rate: 8.6% (May 1990)
_#_Budget: revenues $12.2 billion; expenditures $17.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.8 billion (1989)
_#_Exports: $12.4 billion (f.o.b., 1990);
commodities—meat, wheat, corn, oilseed, hides, wool;
partners—US 12%, USSR, Italy, Brazil, Japan, Netherlands
_#_Imports: $4.1 billion (c.i.f., 1990);
commodities—machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, fuels and lubricants, agricultural products;
partners—US 22%, Brazil, FRG, Bolivia, Japan, Italy, Netherlands
_#_External debt: $60 billion (December 1990)
_#_Industrial production: growth rate 5% (1991 est.); accounts for 30% of GDP
_#_Electricity: 16,749,000 kW capacity; 45,580 million kWh produced, 1,410 kWh per capita (1990)
_#_Industries: food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel
_#_Agriculture: accounts for 15% of GNP (including fishing); produces abundant food for both domestic consumption and exports; among world's top five exporters of grain and beef; principal crops—wheat, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sugar beets; 1987 fish catch estimated at 500,000 tons
_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70–89), $1.0 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970–88), $4.0 billion; Communist countries (1970–89), $718 million
_#_Currency: austral (plural—australes); 1 austral (2) = 100 centavos
_#_Exchange rates: australes (2) per US$1—9,900 (April 1991), 4,707 (1990), 423 (1989), 8.7526 (1988), 2.1443 (1987), 0.9430 (1986), 0.6018 (1985)
_#_Fiscal year: calendar year
_*Communications #_Railroads: 34,172 km total (includes 169 km electrified); includes a mixture of 1.435-meter standard gauge, 1.676-meter broad gauge, 1.000-meter gauge, and 0.750-meter gauge
_#_Highways: 208,350 km total; 47,550 km paved, 39,500 km gravel, 101,000 km improved earth, 20,300 km unimproved earth
_#_Inland waterways: 11,000 km navigable
_#_Pipelines: 4,090 km crude oil; 2,900 km refined products; 9,918 km natural gas
_#_Ports: Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Necochea, Rio Gallegos, Rosario, Santa Fe
_#_Merchant marine: 129 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,663,884 GRT/2,689,645 DWT; includes 42 cargo, 7 refrigerated cargo, 6 container, 1 railcar carrier, 47 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 4 chemical tanker, 4 liquefied gas, 18 bulk; additionally, 2 naval tankers and 1 military transport are sometimes used commercially
_#_Civil air: 54 major transport aircraft
_#_Airports: 1,763 total, 1,575 usable; 135 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 31 with runways 2,440–3,659 m; 336 with runways 1,220–2,439 m
_#_Telecommunications: extensive modern system; 2,650,000 telephones (12,000 public telephones); radio relay widely used; stations—171 AM, no FM, 231 TV, 13 shortwave; 2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth stations; domestic satellite network has 40 stations
_*Defense Forces #_Branches: Argentine Army, Navy of the Argentine Republic, Argentine Air Force, National Gendarmerie, Argentine Naval Prefecture (Coast Guard only), National Aeronautical Police Force
_#_Manpower availability: males 15–49, 7,992,140; 6,478,730 fit for military service; 285,047 reach military age (20) annually
_#Defense expenditures: $700 million, 1% of GNP (1990) % @Aruba (part of the Dutch realm) *Geography #_Total area: 193 km2; land area: 193 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly larger than Washington, DC
_#_Land boundaries: none
_#_Coastline: 68.5 km
_#_Maritime claims:
Exclusive fishing zone: 12 nm;
Territorial sea: 12 nm
_#_Climate: tropical marine; little seasonal temperature variation
_#_Terrain: flat with a few hills; scant vegetation
_#_Natural resources: negligible; white sandy beaches
_#_Land use: arable land 0%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and woodland 0%; other 100%
_#_Environment: lies outside the Caribbean hurricane belt
_#_Note: 28 km north of Venezuela
_*People #_Population: 64,052 (July 1991), growth rate 0.6% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 15 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: - 4 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 8 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 72 years male, 80 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun—Aruban(s); adjective—Aruban
_#_Ethnic divisions: mixed European/Caribbean Indian 80%
_#_Religion: Roman Catholic 82%, Protestant 8%, also small Hindu, Muslim, Confucian, and Jewish minority
_#_Language: Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English dialect), English (widely spoken), Spanish
_#_Literacy: NA% (male NA%, female NA%)
_#_Labor force: NA, but most employment is in the tourist industry (1986)
_#_Organized labor: Aruban Workers' Federation (FTA)
_*Government #_Long-form name: none
_#_Type: part of the Dutch realm—full autonomy in internal affairs obtained in 1986 upon separation from the Netherlands Antilles
_#_Capital: Oranjestad
_#_Administrative divisions: none (self-governing part of the Netherlands)
_#_Independence: none (part of the Dutch realm); note—in 1990 Aruba requested and received from the Netherlands cancellation of the agreement to automatically give independence to the island in 1996
_#_Constitution: 1 January 1986
_#_Legal system: based on Dutch civil law system, with some English common law influence
_#_National
