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Chile - general information

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Chile - GENERAL INFORMATION

Population - Local time - Languages - Religion - Political system - Climate - Tourism - Food

Population

Main Cities	Population
Santiago	5.000.000
Concepcion	311.000
Vina del Mar	304.000
Valparaiso	282.000
Talcahuano	248.000
Temuco	243.000

Total population (millions):	16
Source: World Bank 2004

Urban population:	87%
Source: World Bank 2004

Average annual population growth:	1.1%
Source: World Bank 2004

Surface area (km²) :

756,630

Population origin

Origin of the population	% Of the population
Europeans	54 %
Africans and half-caste	44 %
Other	2 %

Local time

It is %T:%M %A in Santiago

GMT-4 in winter, GMT-3 in summer

Languages

Official language: Spanish
Spoken languages: Indian dialects
Business language: Spanish, English.

Free translation tools in Chile :
Babel Fish
Free English-Spanish-English translation of texts and web pages

Systran
Free French-Spanish-French translation of texts and web pages

Dictionarios.com
Free Spanish-Catalan-English-French Dictionary

Religion

Religious practises : Catholics 88.8%
Protestants 11%
Jews 0.2%.

Political system

Democratic republic, presidential regime. Since 1994, the president of the republic is elected for a 6-year term by universal suffrage. The National Legislative Congress is the Chilean two chambers parliament and composed of the senate ( 85 members) and the House of Representatives ( 120 members); legislative elections take place every 4 years. Michelle BACHELET has been president since 11th of March of 2006.

Climate

Tourism

Number of visitors in Chile	2002	2003	2004	World rank
Number of visitors (1000)	1412	1614	1785	n.a.

Source : World Tourisme Organization, data available in November 2005

Tourist sites

" Salto del Laja ", famous for the waterfalls.
Another tourist attraction is Puyehne, in the province of Orsano, with its thermal springs, warm water swimming pools, and its lake strewed with beautiful islands.

For more information about tourism in Chile , check out the following web site(s) :
National Chilean Tourism Board
Chilean Tourism Promotion Corporation

Food

Traditional dishes

Cazuela (chicken stew with rices, corn, potatoes), Empanada (sort of doughnut stuffed with meat, poultry or fish with onions, eggs and olives), alpaca's steack (Altiplano), goat, fishes and seafood on the coast, local wines, pisco (brandy), chicha (fermented corn). There are numerous markets where it is possible to eat.

Last modified in March 2006