_#_Flag: three vertical bands of red (hoist side), white (double width, square), and red with a red maple leaf centered in the white band
_*Economy #_Overview: As an affluent, high-tech industrial society, Canada today closely resembles the US in per capita output, market-oriented economic system, and pattern of production. Since World War II the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. In the 1980s Canada registered one of the highest rates of real growth among the OECD nations, averaging about 3.2%. With its great natural resources, skilled labor force, and modern capital plant, Canada has excellent economic prospects. In mid-1990, however, the long-simmering problems between English- and French-speaking areas became so acute that observers spoke openly of a possible split in the confederation; foreign investors were becoming edgy.
_#_GDP: $516.7 billion, per capita $19,500; real growth rate 0.9% (1990)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.8% (1990)
_#_Unemployment rate: 8.1% (1990)
_#_Budget: revenues $105.8 billion; expenditures $131.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY90 est.)
_#_Exports: $126.7 billion (f.o.b., 1990);
commodities—newsprint, wood pulp, timber, grain, crude petroleum, machinery, natural gas, ferrous and nonferrous ores, motor vehicles and parts;
partners—US, Japan, UK, FRG, other EC, USSR
_#_Imports: $116.3 billion (c.i.f., 1990);
commodities—processed foods, beverages, crude petroleum, chemicals, industrial machinery, motor vehicles and parts, durable consumer goods, electronic computers;
partners—US, Japan, UK, FRG, other EC, Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico
_#_External debt: $247 billion (1987)
_#_Industrial production: growth rate - 2.7% (1990); accounts for 34% of GDP
_#_Electricity: 105,000,000 kW capacity; 500,000 million kWh produced, 18,840 kWh per capita (1990)
_#_Industries: processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, transportation equipment, chemicals, fish products, petroleum and natural gas
_#_Agriculture: accounts for about 3% of GDP; one of the world's major producers and exporters of grain (wheat and barley); key source of US agricultural imports; large forest resources cover 35% of total land area; commercial fisheries provide annual catch of 1.5 million metric tons, of which 75% is exported
_#_Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis for the domestic drug market; use of hydroponics technology permits growers to plant large quantities of high-quality marijuana indoors
_#_Economic aid: donor—ODA and OOF commitments (1970–89), $7.2 billion
_#_Currency: Canadian dollar (plural—dollars); 1 Canadian dollar (Can$) = 100 cents
_#_Exchange rates: Canadian dollars (Can$) per US$1—1.1559 (January 1991), 1.1668 (1990), 1.1840 (1989), 1.2307 (1988), 1.3260 (1987), 1.3895 (1986), 1.3655 (1985)
_#_Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March
_*Communications #_Railroads: 93,544 km total; two major transcontinental freight railway systems—Canadian National (government owned) and Canadian Pacific Railway; passenger service—VIA (government operated)
_#_Highways: 884,272 km total; 712,936 km surfaced (250,023 km paved), 171,336 km earth
_#_Inland waterways: 3,000 km, including Saint Lawrence Seaway
_#_Pipelines: oil, 23,564 km total crude and refined; natural gas, 74,980 km
_#_Ports: Halifax, Montreal, Quebec, Saint John (New Brunswick), Saint John's (Newfoundland), Toronto, Vancouver
_#_Merchant marine: 75 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 532,062 GRT/727,118 DWT; includes 1 passenger, 5 short-sea passenger, 2 passenger-cargo, 13 cargo, 2 railcar carrier, 1 refrigerated cargo, 8 roll-on/roll-off, 1 container, 27 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 6 chemical tanker, 1 specialized tanker, 8 bulk; note—does not include ships used exclusively in the Great Lakes
_#_Civil air: 636 major transport aircraft; Air Canada is the major carrier
_#_Airports: 1,397 total, 1,154 usable; 443 with permanent-surface runways; 4 with runways over 3,659 m; 30 with runways 2,440–3,659 m; 328 with runways 1,220–2,439 m
_#_Telecommunications: excellent service provided by modern media; 18.0 million telephones; stations—900 AM, 29 FM, 53 (1,400 repeaters) TV; 5 coaxial submarine cables; over 300 earth stations operating in INTELSAT (including 4 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Pacific Ocean) and domestic systems
_*Defense Forces #_Branches: Canadian Armed Forces (including Mobile Command, Maritime Command, Air Command, Communications Command, Canadian Forces Europe, Training Commands), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
_#_Manpower availability: males 15–49, 7,243,909; 6,297,520 fit for military service; 188,996 reach military age (17) annually
_#Defense expenditures: $11.3 billion, 2% of GDP (FY90) % @Cape Verde *Geography #_Total area: 4,030 km2; land area: 4,030 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly larger than Rhode Island
_#_Land boundaries: none
_#_Coastline: 965 km
_#_Maritime claims: (measured from claimed archipelagic baselines);
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;
Territorial sea: 12 nm
_#_Climate: temperate; warm, dry, summer precipitation very erratic
_#_Terrain: steep, rugged, rocky, volcanic
_#_Natural resources: salt, basalt rock, pozzolana, limestone, kaolin, fish
_#_Land use: arable land 9%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and pastures 6%; forest and woodland NEGL%; other 85%; includes irrigated 1%
_#_Environment: subject to prolonged droughts; harmattan wind can obscure visibility; volcanically and seismically active; deforestation; overgrazing
_#_Note: strategic location 500 km from African coast near major north-south sea routes; important communications station; important sea and air refueling site
_*People #_Population: 386,501 (July 1991), growth rate 3.0% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 48 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: - 8 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 63 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 60 years male, 63 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 6.6 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun—Cape Verdean(s); adjective—Cape Verdean
_#_Ethnic divisions: Creole (mulatto) about 71%, African 28%, European 1%
_#_Religion: Roman Catholicism fused with indigenous beliefs
_#_Language: Portuguese and Crioulo, a blend of Portuguese and West African words
_#_Literacy: 66% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write (1989 est.)
_#_Labor force: 102,000 (1985 est.); agriculture (mostly subsistence) 57%, services 29%, industry 14% (1981); 51% of population of working age (1985)
_#_Organized labor: Trade Unions of Cape Verde Unity Center (UNTC-CS)
_*Government #_Long-form name: Republic of Cape Verde
_#_Type: