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Solomon Islands (continued) Aid: Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1985), $16.1 million

Currency: Solomon Islands dollar (plural—dollars); 1 Solomon Islands dollar (SI$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Solomon Islands dollars (SI$) per US$1—2.4067 (January 1990), 2.3090 (1989), 2.0825 (1988), 2.0033 (1987), 1.7415 (1986), 1.4808 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Highways: about 2,100 km total (1982); 30 km sealed, 290 km gravel, 980 km earth, 800 private logging and plantation roads of varied construction

Ports: Honiara, Ringi Coye

Civil air: no major transport aircraft

Airports: 29 total, 27 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 2,439 m; 5 with runways 1, 220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: 3,000 telephones; stations—4 AM, no FM, no TV; 1 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT earth station

Defense Forces

Branches: NA

Military manpower: NA

Defense expenditures: NA  Somalia



Geography

Total area: 637,660 km²; land area: 627,340 km²

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: 2,340 km total; Djibouti 58 km, Ethiopia 1,600 km, Kenya 682 km

Coastline: 3,025 km

Maritime claims:
 * Territorial sea: 200 nm

Disputes: southern half of boundary with Ethiopia is a Provisional Administrative Line; territorial dispute with Ethiopia over the Ogaden; possible claims to Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya based on unification of ethnic Somalis

Climate: desert; northeast monsoon (December to February), cooler southwest monsoon (May to October); irregular rainfall; hot, humid periods (tangambili) between monsoons

Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plateau rising to hills in north

Natural resources: uranium, and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt

Land use: 2% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 46% meadows and pastures; 14% forest and woodland; 38% other; includes 3% irrigated

Environment: recurring droughts; frequent dust storms over eastern plains in summer; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Note: strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal

People

Population: 8,424,269 (July 1990), growth rate 0.8% (1990)

Birth rate: 47 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 15 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: -24 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 125 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 53 years male, 54 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 7.3 children born/woman (1990)

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

Ethnic divisions: 85% Somali, rest mainly Bantu; 30,000 Arabs, 3,000 Europeans, 800 Asians

Religion: almost entirely Sunni Muslim

Language: Somali (official); Arabic, Italian, English

Literacy: 11.6% (government est.)

Labor force: 2,200,000; very few are skilled laborers; 70% pastoral nomad, 30% agriculture, government, trading, fishing, handicrafts, and other; 53% of population of working age (1985)

Organized labor: General Federation of Somali Trade Unions is controlled by the government

Government

Long-form name: Somali Democratic Republic

Type: republic

Capital: Mogadishu

Administrative divisions: 16 regions (plural—NA, singular—gobolka); Bakool, Banaadir, Bari, Bay, Galguduud, Gedo, Hiiraan, Jubbada Dhexe, Jubbada Hoose. Mudug, Nugaal, Sanaag, Shabeellaha Dhexe, Shabeellaha Hoose, Togdheer, Woqooyi Galbeed

Independence: 1 July 1960 (from a merger of British Somaliland, which became independent from the UK on 26 June 1960, and Italian Somaliland, which became independent from the Italian-administered UN trusteeship on 1 July 1960, to form the Somali Republic)

Constitution: 25 August 1979, presidential approval 23 September 1979

National holiday: Anniversary of the Revolution, 21 October (1969)

Executive branch: president, two vice presidents, prime minister. Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Legislative branch: unicameral People's Assembly

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders: Chief of State—President and Commander in Chief of the Army Maj. Gen. Mohamed SIAD Barre (since 21 October 1969);

Head of Government—Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Mohamed Ali SAMANTAR (since 1 February 1987)  282