Compare Tuvalu (2003) - Belarus (2004)

Compare Tuvalu (2003) z Belarus (2004)

	Tuvalu (2003)	Belarus (2004)

Administrative divisions	none	6 provinces (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and 1 municipality* (horad); Brest, Homyel', Horad Minsk*, Hrodna, Mahilyow, Minsk, Vitsyebsk note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers
Age structure	0-14 years: 31.9% (male 1,838; female 1,772) 15-64 years: 63% (male 3,432; female 3,687) 65 years and over: 5.1% (male 231; female 345) (2003 est.)	0-14 years: 16.3% (male 859,219; female 823,839) 15-64 years: 69.2% (male 3,469,926; female 3,662,203) 65 years and over: 14.5% (male 496,204; female 999,129) (2004 est.)
Agriculture - products	coconuts; fish	grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk
Airports	1 (2002)	135 (2003 est.)
Airports - with paved runways	-	total: 50 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 21 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 under 914 m: 21 (2003 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways	total: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2002)	total: 85 over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 64 (2003 est.)
Area	total: 26 sq km land: 26 sq km water: 0 sq km	total: 207,600 sq km land: 207,600 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative	0.1 times the size of Washington, DC	slightly smaller than Kansas
Background	In 1974, ethnic differences within the British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands caused the Polynesians of the Ellice Islands to vote for separation from the Micronesians of the Gilbert Islands. The following year, the Ellice Islands became the separate British colony of Tuvalu. Independence was granted in 1978. In 2000, Tuvalu negotiated a contract leasing its Internet domain name ".tv" for $50 million in royalties over the next dozen years.	After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics. Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union on 8 December 1999 envisioning greater political and economic integration. Although Belarus agreed to a framework to carry out the accord, serious implementation has yet to take place.
Birth rate	21.58 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)	10.52 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Budget	revenues: $22.5 million expenditures: $11.2 million, including capital expenditures of $4.2 million (2000 est.)	revenues: $2.976 billion expenditures: $3.211 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (2003 est.)
Capital	Funafuti	Minsk
Climate	tropical; moderated by easterly trade winds (March to November); westerly gales and heavy rain (November to March)	cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime
Coastline	24 km	0 km (landlocked)
Constitution	1 October 1978	30 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996; revised again 17 October 2004 removing presidential term limits
Country name	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Tuvalu former: Ellice Islands note: "Tuvalu" means "group of eight," referring to the country's eight traditionally inhabited islands	conventional long form: Republic of Belarus conventional short form: Belarus local long form: Respublika Byelarus' local short form: none former: Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic
Currency	Australian dollar (AUD); note - there is also a Tuvaluan dollar	Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR)
Death rate	7.34 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)	14.1 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Debt - external	$NA	$851 million (2001 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US	the US does not have an embassy in Tuvalu; the US ambassador to Fiji is accredited to Tuvalu	chief of mission: Ambassador George A. KROL embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya St., Minsk 220002 mailing address: PSC 78, Box B Minsk, APO 09723 telephone: [375] (17) 210-12-83, 217-7347, 217-7348 FAX: [375] (17) 234-7853
Diplomatic representation in the US	Tuvalu does not have an embassy in the US - the country's only diplomatic post is in Fiji - Tuvalu does, however, have a UN office located at 800 2nd Avenue, Suite 400D, New York, New York 10017, telephone: [1] (212) 490-0534	chief of mission: Ambassador Mikhail KHVOSTOV chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604 FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805 consulate(s) general: New York
Disputes - international	none	1997 boundary treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing border security; boundaries with Latvia and Lithuania remain undemarcated despite European Union financial support
Economic aid - recipient	$13 million ; note - major donors are Australia, Japan, and the US (1999 est.)	$194.3 million (1995)
Economy - overview	Tuvalu consists of a densely populated, scattered group of nine coral atolls with poor soil. The country has no known mineral resources and few exports. Subsistence farming and fishing are the primary economic activities. Fewer than 1,000 tourists, on average, visit Tuvalu annually. Government revenues largely come from the sale of stamps and coins and worker remittances. About 1,000 Tuvaluans work in Nauru in the phosphate mining industry. Nauru has begun repatriating Tuvaluans, however, as phosphate resources decline. Substantial income is received annually from an international trust fund established in 1987 by Australia, NZ, and the UK and supported also by Japan and South Korea. Thanks to wise investments and conservative withdrawals, this Fund has grown from an initial $17 million to over $35 million in 1999. The US government is also a major revenue source for Tuvalu, because of payments from a 1988 treaty on fisheries. In an effort to reduce its dependence on foreign aid, the government is pursuing public sector reforms, including privatization of some government functions and personnel cuts of up to 7%. In 1998, Tuvalu began deriving revenue from use of its area code for "900" lines and in 2000, from the lease of its ".tv" Internet domain name. Royalties from these new technology sources could increase substantially over the next decade. With merchandise exports only a fraction of merchandise imports, continued reliance must be placed on fishing and telecommunications license fees, remittances from overseas workers, official transfers, and investment income from overseas assets.	Belarus' economy in 2003 posted 6.1 percent growth and is likely to continue expanding through 2004, albeit at a slower growth rate. The Belarusian economy in 2004 is likely to be hampered by high inflation, persistent trade deficits, and ongoing rocky relations with Russia, Belarus' largest trading partner and energy supplier. Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of "market socialism." In keeping with this policy, LUKASHENKO reimposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprises. In addition, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, retroactive application of new business regulations, and arrests of "disruptive" businessmen and factory owners. A wide range of redistributive policies has helped those at the bottom of the ladder. For the time being, Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market economies.
Electricity - consumption	-	26.69 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports	-	300 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports	-	4.3 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production	-	24.4 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source	fossil fuel: NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA%	-
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location 5 m	lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m
Environment - current issues	since there are no streams or rivers and groundwater is not potable, most water needs must be met by catchment systems with storage facilities (the Japanese Government has built one desalination plant and plans to build one other); beachhead erosion because of the use of sand for building materials; excessive clearance of forest undergrowth for use as fuel; damage to coral reefs from the spread of the Crown of Thorns starfish; Tuvalu is very concerned about global increases in greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on rising sea levels, which threaten the country's underground water table; in 2000, the government appealed to Australia and New Zealand to take in Tuvaluans if rising sea levels should make evacuation necessary	soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine
Environment - international agreements	party to: Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution signed, but not ratified: Biodiversity, Law of the Sea	party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
Ethnic groups	Polynesian 96%, Micronesian 4%	Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4%
Exchange rates	Tuvaluan dollars or Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.8406 (2002), 1.9320 (2001), 1.7173 (2000), 1.5497 (1999), 1.5888 (1998)	Belarusian rubles per US dollar - 1,790.92 (2003), 1,920 (2002), 1,390 (2001), 876.75 (2000), 248.795 (1999)
Executive branch	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor General Faimalaga LUKA (since 9 September 2003) head of government: Prime Minister Saufatu SOPOANGA (since 2 August 2002) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister; prime minister and deputy prime minister elected by and from the members of Parliament; election last held 2 August 2002 (next to be held NA) election results: Saufatu SOPOANGA elected prime minister; Parliamentary vote - Saufatu SOPOANGA 8, Amasone KILEI 7	chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994) head of government: Prime Minister Sergei SIDORSKY (since 19 December 2003); First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir SEMASHKO (since December 2003); Deputy Prime Ministers Andrei KOBYAKOV (since December 2003), Vladimir DRAZHIN (since 24 September 2001), Ivan BAMBIZA (since 25 May 2004), Anatoly TYUTYUNOV (since July 2002) cabinet: Council of Ministers elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; first election took place 23 June and 10 July 1994; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via a November 1996 referendum; new election held 9 September 2001; October 2004 referendum ended presidential term limits allowing president to run for a third term in September 2006; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO reelected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 75.6%, Vladimir GONCHARIK 15.4%
Exports	$276,000 f.o.b. (1997)	NA (2001)
Exports - commodities	copra, fish	machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals; textiles, foodstuffs
Exports - partners	UK 58.3%, Italy 16.7%, Denmark 8.3%, Fiji 8.3% (2002)	Russia 49.1%, UK 9.4%, Poland 4.4%, Germany 4.2%, Netherlands 4.2% (2003)
Fiscal year	calendar year	calendar year
Flag description	light blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the outer half of the flag represents a map of the country with nine yellow five-pointed stars symbolizing the nine islands	red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears Belarusian national ornamention in red
GDP	purchasing power parity - $12.2 million (2000 est.)	purchasing power parity - $62.56 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: NA%	agriculture: 11.1% industry: 36.4% services: 52.5% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita	purchasing power parity - $1,100 (2000 est.)	purchasing power parity - $6,100 (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	3% (2000 est.)	6.8% (2003 est.)
