CHILE - FACTS AND FIGURES

Area: 756,626 km2

Population: 14,025,000

Population Growth: 1.7%

Capital: Santiago

System of Government: Republic

Head of State: President Eduardo Frei

Key Government Ministers: Eduardo Aninat, Minister of Finance; José Miguel

Insulza, Minister of Foreign Relations; José Pablo Arellano, Minister of

Education.

Language: Spanish is the official language, but other languages spoken in

some areas are Mapudungu (spoken by the Mapuches), Rapa Nui (spoken on

Easter Island) and Aymara (in the mountains of the North)

Literacy Rate: 93%

Ethnic Background: 90% Mestizo (mixed European and Native descent); 5%

Native peoples; 5% European descent

Religion: Most Chileans are Roman Catholics. Protestantism is the second

largest religious group, and there are small Jewish, Greek Orthodox and

Muslim communities.

Currency: C $1 = 302.698 Chilean Pesos (as of July 9/97)

For more information on Chile, visit these websites:

Embassy of Chile in Oslo

Chile Online

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Some of this information was taken from the Information Series published by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. It is available in print format.