Capital: Ottawa
Population: 33,304,000
Area: 3,855,103 square mi 9,984,670 square km
Languages: English, French
Religions: Roman Catholic, Protestant (United Church, Anglican), other Christian
Literacy: 99.0%
Life Exp.: 80.2 years
GDP (PPP): $39300

The second largest country in area after Russia, Canada has coastlines on the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific Oceans, giving it the longest coastline of any country. In area, Canada is slightly larger than the United States, but has only 11 percent as many people. It is one of the least densely inhabited and most prosperous countries. A vast region of swamps, lakes, and ancient rock, known as the Canadian Shield, radiates out from Hudson Bay to cover half of the country; it is agriculturally poor with few people but rich in mineral deposits and forests. The shield stretches from the Arctic to the Great Lakes and Labrador, cutting the country in half and contributing to a division between easterners and westerners. The Canadian Shield and rugged western mountains experience subarctic climates, resulting in a near empty north-an estimated 75 percent of Canadians live within 161 kilometers (100 miles) of the U.S. border.

France pioneered settlement, but Britain gained control in 1763. In 1867 the British North America Act united English-speaking Upper Canada (Ontario) and French-speaking Lower Canada (Quebec) with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in a self-governing confederation-with independence in 1931. Canada is a multicultural society dependent on immigration for growth. Some 28 percent are of British descent, 23 percent claim French descent (concentrated in Quebec), 2 percent are aboriginal peoples-other minorities include Italians, Germans, Ukrainians, and Chinese. Canada's population is highly urbanized, with most people living in four areas: southern Ontario, Montreal region,

Vancouver city and southern Vancouver Island, and the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. The urban economy has a large manufacturing base, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has brought an economic boom-about 80 percent of Canada's trade is with the U.S.

Industries

transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas

Agriculture

wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco, fruits, vegetables; dairy products; forest products; fish

Exports

motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, aircraft, telecommunications equipment; chemicals, plastics, fertilizers; wood pulp, timber, crude petroleum, natural gas, electricity, aluminum

Your Family

We pay special attention to families. We provide cross-cultural orientation and information to the new professional's family (spouse, children, parents, and other important people) about location-specific needs such as social overview, spousal employment opportunities, document management, medical, housing, schooling, and travel. We assist the company's recruitment department to support the family's transition to a new country and culture so the experience can be as positive as possible.

Capital: Washington, D.C.
Population: 304,486,000
Area: 3,794,083 square mi 9,826,630 square km
Languages: English, Spanish, other Indo-European languages, Asian and Pacific island languages
Religions: Protestant, Roman Catholic
Literacy: 99.0%
Life Exp.: 78.1 years
GDP (PPP): $47000

In 1776, after 169 years of distant and undemocratic British rule, the 13 Colonies declared independence. With the Constitution of 1787, the United States of America's four million people embarked on a political experiment: a democratic republic with representation at the local, state, and federal lev-with a built-in balance among executive, legislative, and judicial branches. From 1861 to 1865, the union of the United States was tested by the Civil War; it survived after a great loss of life.

On September 11, 2001, America witnessed death not seen on its soil since the Civil War, when 3,025 people died as four passenger jets were hijacked and turned into terrorist bombs-crashing in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The images of a destroyed World Trade Center and damaged Pentagon had a momentous impact on the country, and the government launched a "war on terror." In October 2001 the U.S. led a military campaign against terrorists in Afghanistan, driving the Taliban regime from power. In November 2002 the Department of Homeland Security was created to protect the nation against terrorist attacks. In March 2003 a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, toppling Saddam Hussein's hostile dictatorship.

Industries

leading industrial power in the world, highly diversified and technologically advanced; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining

Agriculture

wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish; forest products

Exports

agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn) 9.2%, industrial supplies (organic chemicals) 26.8%, capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment) 49.0%, consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) 15.0%

Your Family

We pay special attention to families. We provide cross-cultural orientation and information to the new professional's family (spouse, children, parents, and other important people) about location-specific needs such as social overview, spousal employment opportunities, document management, medical, housing, schooling, and travel. We assist the company's recruitment department to support the family's transition to a new country and culture so the experience can be as positive as possible.

Capital: Khartoum
Population: 39,445,000
Area: 967,500 square mi 2,505,813 square km
Languages: Arabic, Nubian, Ta Bedawie, many diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
Religions: Sunni Muslim, indigenous beliefs, Christian
Literacy: 61.1%
Life Exp.: 57.5 years
GDP (PPP): $2200

Africa's largest country in land area, Sudan is dominated by the Nile and its tributaries, with mountains rising along its Red Sea coast and along the western border with Chad. Sudan's name in Arabic means, "land of the blacks."

Since independence from Britain in 1956, a north-south war has dominated Sudan's history, pitting Arab Muslims in the northern desert against black Christians and animists in the southern wetlands. Muslim Arabs control the government in Khartoum, but are only about 39 percent of the population. Blacks, or Africans, make up 52 percent of Sudanese, and are most numerous in southern and western Sudan. The country is further divided with hundreds of black, Arab, and non-Arab ethnicities, tribes, and languages.

Sudan's political history has been unstable. Gen. Muhammad Nimeiri, who seized control in the 1970s, was deposed in 1985. In 1989 another military coup, led by then-Col. Omar al-Bashir, toppled the elected government. The military dictatorship, so far, has been incapable of stopping the civil war. Indeed its intensity rose with the discovery and exploitation of oil fields in the south. In 2004 a rebel uprising by blacks in western Sudan's Darfur region brought army reprisals, creating 100,000 refuges. Pro-government Arab militias carried out systematic killings of Darfur's blacks-who are mostly Muslim.

