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Communications

Ports: Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Los Angeles (US), Manila (Philippines), Pusan (South Korea), San Francisco (US), Seattle (US), Shanghai (China), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Vladivostok (USSR), Wellington (NZ), Yokohama (Japan)

Telecommunications: several submarine cables with network focused on Guam and Hawaii  Pakistan



Geography

Total area: 803,940 km²; land area: 778,720 km²

Comparative area: slightly less than twice the size of California

Land boundaries: 6,774 km total; Afghanistan 2,430 km, China 523 km, India 2,912 km, Iran 909 km

Coastline: 1,046 km

Maritime claims:
 * Contiguous zone: 24 nm
 * Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm
 * Extended economic zone: 200 nm
 * Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: boundary with India; Pashtun question with Afghanistan; Baloch question with Afghanistan and Iran; water sharing problems with upstream riparian India over the Indus

Climate: mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in northwest; arctic in north

Terrain: flat Indus plain in east; mountains in north and northwest; Balochistan plateau in west

Natural resources: land, extensive natural gas reserves, limited crude oil, poor quality coal, iron ore, copper, salt, limestone

Land use: 26% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 6% meadows and pastures; 4% forest and woodland; 64% other; includes 19% irrigated

Environment: frequent earthquakes, occasionally severe especially in north and west; flooding along the Indus after heavy rains (July and August); deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water logging

Note: controls Khyber Pass and Malakand Pass, traditional invasion routes between Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent

People

Population: 114,649,406 (July 1990), growth rate 2.2% (1990)

Birth rate: 43 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 14 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: -6 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 110 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 56 years male, 57 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 6.7 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun—Pakistani(s); adjective—Pakistani

Ethnic divisions: Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch, Muhajir (immigrants from India and their descendents)

Religion: 97% Muslim (77% Sunni, 20% Shi'a), 3% Christian, Hindu, and other

Language: Urdu and English (official); total spoken languages—64% Punjabi, 12% Sindhi, 8% Pashtu, 7% Urdu, 9% Balochi and other; English is lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries, but official policies are promoting its gradual replacement by Urdu

Literacy: 26%

Labor force: 28,900,000; 54% agriculture, 13% mining and manufacturing, 33% services; extensive export of labor (1987 est.)

Organized labor: about 10% of industrial work force

Government

Long-form name: Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Type: parliamentary with strong executive, federal republic

Capital: Islāmābād

Administrative divisions: 4 provinces, 1 tribal area*, and 1 territory**; Balochistān, Federally Administered Tribal Areas*, Islāmābād Capital Territory**, North-West Frontier, Punjab, Sindh; note—the Pakistani-administered portion of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region includes Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas

Independence: 15 August 1947 (from UK; formerly West Pakistan)

Constitution: 10 April 1973, suspended 5 July 1977, restored 30 December 1985

Legal system: based on English common law with provisions to accommodate Pakistan's stature as an Islamic state; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

National holiday: Pakistan Day (proclamation of the republic), 23 March (1956)

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Legislature (Mijlis-e-Shoora) consists of 241