Passage);
Atacama Desert one of world's driest regions

@Chile:People

Population: 14,161,216 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 29% (female 2,014,877; male 2,099,450)
15-64 years: 64% (female 4,574,947; male 4,529,251)
65 years and over: 7% (female 549,385; male 393,306) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.49% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 20.29 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 5.42 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 14.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.88 years
male: 71.89 years
female: 78.01 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.49 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Chilean(s)
adjective: Chilean

Ethnic divisions: European and European-Indian 95%, Indian 3%, other
2%

Religions: Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 11%, Jewish

Languages: Spanish

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1992)
total population: 94%
male: 95%
female: 94%

Labor force: 4.728 million
by occupation: services 38.3% (includes government 12%), industry and
commerce 33.8%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 19.2%, mining 2.3%,
construction 6.4% (1990)

@Chile:Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Chile
conventional short form: Chile
local long form: Republica de Chile
local short form: Chile

Digraph: CI

Type: republic

Capital: Santiago

Administrative divisions: 13 regions (regiones, singular - region);
Aisen del General Carlos Ibanez del Campo, Antofagasta, Araucania,
Atacama, Bio-Bio, Coquimbo, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Los
Lagos, Magallanes y de la Antartica Chilena, Maule, Region
Metropolitana, Tarapaca, Valparaiso
note: the US does not recognize claims to Antarctica

Independence: 18 September 1810 (from Spain)

National holiday: Independence Day, 18 September (1810)

Constitution: 11 September 1980, effective 11 March 1981; amended 30
July 1989

Legal system: based on Code of 1857 derived from Spanish law and
subsequent codes influenced by French and Austrian law; judicial
review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch:
chief of state and head of government: President Eduardo FREI
Ruiz-Tagle (s