Chile-GENERAL INFORMATION

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.