Map of Panama | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: With US backing Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903 and promptly signed a treaty with the US allowing for the construction of a canal and US sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the structure (the Panama Canal Zone). The Panama Canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. On 7 September 1977 an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the US to Panama by 1999. Certain portions of the Zone and increasing responsibility over the Canal were turned over in the intervening years. With US help dictator Manuel NORIEGA was deposed in 1989.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 78,200 km²
Land: 75,990 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than South Carolina

Land boundaries: 555 km total; Colombia 225 km, Costa Rica 330 km

Coastline: 2,490 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 200 nm
Disputes: none

Climate:

Terrain: interior mostly steep, rugged mountains and dissected, upland plains; coastal areas largely plains and rolling hills

Elevation

Natural resources: copper, mahogany forests, shrimp

Land use: arable land: 6%; permanent crops: 2%; meadows and pastures 15%; forest and woodland 54%; other 23%; includes irrigated NEGL%

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 2,529,902 (July 1992), growth rate 2.0% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Panamanian(s; adjective - Panamanian

Ethnic groups:

Languages:

Religions: Roman Catholic over 93%, Protestant 6%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 25 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 5 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: dense tropical forest in east and northwest
Current issues note:

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 17 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 73 years male, 77 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 3.0 children born/woman (1992)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 88% (male 88%, female 88%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Panama

Government type: centralized republic

Capital: Panama

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence:

National holiday: Independence Day, 3 November (1903)

Constitution: 11 October 1972; major reforms adopted April 1983

Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court of Justice; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal and compulsory at age 18
President: last held on 7 May 1989, annulled but later upheld (next to be held NA May 1994); results - anti-NORIEGA coalition believed to have won about 75% of the total votes cast
Legislative Assembly: last held on 27 January 1991 (next to be held NA
May 1994; results percent of vote by party NA; seats 67 total progovernment parties: PDC 28, MOLIRENA 16, PA 7, PLA 4 opposition parties: PRD 10, PALA 1, PL 1; note - the PDC went into opposition after President Guillermo ENDARA ousted the PDC from the coalition government in April 1991
Communists: People's Party (PdP), mainline Communist party, did not obtain the necessary 3% of the total vote in the 1984 election to retain its legal status; about 3,000 members

Executive branch: president, two vice presidents, Cabinet

Legislative branch:

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia) currently being reorganized

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:
Diplomatic representation:
US:

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: divided into four, equal rectangles; the top quadrants are white with a blue five-pointed star in the center (hoist side) and plain red, the bottom quadrants are plain blue (hoist side) and white with a red five-pointed star in the center

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: GDP expanded by roughly 9.3% in 1991, following growth of 4.6% in 1990 and a 0.4% contraction in 1989. Delay in coming to terms with the international financial institutions on policies to implement structural reform in Panama generated uncertainty in the private sector and tempered the pace of business expansion in 1991. Public investment was limited as the administration kept the fiscal deficit below 3% of GDP. Unemployment and economic reform are the two major issues the government must face in 1992-93.
GDP: exchange rate conversion - $5.0 billion, per capita $2,040; real growth rate 9.3% (1991 est.)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 12% of GDP (1991 est.), 25% of labor force (1989; crops - bananas, rice, corn, coffee, sugarcane; livestock; fishing; importer of food grain, vegetables

Industries: manufacturing and construction activities, petroleum refining, brewing, cement and other construction material, sugar mills

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate 7.2% (1991 est.), accounts for almost 9.4% of GDP

Labor force: 770,472 (1987); government and community services 27.9%; agriculture, hunting, and fishing 26.2%; commerce, restaurants, and hotels 16%; manufacturing and mining 10.5%; construction 5.3%; transportation and communications 5.3%; finance, insurance, and real estate 4.2%; Canal Zone 2.4%; shortage of skilled labor, but an oversupply of unskilled labor
Organized labor: 17% of labor force (1986)

Unemployment rate: 17% (1991 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $1.5 billion; expenditures $1.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $140 million (1991 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $380 million (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
Commodoties: bananas 28%, shrimp 14%, sugar 12%, clothing 5%, coffee 4%
Partners: US 44%, Central America and Caribbean, EC (1991 est.)

Imports: $1.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
Commodoties: capital goods 13%, crude oil 12%, foodstuffs 10%, consumer goods, chemicals (1990)
Partners:

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: balboas (B) per US$1 - 1.000 (fixed rate)


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Electricity
Production: 1,135,000 kW capacity; 3,397 million kWh produced, 1,372 kWh per capita (1991)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp:

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 130 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways:

Merchant marine:
Civil air: 5 major transport aircraft

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs