General information:
· Capital: Abu Dhabi
· Independence: from Britain 2nd December 1971, National day
· Area: 90,559 square Km
· Land boundaries: 867 Km
· Coastline: 1,318 Km
· Population: 2.56 million, including 1.6 million none Emirati Citizens (2005 estimate) (some other estimates claim that the real number of people are 3.44 million).
· Population growth rate: 1.54% (2005)
· Birth rate: 18.8births/1,000 population (2005)
· Death rate: 4.2deaths/1,000 population (2005)
· Fertility rate: 3 children/woman (2005)
· Administrative divisions: 7 emirates (imarat, singular - imarah); Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi), 'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Shariqah (Sharjah), Dubayy (Dubai), Ra's al Khaymah, Umm al Qaywayn (Quwayn).
· Currency: Emarati Dirahm
· Total GDP: $74.5 Billion (purchasing power parity), or $104.2 Billion (official exchange rate) (2005)
· GDP - real growth rate: 6.7% (2005)
· Bordering countries: Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar (a short land connection through the Saudi Arabian lands-disputed area)
Education:
Education budget 5.8 Billion (for 2003) and it comes in second place after the defence budget. The education budget represents only 2% of GDP.
· Literacy:
total population: 77.9%
male: 76.1%
female: 81.7% (2003 est.)
Government:
· Government type: federation with specified powers delegated to the UAE federal government and other powers reserved to member emirates
· Executive branch: Federal Supreme Council (FSC) composed of the seven emirate rulers; the FSC is the highest constitutional authority in the UAE; establishes general policies and sanctions federal legislation; meets four times a year; Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi) and Dubayy (Dubai) rulers have effective veto power
· Legislative branch: unicameral Federal National Council (FNC) or Majlis al-Ittihad al-Watani (40 seats; members appointed by the rulers of the constituent states to serve two-year terms)
· Legal system: federal court system introduced in 1971; applies to all emirates except Dubayy (Dubai) and Ra's al Khaymah, which are not fully integrated into the federal judicial system; all emirates have secular courts to adjudicate criminal, civil, and commercial matters and Islamic courts to review family and religious disputes
Media:
Local media:
UAE is considered one of the leading countries in the region in media and information. There are around 160 publications (newspaper, magazines, and newsletters), 10 local satellite T.V channels, and more than 10 radio channels. More than 9 registered theatres, 29 art associations.
Dubai Media city: established in Dubai city it attracted many international media corporations and Arabic and foreign satellite channels.
Dubai Internet City:
Attracts many corporations specializing in the Internet, software and I.T sector.
Emirates Media corporation: the official media company, owns 5 radio channels, 5 newspapers and magazines, 3 satellite channels and one theatre.
