997)

Televisions: 1.926 million (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 56 (1999)

@New Zealand:Transportation

Railways:
total: 3,913 km
narrow gauge: 3,913 km 1.067-m gauge (519 km electrified) (1999)

Highways:
total: 92,200 km
paved: 53,568 km (including at least 144 km of expressways)
unpaved: 38,632 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 1,609 km; of little importance to transportation

Pipelines: petroleum products 160 km; natural gas 1,000 km; liquefied
petroleum gas or LPG 150 km

Ports and harbors: Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Tauranga,
Wellington

Merchant marine:
total: 10 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 102,461 GRT/133,418 DWT
ships by type: bulk 4, cargo 1, petroleum tanker 2, rail car carrier
1, roll-on/roll-off 2 (1999 est.)

Airports: 111 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 44
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
914 to 1,523 m: 28
under 914 m: 3 (1999 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 67
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 23
under 914 m: 43 (1999 est.)

@New Zealand:Military

Military branches: New Zealand Army, Royal New Zealand Navy, Royal New
Zealand Air Force

Military manpower - military age: 20 years of age

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 990,774 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 834,289 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 26,649 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $883 million (FY97/98)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.1% (FY97/98)

@New Zealand:Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: territorial claim in Antarctica (Ross
Dependency)

______________________________________________________________________

NICARAGUA

@Nicaragua:Introduction

Background: Settled as a colony of Spain in the 1520s, Nicaragua
gained its independence in 1821. Violent opposition to governmental
manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted
in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista
guerrillas to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El
Salvador caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas
through much of the 1980s. Free elections in 1990 and again in 1996
saw the Sandinistas defeated. The country has slowly rebuilt its
economy during the 1990s, but was hard hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

@Nicaragua:Geography

Locat