Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President : Andris Berzins
Population
584,578
2,191,580
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
72.930 years
Capital City
Riga
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Riga (population: 742,572)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.863
GDP per capita
$15,900 US
Literacy Rate
%
99.7%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
5
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
20%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
15.400%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished except for special circumstances
Political System
parliamentary democracy
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
18 November 1918 (from Soviet Russia)
Religions
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Lutheran 19.6%, Orthodox 15.3%, other Christian 1%, other 0.4%, unspecified 63.7% (2006)
Languages
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
Latvian (official) 58.2%, Russian 37.5%, Lithuanian and other 4.3% (2000 census)
Exports
wood and wood products, machinery and equipment, metals, textiles, foodstuffs
External Debt
$38,370,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
lati (LVL) per US dollar - 0.4701 (2008 est.), 0.5162 (2007), 0.5597 (2006), 0.5647 (2005), 0.5402 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.100%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
3
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania
Area
28,896 km sq
64,589 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
498 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
