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Netherlands Antilles (continued) Civil air: 5 major transport aircraft

Airports: 7 total, 7 usable; 7 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 2 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: generally adequate facilities; extensive interisland radio relay links; stations—9 AM, 4 FM, 1 TV; 2 submarine cables; 2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth stations

Defense Forces

Military Manpower: males 15-49 49,299; 27,888 fit for military service; 1,678 reach military age (20) annually

Note: defense is responsibility of the Netherlands  New Caledonia (overseas territory of France)



&emsp;

Geography

Total area: 19,060 km²; land area: 18,760 km²

Comparative area: slightly smaller than New Jersey

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 2,254 km

Maritime claims:
 * Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
 * Extended economic zone: 200 nm
 * Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; modified by southeast trade winds; hot, humid

Terrain: coastal plains with interior mountains

Natural resources: nickel, chrome, iron, cobalt, manganese, silver, gold, lead, copper

Land use: NEGL% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 14% meadows and pastures; 51% forest and woodland; 35% other

Environment: typhoons most frequent from November to March

Note: located 1,750 km east of Australia in the South Pacific Ocean

People

Population: 153,215 (July 1990), growth rate 1.1% (1990)

Birth rate: 24 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: -7 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 39 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 64 years male, 71 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 3.0 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun—New Caledonian(s); adjective—New Caledonian

Ethnic divisions: Melanesian 42.5%, European 37.1%, Wallisian 8.4%, Polynesian 3.8%, Indonesian 3.6%, Vietnamese 1.6%, other 3.0%

Religion: over 60% Roman Catholic, 30% Protestant, 10% other

Language: French; Melanesian-Polynesian dialects

Labor force: 50,469; foreign workers for plantations and mines from Wallis and Futuna, Vanuatu, and French Polynesia (1980 est.)

Organized labor: NA

Government

Long-form name: Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies

Type: overseas territory of France

Capital: Nouméa

Administrative divisions: none (overseas territory of France)

Independence: none (overseas territory of France); note—a referendum on independence will be held in 1998 (there will be a review of the issue in 1992)

Constitution: 28 September 1958 (French Constitution)

Legal system: the 1988 Matignon Accords grant substantial autonomy to the islands; formerly under French law

National holiday: Taking of the Bastille, 14 July (1789)

Executive branch: high commissioner, Consultative Committee (cabinet)

Legislative branch: unicameral Territorial Assembly

Judicial branch: Court of Appeal

Leaders: Chief of State—President François MITTERRAND (since 21 May 1981);

Head of Government—High Commissioner and President of the Council of Government Bernard GRASSET (since 15 July 1988)

Political parties: white-dominated Rassemblement pour la Calédonie dans la République (RPCR), conservative; Melanesian proindependence Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS); Melanesian moderate Kanak Socialist Liberation (LKS); National Front (FN), extreme right; Caledonian Separatist Front, extreme left

Suffrage: universal adult at age NA

Elections: Territorial Congress—last held NA June 1989 (next to be held NA 1993); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(54 total) RPCR 27, FLNKS 19, FN 3, others 5;

French Senate—last held 24 September 1989 (next to be held September 1992); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(1 total) RPCR 1;  224