1985 Edition

Agriculture

25% of the population lives on the land, but agriculture, forestry, and fishing constitute 16% of GNP; main crops — rice, barley; food shortages — wheat, dairy products, corn

virtually none, dependent on imports for food; approx. 75% of potable water must be distilled or imported

main crops — rice (overwhelmingly dominant), corn, vegetables, tobacco, coffee, cotton; formerly self-sufficient; food shortages (due in part to distribution deficiencies) include rice

Aid

economic— US (FY46-83), $1 1.2 billion committed; Japan (1965-75), $1.8 billion extended; military— US (FY46-83) $8.1 billion committed; other Western aid, ODA and OOF (1980-81), $707 million

economic commitments — Western (non-US) countries ODA and OOF(1970-82), $348 million; US (FY70-79), $276 million; military— US assistance $1.119 billion (197075)

Aircraft

1 combat wings, 2 transport wings, 18 FGA squadrons (250 F-5A/B/E/F, 70 F-86F, 6 A-10), 4 AD squadrons (70 F-4D/E), 1 COIN squadron (13 OV-10, some A-37), 1 recce squadron (10 RF-5A), 2 ASW squadrons (20 S-2A, 10 helicopters), 1 SAR helicopter squadron (26 UH-H/UH-1B/H), 5 transport squadrons (34 aircraft), 192 trainers

Airfields

129 total, 120 usable; 68 with permanent-surface runways; 23 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 12 with runways 1,2202,439 m Kuwait

1 1 total, 5 usable; 4 with permanent-surface runways; 4 with runways 2,4403,659m

66 total, 51 usable; 10 with permanent-surface runways; 2 with runways 2,4403,659 m, 12 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Branches

unicameral legislature (National Assembly), judiciary

Army, Navy, Air Force, Naval Marine Force

Council of Ministers; legislature — National Assembly

Army, Navy, Air Force

President; 37-member Supreme People's Council; Cabinet; Cabinet is totally Communist but Council contains a few nominal neutralists and non-Communists; National Congress of People's Representatives established the current government structure in December 1975

Lao People's Army (LPA, which consists of an army with naval, aviation, and militia elements), Air Force, National Police Department

Budget

expenditures, $13.7 billion (1985)

(1982/83) revenues, $14.9 billion; expenditures, $11.1 billion

(1979 est.) receipts, $100 million; expenditures, $191 million; deficit, $91 million

Capital

Seoul

Kuwait

Vientiane

Civil air

93 major transport aircraft

22 major transport aircraft

Coastline

499 km People

Communists

Communist activity banned by government

insignificant

Elections

under new constitution of October 1980, President elected every seven years indirectly by a 5,000-man electoral college; last election February 1981; four-year National Assembly, elected in March 1981, consists of 276 representatives, 184 directly elected and 92 chosen through proportional representation Political parties and leaders: major party is government's Democratic Justice Party (DJP), Chun Doo Hwan, president, and Roh Tae Woo, chairman; opposition parties are New Korea Democratic Party (NKDP), Lee Min-woo; Democratic Korea Party (DKP), no president currently named; Korean National Party (KNP), Lee Man-sup, acting president; several smaller parties •

National Assembly elected in February 1985 Political parties and leaders: political parties prohibited, some small clandestine groups are active

elections for National Assembly, originally scheduled for 1 April 1976, have not yet been held Political parties and leaders: Lao People's Revolutionary Party (Communist), Kaysone Phomvihan, party chairman; includes Lao Patriotic Front and Alliance Committee of Patriotic Neutralist Forces; other parties moribund

Electric power

13,970,000 kW capacity (1984); 53 billion kWh produced (1984), 1,261 kWh per capita

3,987,300 kW capacity (1984); 15.718 billion kWh produced (1984), 8,940 kWh per capita

1754,000 kW capacity (1984); 900 million kWh produced (1984), 240 kWh per capita

Ethnic divisions

39% Kuwaiti, 39% other Arab, 9% South Asian, 4% Iranian, 9% other

48% Lao; 25% Phoutheung (Kha); 14% Tribal Tai; 13% Meo, Yao, and other

Exports

$24.4 billion (f.o.b., 1983); textiles and clothing, electrical machinery, footwear, steel, ships, fish

$11.7 billion (f.o.b., 1983 est), of which petroleum accounted for about 80%

$52 million (f.o.b., 1983 est.); electric power, forest products, tin concentrates; coffee, undeclared exports of opium and tobacco

Fiscal year

calendar year Communications

1 July-30 June Communications

1 July-30 June Communications

Fishing

catch 2,793,023 metric tons (1983)

Freight carried

rail (1983) 51 million metric tons; highway 126 million metric tons; air (1983) 47,000 metric tons (domestic)

GDP

$26.7 billion (1983), $16,162 per capita GNP(1983) Kuwait (continued) Laos

GNP

$75.3 billion (1983, in 1983 prices), $1,820 per capita; real growth 9.5% (1983); real growth 4.3% (1979-83 average)

$525 million, $144 per capita (1983 est.)

Government leader

Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al SABAH, Amir (since December 1977)

Government leaders

CHUN Doo Hwan, President (since August 1980); LHO Shinyong, Prime Minister (since February 1985)

SOUPHANOUVONG, President (since December 1975); KAYSONE PHOMVIHAN, Chairman (since December 1975)

Highways

53,936 km total (1982); 13,476 km national highway, 49,460 km provincial and local roads

2,875 km total; 2,585 km bituminous; 290 km earth, sand, light gravel

about 21,300 km total; 1,300 km bituminous or bituminous treated; 5,900 km gravel, crushed stone, or improved earth; 14,100 km unimproved earth and often impassable during rainy season mid-May to mid-September

Imports

$26.2 billion (c.i.f., 1983); machinery, oil, steel, transport equipment, textiles, organic chemicals, grains

$10.3 billion (f.o.b., 1983 est.); major suppliers — Japan, US, FRG, UK

$125 million (c.i.f., 1983 est.); rice and other foodstuffs, petroleum products, machinery, transportation equipment

Inland waterways

1,609 km; use restricted to small native craft

about 4,587 km, primarily Mekong and tributaries; 2,897 additional kilometers are sectionally navigable by craft drawing less than 0.5 m

Labor force

15.1 million (1983); 47% services and other; 30% agriculture, fishing, forestry; 21% mining and manufacturing; average unemployment 4.1% (1983)

630,000 (1983 est); 74% services, 1 1 % industry, 1 1 % construction; 70% of labor force is non-Kuwaiti

about 1-1.5 million; 80-90% agriculture

Land boundaries

459 km Water

5,053 km People

Language

Arabic (official); English widely spoken

Lao (official), French, and English

Legal system

combines elements of continental European civil law systems, AngloAmerican law, and Chinese classical thought; constitution approved 1980; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

civil law system with Islamic law significant in personal matters; constitution took effect in 1963; popularly elected 50man National Assembly (the 15 cabinet members can also vote) reinstated in March 1981 after being suspended in 1976; judicial review of legislative acts not yet determined; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

based on civil law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

12 nm

Literacy

about 71%

28%

Major ground units

3 army headquarters, 6 corps headquarters, 20 infantry divisions, 3 airborne divisions, 1 mechanized infantry division, 2 special forces brigades, 2 AAA brigades, 2 SSM battalions with Honest Johns, 2 SAM brigades, 1 army aviation brigade

Major industries

textiles and clothing, food processing, chemicals, steel, electronics, ship building

crude petroleum production average for 1981, 980,000 b/d; effective refinery capacity approximately 0.5 million b/d; other major industries include petrochemicals, retail trade, and manufacturing; water desalinization capacity 387.6 million liters per day (1981)

tin mining, timber, green coffee, electric power

Major trade partners

exports — 33% US, 14% Japan; imports— 24% US, 24% Japan (1983)

imports — Thailand, USSR, Japan, France, China, Vietnam; exports— Thailand, Malaysia

Member of

ABD, AfDB, Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, Asian Parliamentary Union, APACL — Asian People's Anti-Communist League, ASPAC, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GATT, Geneva Conventions of 1949 for the protection of war victims, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, IWC— International Whaling Commission, IWC — International Wheat Council, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNIDO, UN Special Fund, UPU, WACL— World AntiCommunist League, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO; official observer statusat UN; does not hold UN membership Economy

Arab League, FAO, G-77, GATT, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDE — Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, ITU, NAM, OAPEC, QIC, OPEC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO Economy

ADB, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, ILO, IMF, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, Mekong Committee, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO Economy

