Svalbard (2001) | Pacific Ocean (2002) | |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
NA% 15-64 years: NA% 65 years and over: NA% |
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Airports | 4 (2000 est.) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
3 under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.) |
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Area | total:
62,049 sq km land: 62,049 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Spitsbergen and Bjornoya (Bear Island) |
total: 155.557 million sq km
note: includes Bali Sea, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Flores Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Tonkin, Java Sea, Philippine Sea, Savu Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, South China Sea, Tasman Sea, Timor Sea, and other tributary water bodies |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than West Virginia | about 15 times the size of the US; covers about 28% of the global surface; larger than the total land area of the world |
Background | First discovered by the Norwegians in the 12th century, the islands served as an international whaling base during the 17th and 18th centuries. Norway's sovereignty was recognized in 1920; five years later it officially took over the territory. | The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world's five oceans (followed by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean). Strategically important access waterways include the La Perouse, Tsugaru, Tsushima, Taiwan, Singapore, and Torres Straits. The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of 60 degrees south. |
Birth rate | NA births/1,000 population | - |
Budget | revenues:
$11.5 million expenditures: $11.5 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.) |
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Capital | Longyearbyen | - |
Climate | arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of Spitsbergen, keeping water open and navigable most of the year | planetary air pressure systems and resultant wind patterns exhibit remarkable uniformity in the south and east; trade winds and westerly winds are well-developed patterns, modified by seasonal fluctuations; tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico from June to October and affect Mexico and Central America; continental influences cause climatic uniformity to be much less pronounced in the eastern and western regions at the same latitude in the North Pacific Ocean; the western Pacific is monsoonal - a rainy season occurs during the summer months, when moisture-laden winds blow from the ocean over the land, and a dry season during the winter months, when dry winds blow from the Asian landmass back to the ocean; tropical cyclones (typhoons) may strike southeast and east Asia from May to December |
Coastline | 3,587 km | 135,663 km |
Country name | conventional long form:
none conventional short form: Svalbard (sometimes referred to as Spitzbergen) |
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Currency | Norwegian krone (NOK) | - |
Death rate | NA deaths/1,000 population | - |
Dependency status | territory of Norway; administered by the Ministry of Industry, Oslo, through a governor (sysselmann) residing in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen; by treaty (9 February 1920) sovereignty was given to Norway | - |
Disputes - international | focus of a maritime boundary dispute between Norway and Russia | some maritime disputes (see littoral states) |
Economic aid - recipient | $8.2 million from Norway (1998) | - |
Economy - overview | Coal mining is the major economic activity on Svalbard. The treaty of 9 February 1920 gives the 41 signatories equal rights to exploit mineral deposits, subject to Norwegian regulation. Although US, UK, Dutch, and Swedish coal companies have mined in the past, the only companies still mining are Norwegian and Russian. The settlements on Svalbard are essentially company towns. The Norwegian state-owned coal company employs nearly 60% of the Norwegian population on the island, runs many of the local services, and provides most of the local infrastructure. There is also some trapping of seal, polar bear, fox, and walrus. | The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor to the world economy and particularly to those nations its waters directly touch. It provides low-cost sea transportation between East and West, extensive fishing grounds, offshore oil and gas fields, minerals, and sand and gravel for the construction industry. In 1996, over 60% of the world's fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean. Exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an ever-increasing role in the energy supplies of US, Australia, NZ, China, and Peru. The high cost of recovering offshore oil and gas, combined with the wide swings in world prices for oil since 1985, has slowed but not stopped new drillings. |
Electricity - consumption | NA kWh | - |
Electricity - production | NA kWh | - |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
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Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Arctic Ocean 0 m highest point: Newtontoppen 1,717 m |
lowest point: Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench -10,924 m
highest point: sea level 0 m |
Environment - current issues | NA | endangered marine species include the dugong, sea lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine Sea and South China Sea |
Ethnic groups | Norwegian 55.4%, Russian and Ukrainian 44.3%, other 0.3% (1998) | - |
Exchange rates | Norwegian kroner per US dollar - 8.7784 (January 2001), 8.8018 (2000), 7.7992 (1999), 7.5451 (1998), 7.0734 (1997), 6.4498 (1996) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state:
King HARALD V of Norway (since 17 January 1991) head of government: Governor Morten RUUD (since NA November 1998) and Assistant Governor Odd Redar HUMLEGAARD (since NA) elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor and assistant governor responsible to the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice |
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Exports | $NA | - |
Flag description | the flag of Norway is used | - |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $NA | - |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $NA | - |
GDP - real growth rate | NA% | - |
Geographic coordinates | 78 00 N, 20 00 E | 0 00 N, 160 00 W |
Geography - note | northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway; consists of nine main islands; glaciers and snowfields cover 60% of the total area | the major chokepoints are the Bering Strait, Panama Canal, Luzon Strait, and the Singapore Strait; the Equator divides the Pacific Ocean into the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean; dotted with low coral islands and rugged volcanic islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean |
Highways | total:
NA km paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
- |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
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Imports | $NA | - |
Independence | none (territory of Norway) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | - |
Infant mortality rate | NA deaths/1,000 live births | - |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | NA% | - |
International organization participation | none | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 13 (Svalbard and Jan Mayen) (2000) | - |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | - |
Labor force | NA | - |
Land boundaries | 0 km | - |
Land use | arable land:
0% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 0% forests and woodland: 0% other: 100% (no trees, and the only bushes are crowberry and cloudberry) |
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Languages | Russian, Norwegian | - |
Legal system | NA | - |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
NA years male: NA years female: NA years |
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Location | Northern Europe, islands between the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, and Norwegian Sea, north of Norway | body of water between the Southern Ocean, Asia, Australia, and the Western Hemisphere |
Map references | Arctic Region | Political Map of the World |
Maritime claims | exclusive fishing zone:
200 NM unilaterally claimed by Norway but not recognized by Russia territorial sea: 4 NM |
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Merchant marine | none (2000 est.) | - |
Military - note | demilitarized by treaty (9 February 1920) | - |
National holiday | NA | - |
Natural hazards | ice floes often block up the entrance to Bellsund (a transit point for coal export) on the west coast and occasionally make parts of the northeastern coast inaccessible to maritime traffic | surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and earthquake activity sometimes referred to as the "Pacific Ring of Fire"; subject to tropical cyclones (typhoons) in southeast and east Asia from May to December (most frequent from July to October); tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico and strike Central America and Mexico from June to October (most common in August and September); cyclical El Nino/La Nina phenomenon occurs in the equatorial Pacific, influencing weather in the Western Hemisphere and the western Pacific; ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north from October to May; persistent fog in the northern Pacific can be a maritime hazard from June to December |
Natural resources | coal, copper, iron ore, phosphate, zinc, wildlife, fish | oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish |
Net migration rate | NA migrant(s)/1,000 population | - |
Population | 2,332 (July 2001 est.) | - |
Population below poverty line | NA% | - |
Population growth rate | -3.55% (2001 est.) | - |
Ports and harbors | Barentsburg, Longyearbyen, Ny-Alesund, Pyramiden | Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Kao-hsiung (Taiwan), Los Angeles (US), Manila (Philippines), Pusan (South Korea), San Francisco (US), Seattle (US), Shanghai (China), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Vladivostok (Russia), Wellington (NZ), Yokohama (Japan) |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 1 (plus 2 repeaters), shortwave 0 (1998) | - |
Radios | NA | - |
Railways | 0 km | - |
Telephone system | general assessment:
probably adequate domestic: local telephone service international: satellite earth station - 1 of unknown type (for communication with Norwegian mainland only) |
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Telephones - main lines in use | NA | - |
Telephones - mobile cellular | NA | - |
Television broadcast stations | NA | - |
Terrain | wild, rugged mountains; much of high land ice covered; west coast clear of ice about one-half of the year; fjords along west and north coasts | surface currents in the northern Pacific are dominated by a clockwise, warm-water gyre (broad circular system of currents) and in the southern Pacific by a counterclockwise, cool-water gyre; in the northern Pacific, sea ice forms in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk in winter; in the southern Pacific, sea ice from Antarctica reaches its northernmost extent in October; the ocean floor in the eastern Pacific is dominated by the East Pacific Rise, while the western Pacific is dissected by deep trenches, including the Mariana Trench, which is the world's deepest |
Total fertility rate | NA children born/woman | - |
Transportation - note | - | Inside Passage offers protected waters from southeast Alaska to Puget Sound (Washington state) |
Waterways | none | - |