by glacial deposits varying widely over short distances; high winds and large waves much of the year; ship icing, especially May-October; most of region is remote from sources of search and rescue landslides; avalanches; earthquakes
Natural resources probable large and possible giant oil and gas fields on the continental margin, manganese nodules, possible placer deposits, sand and gravel, fresh water as icebergs; squid, whales, and seals - none exploited; krill, fish oil, coal, lignite, timber, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony, magnesite, tungsten, graphite, salt, hydropower
Net migration rate - 1.97 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Pipelines - gas 2,722 km; oil 663 km; refined products 149 km (2004)
Political parties and leaders - Alliance for the Future of Austria or BZOe [Joerg HAIDER]; Austrian People's Party or OeVP [Wolfgang SCHUESSEL]; Freedom Party of Austria or FPOe [Heinz Christian STRACHE]; Social Democratic Party of Austria or SPOe [Alfred GUSENBAUER]; The Greens [Alexander VAN DER BELLEN]
Political pressure groups and leaders - Austrian Trade Union Federation (nominally independent but primarily Socialist) or OeGB; Federal Economic Chamber; OeVP-oriented League of Austrian Industrialists or VOeI; Roman Catholic Church, including its chief lay organization, Catholic Action; three composite leagues of the Austrian People's Party or OeVP representing business, labor, and farmers and other non-government organizations in the areas of environment and human rights
Population - 8,184,691 (July 2005 est.)
Population below poverty line - 3.9% (1999)
Population growth rate - 0.11% (2005 est.)
Ports and harbors - Enns, Krems, Linz, Vienna
Radio broadcast stations - AM 2, FM 65 (plus several hundred repeaters), shortwave 1 (2001)
Railways - total: 6,021 km (3,552 km electrified)


standard gauge: 5,565 km 1.435-m gauge (3,430 km electrified)


narrow gauge: 34 km 1.000-m gauge (28 km electrified); 422 km 0.760-m gauge (94 km electrified) (2004)
Religions - Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12% (2001 census)
Sex ratio - at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female


under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female


total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
Suffrage - 18 years of age; universal; compulsory for presidential elections
Telephone system - general assessment: highly developed and efficient


domestic: there are 48 main lines for every 100 persons; the fiber optic net is very extensive; all telephone applications and Internet services are available


international: country code - 43; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Eutelsat; in addition, there are about 600 VSAT (very small aperture terminals) (2002)
Telephones - main lines in use - 3.881 million (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular - 7,094,500 (2003)
Television broadcast stations - 10 (plus more than 1,000 repeaters) (2001)
Terrain the Southern Ocean is deep, 4,000 to 5,000 m over most of its extent with only limited areas of shallow water; the Antarctic continental shelf is generally narrow and unusually deep, its edge lying at depths of 400 to 800 m (the global mean is 133 m); the Antarctic icepack grows from an average minimum of 2.6 million sq km in March to about 18.8 million sq km in September, better than a sixfold increase in area; the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (21,000 km in length) moves perpetually eastward; it is the world's largest ocean current, transporting 130 million cubic meters of water per second - 100 times the flow of all the world's rivers in the west and south mostly mountains (Alps); along the eastern and northern margins mostly flat or gently sloping
Total fertility rate - 1.36 children born/woman (2005 est.)
Transportation - note Drake Passage offers alternative to transit through the Panama Canal -
Unemployment rate - 4.4% (2004 est.)
Waterways - 358 km (2003)
Sitemap: Compare countries listing (map site) | Country listing (map site)
Links: Add to favorites | Information about this website | Stats | Polityka prywatnosci
This page was generated in ##czas## s. Size this page: ##rozmiar_strony## kB.