Military budget

proposed for fiscal year ending 31 December 1985, $4.6 billion; about 33.6% of central government budget; for fiscal year ending 31 December 1984, $4.6 billion; about 33.6% of central government budget ubiyan Land 17,818 km2 (excluding neutral zone but including islands); slightly smaller than New Jersey; nearly all desert, waste, or urban; insignificant forest; 1% cultivated

for fiscal year ending 30 June 1984, $1.4 billion; 11.2% of central government budget SterefioiulmiplX Land 236,804 km2; slightly larger than Utah; 60% forest; 8% agricultural; 32% urban, waste, or other; except in limited areas, soil is poor; most of forested area is not exploitable

Military manpower

males 15-49, 1 1 ,876,000; 8,008,000 fit for military service; 457,000 reach military age (18) annually

males 15-49, about 463,000; about 281,000 fit for military service

males 15-49, 908,000; 485,000 fit for military service; 44,000 reach military age (18) annually; no conscription age specified

Monetary conversion rate

822 won=US$l (4 January 1985)

.30 Kuwaiti dinar=US$l (October 1983)

official — 10 kips=US$l; commercial— 35 kips=US$l; inward remittances — 108 kips=US$l (February 1984)

National holiday

Independence Day, 15 August

National Day, 25 February

2 December

Nationality

noun — Kuwaiti(s); adjective — Kuwaiti

noun — Lao (sing., Lao or Laotian); adjective — Lao or Laotian

Official name

Republic of Korea

State of Kuwait

Lao People's Democratic Republic

Organized labor

about 10% of nonagricultural labor force Government

labor unions, first authorized in 1964, formed in oil industry and among government personnel Government

only labor organization is subordinate to the Communist Party Government

Other political or pressure groups

Korean National Council of Churches; Federation of Korean Trade Unions; Korean Veterans' Association; large, potentially volatile student population concentrated in Seoul

large (300,000) Palestinian community

nonCommunist political groups moribund; most leaders have fled the country

Personnel

army 540,000 (reserves 1,100,000), navy 29,000 (reserves 25,000), marines 20,000 (reserves 60,000), air force 33,600 (reserves 55,000)

Pipelines

294 km refined products

crude oil, 877 km; refined products, 40 km; natural gas, 121 km

Political subdivisions

nine provinces, four special cities; heads centrally appointed

3 governorates, 25 voting constituencies

16 provinces subdivided into districts, cantons, and villages

Population

1,870, 000 (July 1985), average annual growth rate 6.2%

3,805,000 (July 1985), average annual growth rate 2.2%

Ports

1 1 major, 32 minor

3 major (Ash-Shuwaikh, AshShuaybah, Mina al-Ahmadi), 4 minor

Ports (river)

5 major, 4 minor

Railroads

3,106.5 km operating in 1983; 3,059.4 km 1.435-meter standard gauge, 46.9 0.610-meter narrow gauge, 712.5 km doubletrack, 417.9 km electrified; government owned

none

Religion

95% Muslim, 5% Christian, Hindu, Parsi, and other

50% Buddhist, 50% animist and other

Ships

1 1 exUS destroyers, 8 frigates, 3 ex-US Auk corvettes, 11 FAC with SSM; 8 ex-US large patrol craft; 28 coastal patrol craft, 8 minesweeping vessels, 24 ex-US landing ships

Shortages

base metals, lumber, and certain food grains

capital equipment, petroleum, transportation system, trained personnel

Suffrage

universal over age 20

nativeborn and naturalized males age 21 or over; law requires 20 years residency after naturalization

universal over age 18

Telecommunications

adequate domestic and international services; 4.8 million telephones (121 per 100 popl.); 79 AM, 46 FM, 256 TV stations (57 of 1 kW or greater); 1 ground satellite station Defense Forces

excellent international and adequate domestic telecommunication facilities; 232,000 telephones (15.3 per 100 popl.); 2 AM, 2 FM, 3 TV stations; 1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean satellite stations, 1 INMARSAT satellite station; coaxial cable and radio-relay to Iraq and Saudi Arabia Defense Forces

service to general public considered poor; radio network provides generally erratic service to government users; approx. 10 AM stations; 1 TV station; over 2,000 est. telephones; 1 ground satellite station Defense Forces

Type

republic; power centralized in a strong executive

nominal constitutional monarchy

Communist state