The 2005 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency

      Telephones - mobile cellular:

       870,000 (2002)

      Telephone system:

       general assessment: inadequate; requires considerable expansion and

       modernization; teledensity of 10 main lines per 100 persons is low

       (2002)

       domestic: the majority of telephones are in Baku and other

       industrial centers - about 700 villages still without public

       telephone service; satellite service connects Baku to a modern

       switch in its exclave of Naxcivan

       international: country code - 994; the old Soviet system of cable

       and microwave is still serviceable; a satellite connection to Turkey

       enables Baku to reach about 200 additional countries, some of which

       are directly connected to Baku by satellite providers other than

       Turkey (1997)

      Radio broadcast stations:

       AM 10, FM 17, shortwave 1 (1998)

      Radios:

       175,000 (1997)

      Television broadcast stations:

       2 (1997)

      Televisions:

       170,000 (1997)

      Internet country code:

       .az

      Internet hosts:

       586 (2004)

      Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

       2 (2000)

      Internet users:

       300,000 (2002)

      Transportation Azerbaijan

      Railways: total: 2,957 km broad gauge: 2,957 km 1.520-m gauge (1,278 km electrified) (2004)

      Highways: total: 28,030 km paved: 25,890 km unpaved: 2,130 km (2002)

      Pipelines:

       gas 4,451 km; oil 1,518 km (2004)

      Ports and harbors:

       Baku (Baki)

      Merchant marine:

       total: 81 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 253,004 GRT/318,922 DWT

       by type: cargo 26, passenger 2, passenger/cargo 8, petroleum tanker

       41, roll on/roll off 2, specialized tanker 2

       registered in other countries: 3 (2005)

      Airports:

       50 (2004 est.)

      Airports - with paved runways: total: 27 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 15 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.)

      Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 23 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 6 under 914 m: 15 (2004 est.)

      Heliports: 2 (2004 est.)

      Military Azerbaijan

      Military branches:

       Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces

      Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; law passed December 2001 raises maximum conscription age from 28 to 35 (December 2001)

      Manpower available for military service:

       males age 18–49: 1,961,973 (2005 est.)

      Manpower fit for military service:

       males age 18–49: 1,314,955 (2005 est.)

      Manpower reaching military service age annually:

       males: 82,358 (2005 est.)

      Military expenditures - dollar figure:

       $121 million (FY99)

      Military expenditures - percent of GDP:

       2.6% (FY99)

      Transnational Issues Azerbaijan

      Disputes - international:

       Armenia supports ethnic Armenian secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh

       and since the early 1990s has militarily occupied 16% of Azerbaijan

       - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

       continues to mediate dispute; over 800,000 mostly ethnic

       Azerbaijanis were driven from the occupied lands and Armenia; about

       230,000 ethnic Armenians were driven from their homes in Azerbaijan

       into Armenia; Azerbaijan seeks transit route through Armenia to

       connect to Naxcivan exclave; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia

       ratify Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance,

       while Iran continues to insist on an even one-fifth allocation and

       challenges Azerbaijan's hydrocarbon exploration in disputed waters;

       bilateral talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed

       and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian; Azerbaijan and

       Georgia cannot resolve the alignment of their boundary at certain

       crossing areas

      Refugees and internally displaced persons:

       IDPs: 571,000 (conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh) (2004)

      Illicit drugs:

       limited illicit cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly for

       CIS consumption; small government eradication program; transit point

       for Southwest Asian opiates bound for Russia and to a lesser extent

       the rest of Europe

      This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005

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      @Bahamas, The

      Introduction Bahamas, The

      Background:

       Arawak Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher Columbus

       first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British

       settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony

       in 1783. Since attaining independence from the UK in 1973, The

       Bahamas have prospered through tourism and international banking and

       investment management. Because of its geography, the country is a

       major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments

       to the US, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants

       into the US.

      Geography Bahamas, The

      Location:

       Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast

       of Florida, northeast of Cuba

      Geographic coordinates:

       24 15 N, 76 00 W

      Map references:

       Central America and the Caribbean

      Area:

       total: 13,940 sq km

       land: 10,070 sq km

       water: 3,870 sq km

      Area - comparative:

       slightly smaller than Connecticut

      Land boundaries:

       0 km