17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed; Italy was not finally unified until 1870)
12 March 1968 (from UK)
Religions
Roman Catholic 90% (approximately; about one-third practicing), other 10% (includes mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community)
Hindu 48%, Roman Catholic 23.6%, Muslim 16.6%, other Christian 8.6%, other 2.5%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.4% (2000 census)
Languages
Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)
Creole 80.5%, Bhojpuri 12.1%, French 3.4%, English (official; spoken by less than 1% of the population), other 3.7%, unspecified 0.3% (2000 census)
Exports
engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals, and nonferrous metals
clothing and textiles, sugar, cut flowers, molasses, fish
External Debt
$2,684,000,000,000 $
$5,205,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6689 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
Mauritian rupees (MUR) per US dollar - 27.973 (2008 est.), 31.798 (2007), 31.656 (2006), 29.496 (2005), 27.499 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.800%
0.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
28
1
Location
Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia
Southern Africa, island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar
Area
301,340 km sq
2,040 km sq
Coastline
7,600 km
177 km
Climate
predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south
tropical, modified by southeast trade winds; warm, dry winter (May to November); hot, wet, humid summer (November to May)
