The 2002 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency

are slowly being replaced. An obstacle to economic progress, including stepped up foreign investment in the non-energy sector, is the continuing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Trade with Russia and the other former Soviet republics is declining in importance while trade is building with Turkey and the nations of Europe. Long-term prospects will depend on world oil prices, the location of new pipelines in the region, and Azerbaijan's ability to manage its oil wealth.

      GDP: purchasing power parity - $24.3 billion (2001 est.)

      GDP - real growth rate: 9.9% (2001 est.)

      GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,100 (2001 est.)

      GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 22% industry: 33% services: 45% (2000 est.)

      Population below poverty line: 64% (2001 est.)

      Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.8% highest 10%: 27.8% (1995)

      Distribution of family income - Gini index: 36 (1995)

      Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.6% (2001 est.)

      Labor force: 2.9 million (1997)

      Labor force - by occupation: agriculture and forestry 32%, industry 15%, services 53% (1997)

      Unemployment rate: 20% (official rate is 1.3% for 2001) (1999 est.)

      Budget: revenues: $888 million expenditures: $978 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

      Industries: petroleum and natural gas, petroleum products, oilfield equipment; steel, iron ore, cement; chemicals and petrochemicals; textiles

      Industrial production growth rate: 5.1% (2001 est.)

      Electricity - production: 17.6 billion kWh (2000)

      Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 91.37% hydro: 8.63% other: 0% (2000) nuclear: 0%

      Electricity - consumption: 16.7 billion kWh (2000)

      Electricity - exports: 900 million kWh (2000)

      Electricity - imports: 1.25 billion kWh (2000)

      Agriculture - products: cotton, grain, rice, grapes, fruit, vegetables, tea, tobacco; cattle, pigs, sheep, goats

      Exports: $2 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

      Exports - commodities: oil and gas 90%, machinery, cotton, foodstuffs

      Exports - partners: Italy 43.7%, France 11.8%, Israel 7.7%, Turkey 6.0%,

       France 5.6% (2000)

      Imports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

      Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, metals, chemicals

      Imports - partners: Russia 21.3%, Turkey 11%, US 8.9%, Iran 5.8%,

       Germany 5.8% (2000)

      Debt - external: $1.5 billion (2001)

      Economic aid - recipient: ODA, $113 million (1996)

      Currency: Azerbaijani manat (AZM)

      Currency code: AZM

      Exchange rates: Azerbaijani manats per US dollar - 4,804 (11 February 2002), 4,656.58 (2001), 4,474.15 (2000), 4,120.17 (1999), 3,869 (1998), 3,985.38 (1997)

      Fiscal year: calendar year

      Communications Azerbaijan

      Telephones - main lines in use: 663,000 (1997)

      Telephones - mobile cellular: 40,000 (1997)

      Telephone system: general assessment: inadequate; requires considerable expansion and modernization; teledensity of 8.6 main lines per 100 persons is very low 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: 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 Service Providers (ISPs): 2 (2000)

      Internet users: 12,000 (2001)

      Transportation Azerbaijan

      Railways: total: 2,125 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines broad gauge: 2,125 km 1.520-m gauge (1,278 km electrified) (1993 est.)

      Highways: total: 36,700 km paved: 31,800 km (includes some all-weather gravel-surfaced roads) unpaved: 4,900 km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth and are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) (1990)

      Waterways: none

      Pipelines: crude oil 1,130 km; petroleum products 630 km; natural gas 1,240 km

      Ports and harbors: Baku (Baki)

      Merchant marine: total: 54 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 246,051 GRT/306,756 DWT ships by type: cargo 12, petroleum tanker 40, roll on/roll off 2 (2002 est.)

      Airports: 52 (2001)

      Airports - with paved runways: total: 9 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 (2001)

      Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 43 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 8 under 914 m: 28 (2001)

      Military Azerbaijan

      Military branches: Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces

      Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age (2002 est.)

      Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 2,131,331 (2002 est.)

      Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 1,706,325 (2002 est.)

      Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 77,099 (2002 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 militarily occupies almost one-fifth of Azerbaijan - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) continues to mediate dispute; Azerbaijan signed bilateral agreements with Russia delimiting the Caspian seabed, but littoral states are far from multilateral agreement on dividing the waters and seabed regimes - Iran insists on division of Caspian Sea into five equal sectors while Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan have generally agreed upon equidistant seabed boundaries; Iran threatens to conduct oil exploration in Azerbaijani-claimed waters, while interdicting Azerbaijani activities; Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan await ICJ decision to resolve sovereignty dispute over oilfields in the Caspian Sea

      Illicit drugs: limited illicit cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication program; transshipment point for opiates via Iran, Central Asia, and Russia to Western Europe

      This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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      Albania

      Introduction

      Albania

      Background: In 1990 Albania ended 44 years of xenophobic communist rule and established a multiparty democracy. The transition has proven difficult as corrupt governments have tried to deal with high unemployment, a dilapidated infrastructure, widespread gangsterism, and disruptive political opponents. International observers judged local elections in 2001 to be acceptable