About
 Haiti:

Haiti
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Haiti at a glance

  1. Republic of Haiti
  1. National name: République d’Haïti
  1. President: René Préval (2006)
  1. Prime Minister: Michèle Pierre-Louis
  1. Land area: 10,641 sq mi (27,560 sq km); total area: 10,714 sq mi (27,750 sq km)
  1. Population (2008 est.): 8,924,553 (growth rate: 2.4%); birth rate: 35.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 62.3/1000; life expectancy: 57.5; density per sq km: 323
  1. Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Port-au-Prince, 1,764,000 (metro. area), 1,119,000 (city proper)
  1. Monetary unit: Gourde
  1. Languages: Creole and French (both official)
  1. Ethnicity/race: black 95%, mulatto and white 5%
  1. 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
  1. National Holiday: Independence Day, January 1
  1. Literacy rate: 53% (2003 est.)
  1. Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $11.14 billion; per capita $1,300. Real growth rate: 3.2%. Inflation: 9%. 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: $554.8 million f.o.b. (2007 est.): manufactures, coffee, oils, cocoa, mangoes. Imports: $1.844 billion f.o.b. (2007 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).
  1. Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 145,300 (2005); mobile cellular: over 500,200 (2005). Radio broadcast stations: AM 41, FM 26,shortwave 0 (1999). Television broadcast stations: 2 (plus a cable TV service) (1997). Internet hosts: 7 (2007)internet users: 650,000 (2006).
  1. Transportation: Railways: n.a. Highways: 4,160 km (1999) Waterways: n.a. Ports and harbors: Cap-Haitien. Airports: 14 (2007).
  1. 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.