Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
President: Anibal Cavaco Silva
Population
584,578
10,781,459
Life Expectancy
74.420 years
78.700 years
Capital City
Lisbon
Largest city
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Lisbon (population: 517,802)
Human Development Index
0.591
0.9
GDP per capita
$23,700 US
Literacy Rate
%
93.3%
Corruption Perception Index
2.9
6.1
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%
28.3%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Americo Amorim ($3.3bn US)
Unemployment Rate
12.700%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
parliamentary democracy
republic; parliamentary democracy
Independence date
1143 (Kingdom of Portugal recognized); 5 October 1910 (republic proclaimed)
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 84.5%, other Christian 2.2%, other 0.3%, unknown 9%, none 3.9% (2001 census)
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
Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used)
Exports
agricultural products, food products, oil products, chemical products, plastics and rubber, skins and leather, wood and cork, wood pulp and paper, textile materials, clothing, footwear, minerals and mineral products, base metals, machinery and tools, vehicles and other transport material, and optical and precision
External Debt
$548,300,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6734 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
2
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Spain
Area
28,896 km sq
92,090 km sq
Coastline
5,313 km
1,793 km
Climate
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
maritime temperate; cool and rainy in north, warmer and drier in south
