CIA World Fact Book, 2004/French Guiana


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!| Background:
 * First settled by the French in 1604, French Guiana was the site of notorious penal settlements until 1951. The European Space Agency launches its communication satellites from Kourou.
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!| Location: !| Geographic coordinates: !| Map references: !| Area: water: 1,850 sq km land: 89,150 sq km !| Area - comparative: !| Land boundaries: border countries: Brazil 673 km, Suriname 510 km !| Coastline: !| Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 nm !| Climate: !| Terrain: !| Elevation extremes: highest point: Bellevue de l'Inini 851 m !| Natural resources: !| Land use: permanent crops: 0.05% other: 99.81% (90% forest, 10% other) (2001) !| Irrigated land: !| Natural hazards: !| Environment - current issues: !| Geography - note:
 * Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Brazil and Suriname
 * 4 00 N, 53 00 W
 * South America
 * total: 91,000 sq km
 * slightly smaller than Indiana
 * total: 1,183 km
 * 378 km
 * territorial sea: 12 nm
 * tropical; hot, humid; little seasonal temperature variation
 * low-lying coastal plains rising to hills and small mountains
 * lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
 * bauxite, timber, gold (widely scattered), petroleum, kaolin, fish, niobium, tantalum, clay
 * arable land: 0.14%
 * 20 sq km (1998 est.)
 * high frequency of heavy showers and severe thunderstorms; flooding
 * NA
 * mostly an unsettled wilderness; the only non-independent portion of the South American continent
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!| Population: !| Age structure: 15-64 years: 64.5% (male 66,388; female 57,020) 65 years and over: 5.9% (male 5,736; female 5,549) (2004 est.) !| Median age: male: 29.4 years female: 27.2 years (2004 est.) !| Population growth rate: !| Birth rate: !| Death rate: !| Net migration rate: !| Sex ratio: under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.16 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.03 male(s)/female total population: 1.12 male(s)/female (2004 est.) !| Infant mortality rate: female: 11.58 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) male: 13.3 deaths/1,000 live births !| Life expectancy at birth: male: 73.57 years female: 80.38 years (2004 est.) !| Total fertility rate: !| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: !| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: !| HIV/AIDS - deaths: !| Nationality: adjective: French Guianese !| Ethnic groups: !| Religions: !| Languages: !| Literacy: total population: 83% male: 84% female: 82% (1982 est.)
 * 191,309 (July 2004 est.)
 * 0-14 years: 29.6% (male 28,959; female 27,657)
 * total: 28.3 years
 * 2.25% (2004 est.)
 * 21 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
 * 4.82 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
 * 6.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
 * at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
 * total: 12.46 deaths/1,000 live births
 * total population: 76.89 years
 * 3.05 children born/woman (2004 est.)
 * NA
 * NA
 * NA
 * noun: French Guianese (singular and plural)
 * black or mulatto 66%, white 12%, East Indian, Chinese, Amerindian 12%, other 10%
 * Roman Catholic
 * French
 * definition: age 15 and over can read and write
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!| Country name: conventional short form: French Guiana local short form: Guyane local long form: none !| Dependency status: !| Government type: !| Capital: !| Administrative divisions: !| Independence: !| National holiday: !| Constitution: !| Legal system: !| Suffrage: !| Executive branch: elections: French president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; prefect appointed by the French president on the advice of the French Ministry of Interior; presidents of the General and Regional Councils are appointed by the members of those councils head of government: President of the General Council Joseph HO-TEN-YOU (since 26 March 2001); President of the Regional Council Antoine KARAM (since 22 March 1992) cabinet: NA !| Legislative branch: elections: General Council - last held NA March 2000 (next to be held NA 2006); Regional Council - last held 15 March 1998 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: General Council - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PSG 5, various left-wing parties 5, independents 7, other 2; Regional Council - percent of vote by party - PS 28.28%, various left parties 22.56%, RPR 15.91%, independents 8.6%, Walwari Committee 6%; seats by party - PS 11, various left parties 9, RPR 6, independents 3, Walwari Committee 2 note: one seat was elected to the French Senate on 27 September 1998 (next to be held NA September 2007); results - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; 2 seats were elected to the French National Assembly on 9 June-16 June 2002 (next to be held NA 2007); results - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - UMP/RPR 1, Walwari Committee 1 !| Judicial branch: !| Political parties and leaders: !| Political pressure groups and leaders: !| International organization participation: !| Diplomatic representation in the US: !| Diplomatic representation from the US: !| Flag description:
 * conventional long form: Department of Guiana
 * overseas department of France
 * NA
 * Cayenne
 * none (overseas department of France)
 * none (overseas department of France)
 * Bastille Day, 14 July (1789)
 * 28 September 1958 (French Constitution)
 * French legal system
 * 18 years of age; universal