Geographic coordinates	8 00 S, 178 00 E	53 00 N, 28 00 E
Geography - note	one of the smallest and most remote countries on Earth; six of the coral atolls - Nanumea, Nui, Vaitupu, Nukufetau, Funafuti, and Nukulaelae - have lagoons open to the ocean; Nanumaya and Niutao have landlocked lagoons; Niulakita does not have a lagoon	landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes; the country is geologically well endowed with extensive deposits of granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay
Heliports	-	1 (2003 est.)
Highways	total: 8 km paved: 0 km unpaved: 8 km (1999 est.)	total: 74,385 km paved: 66,203 km unpaved: 8,182 km (2000)
Household income or consumption by percentage share	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%	lowest 10%: 5.1% highest 10%: 20% (1998)
Illicit drugs	-	limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe; a small and lightly regulated financial center; new anti-money-laundering legislation does not meet international standards; few investigations or prosecutions of money-laundering activities
Imports	$7.2 million c.i.f. (1998)	NA (2001)
Imports - commodities	food, animals, mineral fuels, machinery, manufactured goods	mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals
Imports - partners	Hungary 68.2%, Japan 12.9%, Fiji 11.9% (2002)	Russia 65.8%, Germany 7.1%, Ukraine 3.1% (2003)
Independence	1 October 1978 (from UK)	25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
Industrial production growth rate	NA%	5% (2003 est.)
Industries	fishing, tourism, copra	metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators
Infant mortality rate	total: 21.34 deaths/1,000 live births male: 24.35 deaths/1,000 live births female: 18.18 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)	total: 13.62 deaths/1,000 live births male: 14.71 deaths/1,000 live births female: 12.47 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	5% (2000 est.)	28.2% (2003 est.)
International organization participation	ACP, AsDB, C, ESCAP, IFRCS (associate), ITU, Sparteca, SPC, SPF, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WTrO (applicant)	CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (observer)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)	1 (2000)	-
Irrigated land	NA sq km	1,150 sq km (1998 est.)
Judicial branch	High Court (a chief justice visits twice a year to preside over its sessions; its rulings can be appealed to the Court of Appeal in Fiji); eight Island Courts (with limited jurisdiction)	Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president); Constitutional Court (half of the judges appointed by the president and half appointed by the Chamber of Representatives)
Labor force	7,000 (2001 est.)	4.8 million (2000 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	people make a living mainly through exploitation of the sea, reefs, and atolls and from wages sent home by those abroad (mostly workers in the phosphate industry and sailors)	NA
Land boundaries	0 km	total: 2,900 km border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km
Land use	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.)	arable land: 29.55% permanent crops: 0.6% other: 69.85% (2001)
Languages	Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui)	Belarusian, Russian, other
Legal system	NA	based on civil law system
Legislative branch	unicameral Parliament or Fale I Fono, also called House of Assembly (15 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 25 July 2002 (next to be held NA 2006) election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats - independents 15	bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats; 56 members elected by regional councils and 8 members appointed by the president, all for 4-year terms) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Predstaviteliy (110 seats; members elected by universal adult suffrage to serve 4-year terms) elections: last held 18 March and 1 April 2001 and 17 and 31 October 2004 (bi-election will be held March 2005 to fill one unfilled seat in the Palata Predstaviteliy); international observers widely denounced the October 2004 elections as flawed and undemocratic, based on massive government falsification; pro-Lukashenko candidates won every seat, after many opposition candidates were disqualified for technical reasons election results: Soviet Respubliki - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NA; Palata Pretsaviteley - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NA
Life expectancy at birth	total population: 67.32 years male: 65.15 years female: 69.59 years (2003 est.)	total population: 68.57 years male: 62.79 years female: 74.65 years (2004 est.)
