roll on/roll off 5
foreign-owned: 16 (France 1, Germany 3, Japan 1, Philippines 1,
Saudi Arabia 1, United Kingdom 2, United States 7)
registered in other countries: 35 (2005)
Airports:
448 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 305 over 3,047 m: 10 2,438 to 3,047 m: 12 1,524 to 2,437 m: 131 914 to 1,523 m: 139 under 914 m: 13 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 143 1,524 to 2,437 m: 17 914 to 1,523 m: 112 under 914 m: 14 (2004 est.)
Military Australia
Military branches:
Australian Defense Force (ADF): Australian Army, Royal Australian
Navy, Royal Australian Air Force, Special Operations Command
Military service age and obligation:
16 years of age for voluntary service (2001)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16–49: 4,943,676 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16–49: 4,092,717 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 142,158 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$16.65 billion (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.7% (2004)
Transnational Issues Australia
Disputes - international:
East Timor and Australia continue to meet but disagree over how to
delimit a permanent maritime boundary and share unexploited
petroleum resources that fall outside the Joint Petroleum
Development Area covered by the 2002 Timor Sea Treaty; East Timor
dispute hampers creation of a revised maritime boundary with
Indonesia (see also Ashmore and Cartier Islands dispute); regional
states express concern over Australia's 2004 declaration of a
1,000-nautical mile-wide maritime indentification zone; Australia
asserts land and maritime claims to Antarctica (see Antarctica); in
2004 Australia submitted claims to UNCLOS to extend its continental
margin from both its mainland and Antarctic claims
Illicit drugs:
Tasmania is one of the world's major suppliers of licit opiate
products; government maintains strict controls over areas of opium
poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@Austria
Introduction Austria
Background:
Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire,
Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World
War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent
occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria's status
remained unclear for a decade. A State Treaty signed in 1955 ended
the occupation, recognized Austria's independence, and forbade
unification with Germany. A constitutional law that same year
declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as a condition for
Soviet military withdrawal. Following the Soviet Union's collapse in
1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995, some
Austrians have called into question this neutrality. A prosperous,
democratic country, Austria entered the Economic and Monetary Union
in 1999.
Geography Austria
Location:
Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia
Geographic coordinates:
47 20 N, 13 20 E
Map references:
Europe
Area:
total: 83,870 sq km
land: 82,444 sq km
water: 1,426 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Maine
Land boundaries:
total: 2,562 km
border countries: Czech Republic 362 km, Germany 784 km, Hungary 366
km, Italy 430 km, Liechtenstein 35 km, Slovakia 91 km, Slovenia 330
km, Switzerland 164 km
Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)
Climate:
temperate; continental, cloudy; cold winters with frequent rain and
some snow in lowlands and snow in mountains; moderate summers with
occasional showers
Terrain:
in the west and south mostly mountains (Alps); along the eastern
and northern margins mostly flat or gently sloping
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Neusiedler See 115 m
highest point: Grossglockner 3,798 m
Natural resources:
oil, coal, lignite, timber, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony,
magnesite, tungsten, graphite, salt, hydropower
Land use: arable land: 16.91% permanent crops: 0.86% other: 82.23% (2001)
Irrigated land:
457 sq km (2000 est.)
Natural hazards:
landslides; avalanches; earthquakes
Environment - current issues: some forest degradation caused by air and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of agricultural chemicals; air pollution results from emissions by coal- and oil-fired power stations and industrial plants and from trucks transiting Austria between northern and southern Europe
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85,
Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography