LOCATION:

Central South America, northeast of Argentina

AREA:

total: 406,750 sq km
land: 397,300 sq km
water: 9,450 sq km
Area - comparative:
  
slightly smaller than California

POPULATION:

6,347,884

 (July 2005 est.)

AGE STRUCTURE:

0-14 years: 37.9%
 (male 1,223,479/female 1,184,134)
 
15-64 years: 57.3%
 (male 1,825,473/female 1,809,810)
 
65 years and over: 4.8%
(male 140,935/female 164,053)

 (2005 est

MEDIAN AGE:

total: 21.2 years
male: 20.94 years
female: 21.46 years

(2005 est.)

POPULATION GROWTH:

2.48%

 (2005 est.)

INFANT MORTALITY RATE:

total: 25.63 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 30.37 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 20.66 deaths/1,000 live births

 (2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS-ADULT PREVALENCE RATE:

0.3 %

(World Fact Book estimates: 0.5%)

HIV/AIDS- PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS :

15,000

low estimate:
7,300

high estimate:
24,000

HIV/AIDS-DEATH

600

low estimate:
300

high estimate:
1000

ETHNIC GROUPS:

mestizo (mixed Spanish and Amerindian) 95%,
 other 5%

RELIGIONS:

Roman Catholic 90%, Mennonite and other Protestant 10%

LANGUAGES:

Spanish (official), Guarani (official)

LITERACY:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
 
total population: 94%
male: 94.9%
female: 93%

(2003 est.)

GOVERNMENT TYPE:

constitutional republic

CAPITAL:

Asuncion

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS:

17 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento) and 1 capital city*; Alto Paraguay, Alto Parana, Amambay, Asuncion*, Boqueron, Caaguazu, Caazapa, Canindeyu, Central, Concepcion, Cordillera, Guaira, Itapua, Misiones, Neembucu, Paraguari, Presidente Hayes, San Pedro

INDEPENDENCE:

14 May 1811 (from Spain)

ECONOMY:

Landlocked Paraguay has a market economy marked by a large informal sector. This sector features both reexport of imported consumer goods to neighboring countries as well as the activities of thousands of microenterprises and urban street vendors. Because of the importance of the informal sector, accurate economic measures are difficult to obtain. A large percentage of the population derives their living from agricultural activity, often on a subsistence basis. The formal economy grew by an average of about 3% annually in 1995-97, but averaged near-zero growth in 1998-2001 and contracted by 2.3 percent in 2002, in response to regional contagion and an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth desease. On a per capita basis, real income has stagnated at 1980 levels. Most observers attribute Paraguay's poor economic performance to political uncertainty, corruption, lack of progress on structural reform, substantial internal and external debt, and deficient infrastructure. Aided by a firmer exchange rate and perhaps a greater confidence in the economic policy of the Duarte FRUTOS administration, the economy rebounded in 2003 and 2004,
 posting modest growth each year.

GDP:

purchasing power parity - $29.93 billion

(2004 est.)

POPULATION BELOW POVERT LINE:

36%

 (2001 est.)

INFLATION RATE:

5.1%

(2004 est.)

UNEMPLOYMENT:

15.1%

(2004 est.)

EXCHANGE RATES:

15.1%

(2004 est.)

ILLICIT DRUGS:

major illicit producer of cannabis, most or all of which is consumed in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile; transshipment country for Andean cocaine headed for Brazil, other Southern Cone markets, Europe, and US; corruption and some money-laundering activity, especially in the Tri-Border Area