Literacy	definition: NA% total population: NA% male: NA% female: NA%	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99.6% male: 99.8% female: 99.5% (2003 est.)
Location	Oceania, island group consisting of nine coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Australia	Eastern Europe, east of Poland
Map references	Oceania	Europe
Maritime claims	contiguous zone: 24 NM exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM	none (landlocked)
Merchant marine	total: 4 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 33,199 GRT/56,187 DWT ships by type: cargo 2, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 1 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Germany 5 (2002 est.)	-
Military branches	no regular military forces; Police Force (includes Maritime Surveillance Unit for search and rescue missions and surveillance operations)	Army, Air and Air Defense Force
Military expenditures - dollar figure	$NA	$176.1 million (FY02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	NA%	1.4% (FY02)
Military manpower - availability	-	males age 15-49: 2,764,856 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service	-	males age 15-49: 2,164,923 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually	-	males: 86,716 (2004 est.)
National holiday	Independence Day, 1 October (1978)	Independence Day, 3 July (1944); note - 3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops, 25 August 1991 was the date of independence from the Soviet Union
Nationality	noun: Tuvaluan(s) adjective: Tuvaluan	noun: Belarusian(s) adjective: Belarusian
Natural hazards	severe tropical storms are usually rare, but, in 1997, there were three cyclones; low level of islands make them very sensitive to changes in sea level	NA
Natural resources	fish	forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay
Net migration rate	0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)	2.54 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Pipelines	-	gas 5,223 km; oil 2,443 km; refined products 1,686 km (2004)
Political parties and leaders	there are no political parties but members of Parliament usually align themselves in informal groupings	Pro-government parties: Agrarian Party or AP; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB; Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatoliy BARANKEVICH, chairman]; Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH]; Social-Sports Party; Opposition parties: Belarusian Popular Front or BNF [Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat Party Narodnaya Gromada or BSDP NG [Nikolay STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hromada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; United Civic Party or UCP [Anatol LEBEDKO]; Party of Communists Belarusian or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN, chairman]; Women's Party "Nadezhda" [Valentina MATUSEVICH, chairperson] note: the opposition Belarusian Party of Labor [Aleksandr BUKHVOSTOV] was liquidated in August 2004, but remains active
Political pressure groups and leaders	none	NA
Population	11,305 (July 2003 est.)	10,310,520 (July 2004 est.)
Population below poverty line	NA%	22% (1995 est.)
Population growth rate	1.42% (2003 est.)	-0.11% (2004 est.)
Ports and harbors	Funafuti, Nukufetau	Mazyr
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1999)	AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998)
Railways	0 km	total: 5,523 km broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km electrified) (2003)
Religions	Church of Tuvalu (Congregationalist) 97%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.4%, Baha'i 1%, other 0.6%	Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.)
Sex ratio	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2003 est.)	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
Suffrage	18 years of age; universal	18 years of age; universal
Telephone system	general assessment: serves particular needs for internal communications domestic: radiotelephone communications between islands international: NA	general assessment: the Ministry of Telecommunications controls all telecommunications through its carrier (a joint stock company) Beltelcom which is a monopoly domestic: local - Minsk has a digital metropolitan network and a cellular NMT-450 network; waiting lists for telephones are long; local service outside Minsk is neglected and poor; intercity - Belarus has a partly developed fiber-optic backbone system presently serving at least 13 major cities (1998); Belarus' fiber optics form synchronous digital hierarchy rings through other countries' systems; an inadequate analog system remains operational international: country code - 375; Belarus is a member of the Trans-European Line (TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line, and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL); three fiber-optic segments provide connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine; worldwide service is available to Belarus through this infrastructure; additional analog lines to Russia; Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik earth stations
Telephones - main lines in use	1,000 (1997)	3,071,300 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular	0 (1994)	1.118 million (2003)
Television broadcast stations	0 (1997)	47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995)
Terrain	very low-lying and narrow coral atolls	generally flat and contains much marshland
Total fertility rate	3.05 children born/woman (2003 est.)	1.36 children born/woman (2004 est.)
Unemployment rate	NA%	2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number of underemployed workers (2003 est.)
Waterways	none	2,500 km (use limited by location on perimeter of country and by shallowness) (2003)

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