Electricity - exports: 7.309 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - imports: 11.645 billion kWh (2000)
Agriculture - products: sugar beets, fresh vegetables, fruits, grain, tobacco; beef, veal, pork, milk
Exports: $160.3 billion (f.o.b., 2001)
Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, diamonds, metals and metal products
Exports - partners: EU 74% (France 18%, Germany 17%, Netherlands 13%,
UK 10%), US 6% (2000)
Imports: $154 billion (f.o.b., 2001)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals and metal products
Imports - partners: EU 68% (Germany 17%, Netherlands 17%, France 13%,
UK 9%) (2000)
Debt - external: $28.3 billion (1999 est.)
Economic aid - donor: ODA, $764 million (1997)
Currency: euro (EUR); Belgian franc (BEF) note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries
Currency code: EUR; BEF
Exchange rates: euros per US dollar - 1.1324 (January 2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); Belgian francs per US dollar - 34.77 (January 1999), 36.229 (1998), 35.774 (1997)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Belgium
Telephones - main lines in use: 4.769 million (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 974,494 (1997)
Telephone system: general assessment: highly developed, technologically advanced, and completely automated domestic and international telephone and telegraph facilities domestic: nationwide cellular telephone system; extensive cable network; limited microwave radio relay network international: 5 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1 Eutelsat
Radio broadcast stations: FM 79, AM 7, shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios: 8.075 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 25 (plus 10 repeaters) (1997)
Televisions: 4.72 million (1997)
Internet country code: .be
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 61 (2000)
Internet users: 2.807 million (2001)
Transportation Belgium
Railways: total: 3,422 km standard gauge: 3,422 km 1.435-m gauge (2,517 km electrified; 2,563 km double-tracked) (2001)
Highways: total: 145,774 km paved: 116,182 km (including 1,674 km of expressways) unpaved: 29,592 km (1999)
Waterways: 1,570 km (route length in regular commercial use) (2001)
Pipelines: crude oil 161 km; petroleum products 1,167 km; natural gas 3,300 km
Ports and harbors: Antwerp (one of the world's busiest ports), Brugge,
Gent, Hasselt, Liege, Mons, Namur, Oostende, Zeebrugge
Merchant marine: total: 20 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 31,362 GRT/54,058 DWT ships by type: cargo 6, chemical tanker 9, petroleum tanker 5, includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Finland 1, Netherlands 3 (2002 est.)
Airports: 42 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 24 over 3,047 m: 6 2,438 to 3,047 m: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 6 (2001) 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 18 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 16 (2001)
Heliports: 1 (2001)
Military Belgium
Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Components, National Gendarmerie
Military manpower - military age: 19 years of age (2002 est.)
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 2,508,557 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 2,070,016 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 63,247 (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $3,076,500,000 (FY01/02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.4% (FY01/02)
Transnational Issues Belgium
Disputes - international: none
Illicit drugs: growing producer of synthetic drugs; transit point for US-bound ecstasy; source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for cocaine, heroin, hashish, and marijuana entering Western Europe
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
========================================================================
Bahamas, The
Introduction
Bahamas, The
Background: Since attaining independence from the UK in 1973, The Bahamas have prospered through tourism and international banking and investment management. Because of its geography, the country is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.
Geography Bahamas, The
Location: Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Florida
Geographic coordinates: 24 15 N, 76 00 W
Map references: Central America and the Caribbean
Area: total: 13,940 sq km water: 3,870 sq km land: 10,070 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Connecticut
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 3,542 km
Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate: tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream
Terrain: long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point:
Mount Alvernia, on Cat Island 63 m
Natural resources: salt, aragonite, timber, arable land
Land use: arable land: 1% permanent crops: 0% other: 99% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: hurricanes and other tropical storms cause extensive flood and wind damage
Environment - current issues: coral reef decay; solid waste disposal
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: strategic location adjacent to US and Cuba; extensive island chain of which 30 are inhabited
People Bahamas, The
Population: 300,529 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and