percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.7% highest 10%: 34.6% (2001)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 45.9 (1997)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12.1% (2001 est.)
Labor force: 1.9 million (1999)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 20%, industry 22%, services 58% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate: 5.2% (2000 est.)
Budget: revenues: $1.91 billion expenditures: $2.35 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)
Industries: microprocessors, food processing, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products
Industrial production growth rate: -2.1% (2001 est.)
Electricity - production: 6.887 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 1.15% hydro: 82.56% other: 16.29% (2000) nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption: 5.895 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - exports: 532 million kWh (2000)
Electricity - imports: 22 million kWh (2000)
Agriculture - products: coffee, pineapples, bananas, sugar, corn, rice, beans, potatoes; beef; timber
Exports: $5 billion (2001)
Exports - commodities: coffee, bananas, sugar; pineapples; textiles, electronic components, medical equipment
Exports - partners: US 51.8%, EU 20%, Central America 10.6%, Puerto
Rico 2.8%, Mexico 1.7% (2000)
Imports: $6.5 billion (2001)
Imports - commodities: raw materials, consumer goods, capital equipment, petroleum
Imports - partners: US 53.2%, EU 10.3%, Mexico 6.2%, Venezuela 5.3%,
Central America 4.9% (2000)
Debt - external: $4.6 billion (2001 est.)
Currency: Costa Rican colon (CRC)
Currency code: CRC
Exchange rates: Costa Rican colones per US dollar - 343.08 (January 2002), 328.87 (2001), 308.19 (2000), 285.68 (1999), 257.23 (1998), 232.60 (1997)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Costa Rica
Telephones - main lines in use: 450,000 (1998) note: 584,000 installed in 1997, but only about 450,000 were in use in 1998
Telephones - mobile cellular: 143,000 (2000)
Telephone system: very good domestic telephone service domestic: and coaxial cable link rural areas; Internet service is available international: connected to Central American Microwave System; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); two submarine cables (1999)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 50, FM 43, shortwave 19 (1998)
Radios: 980,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 6 (plus 11 repeaters) (1997)
Televisions: 525,000 (1997)
Internet country code: .cr
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3 (of which only one is legal) (2000)
Internet users: 250,000 (2001)
Transportation Costa Rica
Railways: total: 950 km narrow gauge: 950 km 1.067-m gauge (260 km electrified) (2000 est.)
Highways: total: 37,273 km paved: 7,827 km unpaved: 29,446 km (1998 est.)
Waterways: 730 km (seasonally navigable)
Pipelines: petroleum products 176 km
Ports and harbors: Caldera, Golfito, Moin, Puerto Limon, Puerto Quepos,
Puntarenas
Merchant marine: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,716 GRT/NA DWT ships by type: Airports: 152 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 29 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 19 under 914 m: 7 (2001)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 123 914 to 1,523 m: 28 under 914 m: 95 (2001)
Military Costa Rica
Military branches: no regular indigenous military forces; Air Section,
Ministry of Public Forces (Fuerza Publica)
Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age (2002 est.)
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 1,058,283 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 707,927 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 39,411 (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $69 million (FY99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.6% (FY99)
Transnational Issues Costa Rica
Disputes - international: legal dispute over navigational rights of
Rio San Juan on border with Nicaragua
Illicit drugs: transshipment country for cocaine and heroin from South America; illicit production of cannabis on small, scattered plots; domestic cocaine consumption is rising, particularly crack cocaine
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
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Central African Republic
Introduction
Central African Republic
Background: The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari became the Central African Republic upon independence in 1960. After three tumultuous decades of misrule - mostly by military governments - a civilian government was installed in 1993.
Geography Central African Republic
Location: Central Africa, north of Democratic Republic of the Congo
Geographic coordinates: 7 00 N, 21 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area: total: 622,984 sq km water: 0 sq km land: 622,984 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Texas
Land boundaries: total:
