St. Lucia (continued)
Exchange rates: East Caribbean dollars (EC$) per US$1—2.70 (fixed rate since 1976)
Fiscal Year: 1 April-31 March
Communications
Highways: 760 km total; 500 km paved;
260 km otherwise improved
Ports: Castries
Civil air: 2 major transport aircraft
Airports: 2 total, 2 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 1 with runways 1,220-2,439
Telecommunications: fully automatic telephone system; 9,500 telephones; direct radio relay link with Martinique and St. Vincent and the Grenadines; interisland troposcatter link to Barbados; stations—4 AM, 1 FM, 1 TV (cable)
Defense Forces
Branches: Royal St. Lucia Police Force
Military manpower: NA
Defense expenditures: NA
St. Pierre and Miquelon (territorial collectivity of France)
See regional map II
Geography
Total area: 242 km²; land area: 242 km²;
includes eight small islands in the St.
Pierre and the Miquelon groups
Comparative area: slightly less than 1.5 times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: none
Coastline: 120 km
Maritime claims:
- Contiguous zone: 12 nm
- Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
- Extended economic zone: 200 nm
- Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: focus of maritime boundary dispute between Canada and France
Climate: cold and wet, with much mist and fog; spring and autumn are windy
Terrain: mostly barren rock
Natural resources: fish, deep-water ports
Land use: 13% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; 4% forest and woodland; 83% other
Environment: vegetation scanty
Note: located 25 km south of Newfoundland, Canada, in the North Atlantic Ocean
People
Population: 6,330 (July 1990), growth rate
0.4% (1990)
Birth rate: 17 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: -6 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 9 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 72 years male, 79 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 2.2 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Frenchman(men), Frenchwoman(women); adjective—French
Ethnic divisions: originally Basques and Bretons (French fishermen)
Religion: 98% Roman Catholic
Language: French
Literacy: NA%, but compulsory education between 6 and 16 years of age
Labor force: 2,510 (1982)
Organized labor: Workers' Force trade union
Government
Long-form name: Territorial Collectivity
of Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Type: territorial collectivity of France
Capital: St. Pierre
Administrative divisions: none (territorial collectivity of France)
Independence: none (territorial collectivity of France)
Constitution: 28 September 1958 (French Constitution)
Legal system: French law
National holiday: National Day, 14 July
Executive branch: commissioner of the Republic
Legislative branch: unicameral General Council
Judicial branch: Superior Tribunal of Appeals (Tribunal Superieur d'Appel)
Leaders: Chief of State—President François MITTERRAND (since 21 May 1981);
Head of Government—Commissioner of the Republic Jean-Pierre MARQUIE (since February 1989); President of the General Council Marc PLANTEGENEST (since NA)
Political parties and leaders: Socialist Party (PS); Union for French Democracy (UDF/CDS), Gerard Grignon
Suffrage: universal at age 18
Elections: General Council—last held September-October 1988 (next to be held September 1994); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(19 total) Socialist and other left-wing parties 13, UDF and right-wing parties 6;
French President—last held 8 May 1988 (next to be held May 1995); results—(second ballot) Jacques Chirac 56%, François Mitterrand 44%;
French Senate—last held 24 September 1989 (next to be held September 1992); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(1 total) PS 1; French National Assembly—last held 5 and 12 June 1988 (next to be held June 1993); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(1 total) UDF/CDS 1
Diplomatic representation: as a territorial collectivity of France, local interests are represented in the US by France
Flag: the flag of France is used