King: Albert II Prime Minister-designate: Elio di Rupo
Population
313,847,465
10,438,353
Life Expectancy
78.490 years
79.650 years
Capital City
Washington, DC
Brussels
Largest city
New York City (population: 8,008,280)
Brussels (population: 1,019,020)
Human Development Index
0.95
0.948
GDP per capita
$49,000 US
$38,200 US
Literacy Rate
99%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
7.3
7.3
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16.6%
36.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
William Gates III ($40.0bn US)
Albert Frere ($2.4bn US)
Unemployment Rate
9.000%
7.700%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy
Independence date
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)
4 October 1830 (a provisional government declared independence from the Netherlands); 21 July 1831 (King LEOPOLD I ascended to the throne)
Religions
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
Roman Catholic 75%, other (includes Protestant) 25%
Languages
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French)
machinery and equipment, chemicals, diamonds, metals and metal products, foodstuffs
External Debt
$14,710,000,000,000 $
$1,399,000,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6802 (2008), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
4.060%
1.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
110
2
Location
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between France and the Netherlands
Area
9,826,675 km sq
30,528 km sq
Coastline
19,924 km
67 km
Climate
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
