Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: George Abela Prime minister: Lawrence Gonzi
Population
584,578
409,836
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
79.850 years
Capital City
Valletta
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Birkirkara (population: 21,676)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.894
GDP per capita
$25,800 US
Literacy Rate
%
92.8%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
5.8
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
8.7%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
6.400%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
parliamentary democracy
republic
Independence date
21 September 1964 (from UK)
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)
Roman Catholic 98%
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
Maltese (official) 90.2%, English (official) 6%, multilingual 3%, other 0.8% (2005 census)
Exports
machinery and transport equipment, manufactures
External Debt
$48,790,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6494 (2008 est.), 0.6795 (January 2008), Maltese liri per US dollar - 0.3106 (2007), 0.37 (2006), 0.34578 (2005), 0.34466 (2004), 0.37723 (2003)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.700%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Southern Europe, islands in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily (Italy)
Area
28,896 km sq
316 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
197 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
