世界各国
Swaziland
Introduction to Swaziland
Autonomy for the Swazis of southern Africa was guaranteed by the British in the late 19th century; independence was granted in 1968. Student and labor unrest during the 1990s pressured the monarchy (one of the oldest on the continent) to grudgingly allow political reform and greater democracy. Swaziland recently surpassed Botswana as the country with the world's highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection
Government
Capital:
Mbabane; note - Lobamba is the royal and legislative capital
Independence:
6 September
National holiday:
Independence Day, 6 September (1968)
Economy
Economy overview:
In this small, landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies more than 80% of the population. The manufacturing sector has diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange earners. Mining has declined in importance in recent years with only coal and quarry stone mines remaining active. Surrounded by South Africa, except for a short border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily dependent on South Africa from which it receives about nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends nearly three-quarters of its exports. Customs duties from the Southern African Customs Union and worker remittances from South Africa substantially supplement domestically earned income. The government is trying to improve the atmosphere for foreign investment. Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2002 because of drought, and more than one-third of the adult population was infected by HIV/AIDS.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $5.702 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 16.2%
industry: 43.2%
services: 40.5% (2004 est.)
Agriculture products:
sugarcane, cotton, corn, tobacco, rice, citrus, pineapples, sorghum, peanuts; cattle, goats, sheep
Industries:
mining (coal), wood pulp, sugar, soft drink concentrates, textile and apparel
Transportation
Airports:
18 (2003 est.)