Republic of Haiti

National name: République d'Haïti

President: René Préval (2006)

Prime Minister: Jacques-Édouard Alexis (2006)

Land area: 10,641 sq mi (27,560 sq km); total area: 10,714 sq mi (27,750 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 8,308,504 (growth rate: 2.3%); birth rate: 36.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 71.7/1000; life expectancy: 53.2; density per sq mi: 781

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Port-au-Prince, 1,764,000 (metro. area), 1,119,000 (city proper)

Monetary unit: Gourde

Languages: Creole and French (both official)

Ethnicity/race: black 95%, mulatto and white 5%

Religions: Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), other 3%, none 1%. Note: roughly half the population practices Vaudou

Literacy rate: 53% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $12.85 billion; per capita $1,600. Real growth rate: 1.5%. Inflation: 15.2%. Unemployment: widespread unemployment and underemployment; more than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs (2002 est.). Arable land: 28%. Agriculture: coffee, mangoes, sugarcane, rice, corn, sorghum; wood. Labor force: 3.6 million; note: shortage of skilled labor, unskilled labor abundant (1995); agriculture 66%, services 25%, industry 9%. Industries: sugar refining, flour milling, textiles, cement, light assembly industries based on imported parts. Natural resources: bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower. Exports: $390.7 million f.o.b. (2005 est.): manufactures, coffee, oils, cocoa, mangoes. Imports: $1.471 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): food, manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, fuels, raw materials. Major trading partners: U.S., Dominican Republic, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, UK (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 130,000 (2002); mobile cellular: over 140,000 (2002). Radio broadcast stations: AM 41, FM 26, shortwave 0 (1999). Television broadcast stations: 2 (plus a cable TV service) (1997). Internet hosts: n.a. Internet users: 80,000 (2002).

Transportation: Railways: n.a. Highways: n.a. Waterways: n.a. Ports and harbors: Cap-Haitien. Airports: 13 (2004 est.).

International disputes: since 2004, about 8,000 peacekeepers from the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) maintain civil order in Haiti; despite efforts to control illegal migration, Haitians fleeing economic privation and civil unrest continue to cross into Dominican Republic and to sail to neighboring countries; Haiti claims US-administered Navassa Island.

 

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