CZECHOSLOVAKIA                                                                  
GEOGRAPHY                                                                       
Total area: 127,870 km2; land area: 125,460 km2                                 
                                                                                
Comparative area: slightly larger than New York State                           
                                                                                
Land boundaries: 3,446 km total; Austria 548 km, Germany 815 km,                
Hungary 676 km, Poland 1,309 km, USSR 98 km                                     
                                                                                
Coastline: none--landlocked                                                     
                                                                                
Maritime claims: none--landlocked                                               
                                                                                
Disputes: Nagymaros Dam dispute with Hungary                                    
                                                                                
Climate: temperate; cool summers; cold, cloudy, humid winters                   
                                                                                
Terrain: mixture of hills and mountains separated by plains and                 
basins                                                                          
                                                                                
Natural resources: coal, timber, lignite, uranium, magnesite,                   
iron ore, copper, zinc                                                          
                                                                                
Land use: arable land 40%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures             
13%; forest and woodland 37%; other 9%; includes irrigated 1%                   
                                                                                
Environment: infrequent earthquakes; acid rain; water pollution;                
air pollution                                                                   
                                                                                
Note: landlocked; strategically located astride some of oldest                  
and most significant land routes in Europe; Moravian Gate is a                  
traditional military corridor between the North European Plain and the          
Danube in central Europe                                                        
                                                                                
PEOPLE                                                                          
Population: 15,724,940 (July 1991), growth rate 0.3% (1991)                     
                                                                                
Birth rate: 14 births/1,000 population (1991)                                   
                                                                                
Death rate: 11 deaths/1,000 population (1991)                                   
                                                                                
Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1991)                       
                                                                                
Infant mortality rate: 11 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)                       
                                                                                
Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 77 years female (1991)                 
                                                                                
Total fertility rate: 1.9 children born/woman (1991)                            
Nationality: noun--Czechoslovak(s); adjective--Czechoslovak                     
                                                                                
Ethnic divisions: Czech 62.9%, Slovak 31.8%, Hungarian 3.8%,                    
Polish 0.5%, German 0.3%, Ukrainian 0.3%, Russian 0.1%, other 0.3%              
                                                                                
Religion: Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Orthodox 2%,                      
other 28%                                                                       
                                                                                
Language: Czech and Slovak (official), Hungarian                                
                                                                                
Literacy: 99% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can                        
read and write (1970 est.)                                                      
                                                                                
Labor force: 8,200,000 (1987); industry 36.9%, agriculture 12.3%,               
construction, communications, and other 50.8% (1982)                            
                                                                                
Organized labor: Czech and Slovak Confederation of Trade                        
Unions (CSKOS); new independent trade unions forming                            
                                                                                
GOVERNMENT                                                                      
Long-form name: Czech and Slovak Federal Republic; note--on                     
23 March 1990 the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was renamed the               
Czechoslovak Federative Republic; Slovak concerns about their                   
status in the federation prompted the Federal Assembly to approve the           
name Czech and Slovak Federative Republic on 20 April 1990; on 23 April         
1990 the name was modified to Czech and Slovak Federal Republic                 
                                                                                
Type: federal republic in transition to a confederative republic                
                                                                                
Capital: Prague                                                                 
                                                                                
Administrative divisions: 2 republics (republiky,                               
singular--republika); Czech Republic (Ceska Republika),                         
Slovak Republic (Slovenska Republika)                                           
                                                                                
Independence: 28 October 1918 (from Austro-Hungarian Empire)                    
                                                                                
Constitution: 11 July 1960; amended in 1968 and 1970; new                       
Czech, Slovak, and federal constitutions to be drafted in 1991-92               
                                                                                
Legal system: civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes,                 
modified by Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative           
acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; legal code in               
process of modification to bring it in line with Conference on                  
Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) obligations and to expunge            
Marxist-Leninist legal theory                                                   
                                                                                
National holiday: National Liberation Day, 9 May (1945) and                     
Founding of the Republic, 28 October (1918)                                     
                                                                                
Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet                            
                                                                                
Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly (Federalni                       
Shromazdeni) consists of an upper house or Chamber of Nations                   
(Snemovna Narodu) and a lower house or Chamber of the People                    
(Snemovna Lidu)                                                                 
                                                                                
