Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a Governor-General. Prime minister : Peter O'Neill
President: Bashar al-Assad
Population
6,310,129
22,530,746
Life Expectancy
66.460 years
74.920 years
Capital City
Port Moresby
Damascus
Largest city
Port Moresby (population: 283,733)
Aleppo (population: 1,602,260)
Human Development Index
0.516
0.736
GDP per capita
$2,600 US
$5,100 US
Literacy Rate
57.3%
79.6%
Corruption Perception Index
2
2.1
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0.9%
12.4%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
1.900%
12.300%
Death Penalty
Abolished in practice
Legal
Political System
constitutional parliamentary democracy
republic under an authoritarian military-dominated regime
Independence date
16 September 1975 (from the Australian-administered UN trusteeship)
17 April 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration)
Religions
Roman Catholic 27%, Evangelical Lutheran 19.5%, United Church 11.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 10%, Pentecostal 8.6%, Evangelical Alliance 5.2%, Anglican 3.2%, Baptist 2.5%, other Protestant 8.9%, Bahai 0.3%, indigenous beliefs and other 3.3% (2000 census)
Sunni Muslim 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)
Languages
Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region note: 820 indigenous languages spoken (over one-tenth of the world's total)
crude oil, minerals, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, textiles, clothing, meat and live animals, wheat
External Debt
$5,296,000,000 $
$7,074,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
kina (PGK) per US dollar - 2.6956 (2008 est.), 3.03 (2007), 3.0643 (2006), 3.08 (2005), 3.2225 (2004)
Syrian pounds (SYP) per US dollar - 46.5281 (2008 est.), 50.0085 (2007), 51.689 (2006), 50 (2005), 48.5 (2004) note: data for 2004-06 are the public sector rate; data for 2002-03 are the parallel market rate in 'Amman and Beirut; the official rate for repaying loans was 11.25 Syrian pounds per US dollars during 2004-06,
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.400%
5.900%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Oceania, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia
Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey
Area
462,840 km sq
185,180 km sq
Coastline
5,152 km
193 km
Climate
tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation
mostly desert; hot, dry, sunny summers (June to August) and mild, rainy winters (December to February) along coast; cold weather with snow or sleet periodically in Damascus