 * chief of state: President Jacques CHIRAC of France (since 17 May 1995), represented by Prefect Ange MANCINI (since 31 July 2002)
 * unicameral General Council or Conseil General (19 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) and a unicameral Regional Council or Conseil Regional (31 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms)
 * Court of Appeals or Cour d'Appel (highest local court based in Martinique with jurisdiction over Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana)
 * Guyanese Democratic Action or ADG [Andre LECANTE]; Guyanese Socialist Party or PSG [Marie-Claude VERDAN]; Guyana Democratic Forces or FDG [Georges OTHILY]; Popular National Guyanese Party or PNPG [Jose DORCY]; Socialist Party or PS [Paul DEBRIETTE]; Union for a Popular Movement or UMP [Muriel ICARE]; Walwari Committee (aligned with the PRG in France) [Christine TAUBIRA-DELANON]
 * NA
 * UPU, WCL, WFTU
 * none (overseas department of France)
 * none (overseas department of France)
 * the flag of France is used
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!| Economy - overview: !| GDP: !| GDP - real growth rate: !| GDP - per capita: !| GDP - composition by sector: industry: NA services: NA (2001 est.) !| Population below poverty line: !| Household income or consumption by percentage share: highest 10%: NA !| Inflation rate (consumer prices): !| Labor force: !| Labor force - by occupation: !| Unemployment rate: !| Budget: expenditures: $390 million, including capital expenditures of $105 million (1996) !| Agriculture - products: !| Industries: !| Industrial production growth rate: !| Electricity - production: !| Electricity - consumption: !| Electricity - exports: !| Electricity - imports: !| Oil - production: !| Oil - consumption: !| Oil - exports: !| Oil - imports: !| Exports: !| Exports - commodities: !| Exports - partners: !| Imports: !| Imports - commodities: !| Imports - partners: !| Debt - external: !| Economic aid - recipient: !| Currency: !| Currency code: !| Exchange rates: !| Fiscal year:
 * The economy is tied closely to the larger French economy through subsidies and imports. Besides the French space center at Kourou (which accounts for 25% of GDP), fishing and forestry are the most important economic activities. Forest and woodland cover 90% of the country. The large reserves of tropical hardwoods, not fully exploited, support an expanding sawmill industry that provides sawn logs for export. Cultivation of crops is limited to the coastal area, where the population is largely concentrated; rice and manioc are the major crops. French Guiana is heavily dependent on imports of food and energy. Unemployment is a serious problem, particularly among younger workers.
 * purchasing power parity - $1.551 billion (2003 est.)
 * NA
 * purchasing power parity - $8,300 (2001 est.)
 * agriculture: NA
 * NA
 * lowest 10%: NA
 * 1.5% (2002 est.)
 * 58,800 (1997)
 * agriculture 18.2%, industry 21.2%, services, government, and commerce 60.6% (1980)
 * 22% (2001)
 * revenues: $225 million
 * corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sugar, cocoa, vegetables, bananas; cattle, pigs, poultry
 * construction, shrimp processing, forestry products, rum, gold mining
 * NA
 * 455 million kWh (2001)
 * 423.2 million kWh (2001)
 * 0 kWh (2001)
 * 0 kWh (2001)
 * 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
 * 6,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
 * NA (2001)
 * NA (2001)
 * $155 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
 * shrimp, timber, gold, rum, rosewood essence, clothing
 * France 62%, Switzerland 7%, US 2% (2001)
 * $625 million c.i.f. (2002 est.)
 * food (grains, processed meat), machinery and transport equipment, fuels and chemicals
 * France 63%, US, Trinidad and Tobago, Italy (2002 est.)
 * $1.2 billion (1988)
 * NA (1995)
 * euro (EUR)
 * EUR
 * Euros per US dollar - 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999)
 * calendar year
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!| Telephones - main lines in use: !| Telephones - mobile cellular: !| Telephone system: domestic: fair open-wire and microwave radio relay system international: country code - 594; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) !| Radio broadcast stations: !| Radios: !| Television broadcast stations: !| Televisions: !| Internet country code: !| Internet Service Providers (ISPs): !| Internet users:
 * 51,000 (2001)
 * 138,200 (2002)
 * general assessment: NA
 * AM 2, FM 14 (including 6 repeaters), shortwave 6 (including 5 repeaters) (1998)
 * 104,000 (1997)
 * 3 (plus eight low-power repeaters) (1997)
 * 30,000 (1997)
 * .gf
 * 2 (2000)
 * 3,200 (2002)
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!| Highways: paved: NA km unpaved: NA km (1996) !| Waterways: note: 460 km navigable by small oceangoing vessels and coastal and river steamers, 3,300 km by native craft (2004) !| Ports and harbors: !| Airports: !| Airports - with paved runways: over 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.) !| Airports - with unpaved runways: 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 5 (2004 est.)
 * total: 722 km
 * 3,760 km
 * Cayenne, Degrad des Cannes, Saint-Laurent du Maroni
 * 11 (2003 est.)
 * total: 4
 * total: 7
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!| Military branches: !| Military manpower - availability: !| Military manpower - fit for military service: !| Military expenditures - dollar figure: !| Military expenditures - percent of GDP: !| Military - note:
 * no regular military forces; Gendarmerie
 * males age 15-49: 52,294 (2004 est.)
 * males age 15-49: 33,914 (2004 est.)
 * NA
 * NA
 * defense is the responsibility of France
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