Judicial branch: Supreme Court                                                  
                                                                                
Leaders:                                                                        
                                                                                
Chief of State--President Vaclav HAVEL;                                         
(interim president from 29 December 1989 and president since                    
5 July 1990);                                                                   
                                                                                
Head of Government--Premier Marian CALFA (since                                 
10 December 1989);                                                              
Deputy Premier Vaclav VALES (since 28 June 1990);                               
Deputy Premier Jiri DIENSTBIER (since 28 June 1990);                            
Deputy Premier Jozef MIKLOSKO (since 28 June 1990);                             
Deputy Premier Pavel RYCHETSKY (since 28 June 1990)                             
                                                                                
Political parties and leaders:                                                  
Civic Forum, Vaclav KLAUS, chairman;                                            
Public Against Violence, Fedor GAL, chairman;                                   
Christian and Democratic Union, Vaclav BENDA;                                   
Christian Democratic Movement, Jan CARNOGURSKY;                                 
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC), Pavol KANIS, chairman;                 
KSC toppled from power in November 1989 by massive antiregime                   
demonstrations, minority role in coalition government since 10 December         
1989                                                                            
                                                                                
Suffrage: universal at age 18                                                   
                                                                                
Elections:                                                                      
                                                                                
President--last held 5 July 1990 (next to be held July 1992);                   
results--Vaclav HAVEL elected by the Federal Assembly;                          
                                                                                
Federal Assembly--last held 8-9 June 1990 (next to be held June                 
1992);                                                                          
results--Civic Forum/Public Against Violence coalition 46%, KSC 13.6%;          
seats--(300 total) Civic Forum/Public Against Violence coalition 170,           
KSC 47, Christian and Democratic Union/Christian Democratic                     
Movement 40, Czech, Slovak, Moravian, and Hungarian groups 43                   
                                                                                
Communists: 760,000 party members (September 1990); about                       
1,000,000 members lost since November 1989                                      
                                                                                
Other political or pressure groups: Czechoslovak Socialist Party,               
Czechoslovak People's Party, Czechoslovak Social Democracy, Slovak              
Nationalist Party, Slovak Revival Party, Christian Democratic Party;            
over 80 registered political groups fielded candidates in the 8-9 June          
1990 legislative election                                                       
                                                                                
Member of: BIS, CCC, CSCE, ECE, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBEC,                          
ICAO, IIB, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, PCA, UN,              
UNAVEM, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO                   
                                                                                
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Rita KLIMOVA;                             
Chancery at 3900 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202)        
363-6315 or 6316;                                                               
                                                                                
US--Ambassador Shirley Temple BLACK; Embassy at Trziste 15,                     
125 48, Prague 1 (mailing address is AMEM, Box 5630, APO New York               
09213-5630); telephone  42  (2) 536641 through 536649                           
                                                                                
Flag: two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a blue             
isosceles triangle based on the hoist side                                      
ECONOMY                                                                         
Overview: Czechoslovakia is highly industrialized and has a                     
well-educated and skilled labor force. Its industry, transport, energy          
sources, banking, and most other means of production are state owned. The       
country is deficient, however, in energy and in many raw materials.             
Moreover, its aging capital plant lags well behind West European                
standards. Industry contributes almost 50% to GNP and construction              
contributes 10%. About 95% of agricultural land is in collectives or            
state farms. The centrally planned economy has been tightly linked in           
trade (80%) to the USSR and Eastern Europe. Growth has been sluggish,           
averaging less than 2% in the period 1982-89. GNP per capita is the             
highest in Eastern Europe. As in the rest of Eastern Europe, the sweeping       
political changes of 1989-90 have been disrupting normal channels of            
supply and compounding the government's economic problems. Having eased         
restrictions on private enterprise in 1990 and having adjusted some key         
prices, Czechoslovakia is now implementing a broad two-year program             
to make the difficult transition from a command to a market economy.            
Inflation and unemployment are beginning to rise, albeit from                   
comparatively low levels.                                                       
                                                                                
GNP: $120.3 billion, per capita $7,700; real growth rate - 2.9%                 
(1990 est.)                                                                     
                                                                                
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9% (1990 est.)                                
                                                                                
Unemployment rate: officially 0.8% (1990)                                       
                                                                                
