The 2008 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency
180 (8 inactive), FM 64, shortwave 17 (1 inactive) (1998)
Radios:
5.18 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
63 (plus 121 repeaters) (1997)
Televisions:
3.15 million (1997)
Internet country code:
.cl
Internet hosts:
847,215 (2008)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
7 (2000)
Internet users:
5.57 million (2007)
Transportation
Chile
Airports:
358 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 79 over 3,047 m: 5 2,438 to 3,047 m: 8 1,524 to 2,437 m: 22 914 to 1,523 m: 25 under 914 m: 19 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 279 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 12 914 to 1,523 m: 49 under 914 m: 216 (2007)
Pipelines:
gas 2,550 km; gas/liquid petroleum gas 42 km; liquid petroleum gas 539 km; oil 1,002 km; refined products 757 km; unknown (oil/water) 97 km (2007)
Railways:
total: 6,585 km broad gauge: 2,831 km 1.676-m gauge (1,317 km electrified) narrow gauge: 3,754 km 1.000-m gauge (2006)
Roadways:
total: 80,505 km paved: 16,745 km (includes 2,414 km of expressways) unpaved: 63,760 km (2004)
Merchant marine:
total: 44 by type: bulk carrier 9, cargo 7, chemical tanker 8, container 1, liquefied gas 2, passenger 4, passenger/cargo 2, petroleum tanker 7, roll on/roll off 1, vehicle carrier 3 registered in other countries: 40 (Argentina 7, Brazil 1, Cyprus 1, Isle of Man 6, Marshall Islands 4, Norway 2, Panama 12, Singapore 6, Venezuela 1) (2008)
Ports and terminals:
Coronel, Huasco, Lirquen, Puerto Ventanas, San Antonio, San Vicente,
Valparaiso
Military
Chile
Military branches:
Army of the Nation, Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile, includes naval
air, marine corps, and Maritime Territory and Merchant Marine
Directorate (Directemar)), Chilean Air Force (Fuerza Aerea de Chile,
FACh), Carabineros Corps (Cuerpo de Carabineros) (2008)
Military service age and obligation:
18–45 years of age for voluntary male and female military service, although the right to compulsory recruitment is retained; service obligation - 12 months for Army, 22 months for Navy and Air Force (2008)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16–49: 4,242,912 females age 16–49: 4,182,509 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16–49: 3,542,448 females age 16–49: 3,500,059 (2008 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 147,518 female: 141,139 (2008 est.)
Military expenditures:
2.7% of GDP (2006)
Transnational Issues
Chile
Disputes - international:
Chile and Peru rebuff Bolivia's reinvigorated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, but Chile has offered instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile to Bolivian gas and other commodities; Chile rejects Peru's unilateral legislation to change its latitudinal maritime boundary with Chile to an equidistance line with a southwestern axis favoring Peru, in October 2007, Peru took its maritime complaint with Chile to the ICJ; territorial claim in Antarctica (Chilean Antarctic Territory) partially overlaps Argentine and British claims; the joint boundary commission, established by Chile and Argentina in 2001, has yet to map and demarcate the delimited boundary in the inhospitable Andean Southern Ice Field (Campo de Hielo Sur)
Illicit drugs:
transshipment country for cocaine destined for Europe and the region; economic prosperity and increasing trade have made Chile more attractive to traffickers seeking to launder drug profits, especially through the Iquique Free Trade Zone, but a recent anti-money-laundering law improves controls; imported precursors passed on to Bolivia; domestic cocaine consumption is rising, making Chile a significant consumer of cocaine
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008
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@China
Introduction
China
Background:
For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.
Geography
China
Location:
Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
Geographic coordinates:
35 00 N, 105 00 E
Map references:
Asia
Area:
total: 9,596,960 sq km land: 9,326,410 sq km water: 270,550 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than the US
Land boundaries:
total: 22,117 km border countries: Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Mongolia 4,677 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km regional borders: Hong Kong 30 km, Macau 0.34 km
Coastline:
14,500 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Climate:
extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Terrain:
mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Turpan Pendi −154 m highest point: