Seychelles (2001) | World (2001) | |
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Administrative divisions | 23 administrative districts; Anse aux Pins, Anse Boileau, Anse Etoile, Anse Louis, Anse Royale, Baie Lazare, Baie Sainte Anne, Beau Vallon, Bel Air, Bel Ombre, Cascade, Glacis, Grand' Anse (on Mahe), Grand' Anse (on Praslin), La Digue, La Riviere Anglaise, Mont Buxton, Mont Fleuri, Plaisance, Pointe La Rue, Port Glaud, Saint Louis, Takamaka | 267 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
28.27% (male 11,367; female 11,167) 15-64 years: 65.47% (male 25,453; female 26,737) 65 years and over: 6.26% (male 1,673; female 3,318) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years:
29.6% (male 933,647,850; female 886,681,514) 15-64 years: 63.4% (male 1,975,418,386; female 1,931,021,694) 65 years and over: 7% (male 188,760,223; female 241,449,691) (2001 est.) |
Agriculture - products | coconuts, cinnamon, vanilla, sweet potatoes, cassava (tapioca), bananas; broiler chickens; tuna fish | - |
Airports | 14 (2000 est.) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
6 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 2 (2000 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
8 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 4 (2000 est.) |
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Area | total:
455 sq km land: 455 sq km water: 0 sq km |
total:
510.072 million sq km land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | 2.5 times the size of Washington, DC | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | A lengthy struggle between France and Great Britain for the islands ended in 1814, when they were ceded to the latter. Independence came in 1976. Socialist rule was brought to a close with a new constitution and free elections in 1993. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the drop in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 17.66 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 21.37 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$249 million expenditures: $262 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.) |
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Capital | Victoria | - |
Climate | tropical marine; humid; cooler season during southeast monsoon (late May to September); warmer season during northwest monsoon (March to May) | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 491 km | 356,000 km |
Constitution | 18 June 1993 | - |
Country name | conventional long form:
Republic of Seychelles conventional short form: Seychelles |
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Currency | Seychelles rupee (SCR) | - |
Death rate | 6.65 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Debt - external | $240 million (1999 est.) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2000 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | the US does not have an embassy in Seychelles; the ambassador to Mauritius is accredited to Seychelles | - |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Claude Sylvestre MOREL chancery: 800 Second Avenue, Suite 400C, New York, NY 10017 telephone: [1] (212) 972-1785 FAX: [1] (212) 972-1786 |
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Disputes - international | claims the Chagos Archipelago (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory) | - |
Economic aid - recipient | $16.4 million (1995) | traditional worldwide foreign aid $50 billion (1997 est.) |
Economy - overview | Since independence in 1976, per capita output in this Indian Ocean archipelago has expanded to roughly seven times the old near-subsistence level. Growth has been led by the tourist sector, which employs about 30% of the labor force and provides more than 70% of hard currency earnings, and by tuna fishing. In recent years the government has encouraged foreign investment in order to upgrade hotels and other services. At the same time, the government has moved to reduce the dependence on tourism by promoting the development of farming, fishing, and small-scale manufacturing. The vulnerability of the tourist sector was illustrated by the sharp drop in 1991-92 due largely to the Gulf war. Although the industry has rebounded, the government recognizes the continuing need for upgrading the sector in the face of stiff international competition. Other issues facing the government are the curbing of the budget deficit and further privatization of public enterprises. Growth slowed in 1998-2000, due to sluggish tourist and tuna sectors. Tight controls on exchange rates and the scarcity of foreign exchange have hindered short-term economic prospects. The black market value of the Seychelles ruppee is half the official exchange rate; without a devaluation of the currency the tourist sector should remain sluggish as vacationers seek cheaper destinations such as Comoros, Mauritius, and Madagascar. | Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) rose to 4.8% in 2000 from 3.5% in 1999, despite continued low growth in Japan, severe financial difficulties in other East Asian countries, and widespread dislocations in several transition economies. The US economy continued its remarkable sustained prosperity, growing at 5% in 2000, although growth slowed in fourth quarter 2000; the US accounted for 23% of GWP. The EU economies grew at 3.3% and produced 20% of GWP. China, the second largest economy in the world, continued its strong growth and accounted for 10% of GWP. Japan grew at only 1.3% in 2000; its share in GWP is 7%. As usual, the 15 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations experienced widely different rates of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. Continued financial difficulties in East Asia, Russia, and many African nations, as well as the slowdown in US economic growth, cast a shadow over short-term global economic prospects; GWP probably will grow at 3-4% in 2001. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses serious economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2000, see the individual country entries.) |
Electricity - consumption | 148.8 million kWh (1999) | - |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (1999) | - |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (1999) | - |
Electricity - production | 160 million kWh (1999) | - |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
100% hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1999) |
fossil fuel:
NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Morne Seychellois 905 m |
lowest point:
Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
Environment - current issues | water supply depends on catchments to collect rainwater | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
Environment - international agreements | party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol |
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Ethnic groups | Seychellois (mixture of Asians, Africans, Europeans) | - |
Exchange rates | Seychelles rupees per US dollar - 6.0397 (November 2000), 5.6009 (2000), 5,3426 (1999), 5.2622 (1998), 5.0263 (1997), 4.9700 (1996) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state:
President France Albert RENE (since 5 June 1977); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President France Albert RENE (since 5 June 1977); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 20-22 March 1998 (next to be held by NA 2003) election results: France Albert RENE reelected president; percent of vote - France Albert RENE (SPPF) 66.7%, Wavel RAMKALAWAN (UO) 19.5%, Sir James MANCHAM (DP) 13.8% |
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Exports | $111 million (f.o.b., 1999) | $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Exports - commodities | fish, cinnamon bark, copra, petroleum products (reexports) | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | France, UK, Netherlands, Italy, China, Germany, Japan | in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | five oblique bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, red, white, and green (bottom) radiating from the bottom of the hoist side | - |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $610 million (2000 est.) | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $43.6 trillion (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
3.1% industry: 26.3% services: 70.6% (1999) |
agriculture:
4% industry: 32% services: 64% (1999 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $7,700 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $7,200 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 1.5% (2000 est.) | 4.8% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 4 35 S, 55 40 E | - |
Geography - note | 40 granitic and about 50 coralline islands | - |
Highways | total:
373 km paved: 315 km unpaved: 58 km (1997) |
total:
NA km paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
Imports | $440 million (c.i.f., 1999) | $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) |
Imports - commodities | machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | South Africa, UK, China, Singapore, France, Italy | in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries |
Independence | 29 June 1976 (from UK) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | 6% (2000 est.) |
Industries | fishing; tourism; processing of coconuts and vanilla, coir (coconut fiber) rope, boat building, printing, furniture; beverages | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | 17.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | 52.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 6% (1999 est.) | all countries 25%; developed countries 1% to 3% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2000 est.)
note: national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from stable prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World countries |
International organization participation | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, InOC, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer) | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 1 (2000) | 10,350 (2000 est.) |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | 2,481,250 sq km (1993 est.) |
Judicial branch | Court of Appeal; Supreme Court; judges for both courts are appointed by the president | - |
Labor force | 30,900 (1996) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | industry 19%, services 71%, agriculture 10% (1989) | agricultue NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | 0 km | the land boundaries in the world total 251,480.24 km (not counting shared boundaries twice) |
Land use | arable land:
2% permanent crops: 13% permanent pastures: 0% forests and woodland: 11% other: 74% (1993 est.) |
arable land:
10% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 26% forests and woodland: 32% other: 31% (1993 est.) |
Languages | English (official), French (official), Creole | - |
Legal system | based on English common law, French civil law, and customary law | all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (34 seats - 25 elected by popular vote, 9 allocated on a proportional basis to parties winning at least ten percent of the vote; members serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 20-22 March 1998 (next to be held by NA 2003) election results: percent of vote by party - SPPF 61.7%, UO 26.1%, DP 12.1%; seats by party - SPPF 30, UO 3, DP 1 note: the 9 awarded seats are apportioned according to the share of each party in the total vote |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population:
70.69 years male: 65.17 years female: 76.37 years (2001 est.) |
total population:
63.79 years male: 62.15 years female: 65.51 years (2001 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 58% male: 56% female: 60% (1971 est.) |
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Location | Eastern Africa, group of islands in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar | - |
Map references | Africa | World, Time Zones |
Maritime claims | contiguous zone:
24 NM continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
contiguous zone:
24 NM claimed by most, but can vary continental shelf: 200-m depth claimed by most or to depth of exploitation; others claim 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary exclusive economic zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary territorial sea: 12 NM claimed by most, but can vary note: boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
Merchant marine | total:
1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,353 GRT/7,638 DWT ships by type: cargo 1 (2000 est.) |
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Military branches | Army, Coast Guard, air wing, National Guard, Presidential Protection Unit, Police Force | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $13 million (FY93) | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.8% (FY93) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
22,951 (2001 est.) |
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Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
11,452 (2001 est.) |
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National holiday | Constitution Day, 18 June (1993) | - |
Nationality | noun:
Seychellois (singular and plural) adjective: Seychelles |
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Natural hazards | lies outside the cyclone belt, so severe storms are rare; short droughts possible | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | fish, copra, cinnamon trees | the rapid using up of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | -6.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Democratic Party or DP [James MANCHAM]; Seychelles National Party or SNP (formerly the United Opposition or UO) [Wavel RAMKALAWAN]; Seychelles People's Progressive Front or SPPF [France Albert RENE] - the governing party | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Roman Catholic Church; trade unions | - |
Population | 79,715 (July 2001 est.) | 6,157,400,560 (July 2001 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | - |
Population growth rate | 0.49% (2001 est.) | 1.25% (2001 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Victoria | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 2 (1998) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Radios | 42,000 (1997) | NA |
Railways | 0 km | total:
1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line broad gauge: 251,153 km standard gauge: 710,754 km narrow gauge: 239,430 km |
Religions | Roman Catholic 90%, Anglican 8%, other 2% | - |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
Suffrage | 17 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | general assessment:
effective system domestic: radiotelephone communications between islands in the archipelago international: direct radiotelephone communications with adjacent island countries and African coastal countries; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) |
general assessment:
NA domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 19,635 (1997) | NA |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 16,316 (1999) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 2 (plus 9 repeaters) (1997) | NA |
Terrain | Mahe Group is granitic, narrow coastal strip, rocky, hilly; others are coral, flat, elevated reefs | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 1.83 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 2.73 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
Unemployment rate | NA% | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2000 est.) |
Waterways | none | - |