hs
female: 4.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.3 years
male: 75.1 years
female: 81.6 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.47 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Religions:
Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish

Languages:
Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish,
French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian,
Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene,
Spanish, Swedish; note - only official languages are listed

Government European Union

Union name:
conventional long form: European Union
abbreviation: EU

Political structure:
a hybrid intergovernmental and supranational organization

Capital:
name: Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France), Luxembourg
geographic coordinates: 50 50 N, 4 20 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during
Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last
Sunday in October
note: the Council of the European Union meets in Brussels, the
European Parliament meets in Brussels and Strasbourg, France, and
the Court of Justice of the European Communities meets in Luxembourg

Member states:
27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK;
note - Canary Islands (Spain), Azores and Madeira (Portugal), French
Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion (France) are sometimes
listed separately even though they are legally a part of Spain,
Portugal, and France; candidate countries: Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey

Independence:
7 February 1992 (Maastricht Treaty signed establishing the EU); 1
November 1993 (Maastricht Treaty entered into force)

National holiday:
Europe Day 9 May (1950); note - a Union-wide holiday, the day that
Robert SCHUMAN proposed the creation of the European Coal and Steel
Community to achieve an organized Europe

Constitution:
based on a series of treaties: the Treaty of Paris, which set up
the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951; the Treaties
of Rome, which set up the Europ