Budget: revenues $17.1 billion; expenditures $16.8 billion,                     
including capital expenditures of $1.5 billion (1991)                           
                                                                                
Exports: $14.4 billion (f.o.b., 1989);                                          
                                                                                
commodities--machinery and equipment 42.7%; fuels, minerals,                    
and metals 16.4%; agricultural and forestry products 12.5%, other               
28.4%;                                                                          
                                                                                
partners--USSR, GDR, Poland, Hungary, FRG, Yugoslavia, Austria,                 
Bulgaria, Romania, US                                                           
                                                                                
Imports: $14.3 billion (f.o.b., 1989);                                          
                                                                                
commodities--machinery and equipment 38.6%;                                     
fuels, minerals, and metals 24.1%; agricultural and forestry                    
products 16.4%; other 20.9%;                                                    
                                                                                
partners--USSR, GDR, Poland, Hungary, FRG, Yugoslavia, Austria,                 
Bulgaria, Romania, US                                                           
                                                                                
External debt: $7.6 billion, hard currency indebtedness (September              
1990)                                                                           
                                                                                
Industrial production: growth rate - 3.3% (1990 est.); accounts                 
for almost 50% of GDP                                                           
                                                                                
Electricity: 23,000,000 kW capacity; 90,000 million kWh produced,               
5,740 kWh per capita (1990)                                                     
                                                                                
Industries: iron and steel, machinery and equipment, cement, sheet              
glass, motor vehicles, armaments, chemicals, ceramics, wood, paper              
products, footwear                                                              
                                                                                
Agriculture: accounts for 7% of GNP (includes forestry); largely                
self-sufficient in food production; diversified crop and livestock              
production, including grains, potatoes, sugar beets, hops, fruit, hogs,         
cattle, and poultry; exporter of forest products                                
                                                                                
Economic aid: donor--$4.2 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist             
less developed countries (1954-89)                                              
                                                                                
Currency: koruna (plural--koruny); 1 koruna (Kc) = 100 haleru                   
                                                                                
Exchange rates: koruny (Kcs) per US$1--27.65 (January 1991),                    
17.95 (1990), 15.05 (1989), 14.36 (1988), 13.69 (1987), 14.99 (1986),           
17.14 (1985)                                                                    
                                                                                
Fiscal year: calendar year                                                      
                                                                                
COMMUNICATIONS                                                                  
Railroads: 13,103 km total; 12,855 km 1.435-meter standard gauge,               
102 km 1.520-meter broad gauge, 146 km 0.750- and 0.760-meter narrow            
gauge; 2,861 km double track; 3,798 km electrified; government owned            
(1988)                                                                          
                                                                                
Highways: 73,540 km total; including 517 km superhighway (1988)                 
                                                                                
Inland waterways: 475 km (1988); the Elbe (Labe) is the principal               
river                                                                           
                                                                                
Pipelines: crude oil, 1,448 km; refined products, 1,500 km; natural             
gas, 8,100 km                                                                   
                                                                                
Ports: maritime outlets are in Poland (Gdynia, Gdansk, Szczecin),               
Yugoslavia (Rijeka, Koper), Germany (Hamburg, Rostock); principal river         
ports are Prague on the Vltava, Decin on the Elbe (Labe),                       
Komarno on the Danube, Bratislava on the Danube                                 
                                                                                
Merchant marine: 24 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 363,002 GRT/             
565,813 DWT; includes 15 cargo, 6 bulk                                          
                                                                                
Civil air: 47 major transport aircraft                                          
                                                                                
Airports: 158 total, 158 usable; 40 with permanent-surface                      
runways; 19 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 37 with runways 1,220-2,439 m           
                                                                                
Telecommunications: 4 million telephones; 25% of households                     
have a telephone; stations--60 AM, 16 FM, 39 TV (11 Soviet TV                   
relays); 4.4 million TVs (1990)                                                 
                                                                                
DEFENSE FORCES                                                                  
Branches: Czechoslovak People's Army, Air and Air Defense Forces,               
Civil Defense, Border Guard                                                     
                                                                                
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 4,066,419; 3,110,958 fit for                
military service; 140,620 reach military age (18) annually                      
                                                                                
Defense expenditures: 26.9 billion koruny, NA% of GDP (1991);                   
note--conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the              
official administratively set exchange rate would produce misleading            
results                                                                         
