Population (2006 est.):
71,201 (growth rate: 0.9%);
birth rate: 8.7/1000; infant
mortality rate: 4.0/1000; life
expectancy: 83.5; density per sq
mi: 409
Capital
and largest city (2003 est.):
Andorra la Vella, 23,000
Monetary units: Euro
Languages: Catalán
(official), French, Castilian,
Portuguese
Ethnicity/race: Spanish 43%,
Andorran 33%, Portuguese 11%,
French 7%, other 6% (1998)
Religion:
Roman Catholic (predominant)
Literacy rate: 100%
Economic
summary:GDP/PPP
(2004): $1.84 billion; per
capita $24,000. Real growth
rate: 4%. Inflation:
3.4%. Unemployment: 0%
(1996 est.). Arable land:
2%. Agriculture: small
quantities of rye, wheat,
barley, oats, vegetables; sheep.
Labor force: 48,740;
agriculture 0.34%, industry
19.63%, services 80.03%.
Industries: tourism
(particularly skiing), cattle
raising, timber, banking.
Natural resources:
hydropower, mineral water,
timber, iron ore, lead.
Exports: $145 million f.o.b.
(2004): tobacco products,
furniture. Imports:
$1.077 billion (1998): consumer
goods, food, electricity.
Major trading partners:
Spain, France, U.S.
Communications: Telephones:
main lines in use: 35,000
(2001); mobile cellular: 51,900
(2003). Radio broadcast
stations: AM 0, FM 15,
shortwave 0 (1998).
Television broadcast stations:
0 (1997). Internet hosts:
4,144 (2004). Internet users:
24,500 (2001).
Transportation: Railways: 0
km. Highways: total: 269
km; paved: 198 km; unpaved: 71
km. Ports and harbors:
none. Airports: none.
A parliamentary coprincipality
composed of the bishop of Urgel (Spain)
and the president of France. Their
representatives are listed above. The
principality was internationally
recognized as a sovereign state in 1993.
An autonomous and semi-independent
coprincipality, Andorra has been under
the joint suzerainty of the French state
and the Spanish bishops of Urgel since
1278. It maintains closer ties to Spain,
however, and Catalán is its official
language. In the late 20th century,
Andorra became a popular tourist and
winter sports destination and a wealthy
international commercial center because
of its banking facilities, low taxes,
and lack of customs duties. In 1990
Andorra approved a customs union treaty
with the EU permitting free movement of
industrial goods between the two, but
with Andorra applying the EU's external
tariffs to third countries. Andorra
became a member of the UN in 1993 and a
member of the Council of Europe in 1994.
In 2002, Andorra shut down an
incinerator that was emitting 1,000
times the dioxin levels permitted by the
EU.
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