Industries

oil, cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar, soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, armaments, automobile/light truck assembly

Agriculture

cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sugarcane, cassava (tapioca), mangos, papaya, bananas, sweet potatoes, sesame; sheep, livestock

Exports

oil and petroleum products; cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, sugar

Your Family

We pay special attention to families. We provide cross-cultural orientation and information to the new professional's family (spouse, children, parents, and other important people) about location-specific needs such as social overview, spousal employment opportunities, document management, medical, housing, schooling, and travel. We assist the company's recruitment department to support the family's transition to a new country and culture so the experience can be as positive as possible.

Capital: Sanaa
Population: 22,198,000
Area: 207,286 square mi 536,869 square km
Languages: Arabic
Religions: Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shiite)
Literacy: 50.2%
Life Exp.: 61.1 years
GDP (PPP): $2400

Ancient kingdoms flourished in southwestern Arabia (now Yemen), a crossroads of trade from the Orient and Africa to the Mediterranean. At the time of Christ, camel caravans carried as much as 3,000 tons of frankincense each year to Greece and Rome. Marib, capital of Saba (biblical Sheba), was the queen city of incense; nearby a huge dam irrigated thousands of hectares of farmland. Today a new dam and oil pump life into Marib. In Yemen's highlands volcanic soils yield cereal crops. Most coffee groves (Yemen invented the drink in the 11th century, and mocha is named for the Red Sea port, Al Mukha.) have been replaced by fields of kat, chewed as a stimulant.

Beginning in the 1500s the Turks periodically dominated the region's interior. After 1839 Britain controlled the port of Aden and surrounding coastal area; Aden boomed after the Suez Canal opened in 1869. In 1904 the Turks and the British established a boundary between their territories-known as North Yemen and South Yemen (Aden).

Following the 1918 collapse of the Ottoman Empire, tribal imams closed the doors of North Yemen. It reemerged in 1962, when army officers proclaimed the Yemen Arab Republic, sparking an eight-year civil war. South Yemen won independence from Britain in 1967 after two years of Marxist-guerrilla warfare; it became the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1970. Ideological differences provoked conflicts between pro-Soviet South Yemen and pro-Western North Yemen in 1972 and 1979.

In May 1990 the two nations-spurred by reforms in Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R. and drawn together by ancient cultural bonds-merged in an uneasy alliance that erupted into several weeks of civil war in 1994. Yemen's modest oil reserves provide most of the revenue, but it is the poorest country in the Middle East.

Industries

crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; small aluminum products factory; cement; commercial ship

Agriculture

grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish

Exports

crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish

Your Family

We pay special attention to families. We provide cross-cultural orientation and information to the new professional's family (spouse, children, parents, and other important people) about location-specific needs such as social overview, spousal employment opportunities, document management, medical, housing, schooling, and travel. We assist the company's recruitment department to support the family's transition to a new country and culture so the experience can be as positive as possible.

Capital: Abu Dhabi
Population: 4,486,000
Area: 30,000 square mi 77,700 square km
Languages: Arabic, Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu
Religions: Muslim
Literacy: 77.9%
Life Exp.: 78.2 years
GDP (PPP): $40000

Seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula combined to form a federation after Britain pulled out of this barren coastal region in 1971. The United Arab Emirates comprises Abu Dhabi, seat of the federal government and the oil capital; Dubayy (Dubai), the main port and commercial-industrial hub; Ajman; Umm al Qaywayn; Ras al Khaymah; Al Fujayrah; and Sharjah. Oil, discovered in 1958, is the major income earner. Oil wealth brought foreign workers, who now make up about three-quarters of the population. A favorite destination for tourists, the country has a liberal attitude toward other cultures and beliefs.

Industries

petroleum and petrochemicals; fishing, aluminum, cement, fertilizers, commercial ship repair, construction materials, some boat building, handicrafts, textiles

Agriculture

dates, vegetables, watermelons; poultry, eggs, dairy products; fish

Exports

crude oil 45%, natural gas, reexports, dried fish, dates

Your Family

We pay special attention to families. We provide cross-cultural orientation and information to the new professional's family (spouse, children, parents, and other important people) about location-specific needs such as social overview, spousal employment opportunities, document management, medical, housing, schooling, and travel. We assist the company's recruitment department to support the family's transition to a new country and culture so the experience can be as positive as possible.

Capital: Muscat
Population: 2,719,000
Area: 119,499 square mi 309,500 square km
Languages: Arabic, English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects
Religions: Ibadhi Muslim, Sunni Muslim, Shiite Muslim, Hindu
Literacy: 81.4%
Life Exp.: 74.3 years
GDP (PPP): $20200

At the mouth of the Persian Gulf and in the path of trade routes to East Africa and the Orient, Oman built a commercial empire centuries ago. After the mid-19th century, power struggles weakened the sultanate, strengthening bonds to the British Empire. In 1970 British-educated Qaboos bin Said deposed his father and, as sultan, began modernizing. Oman allows the United States to use port and air base facilities. Oil, exported since 1967, has financed roads, schools, and hospitals. The majority of Omanis still farm or fish, and protection of fisheries and coastal zones is promoted.

Industries

crude oil production and refining, natural and liquefied natural gas (LNG) production; construction, cement, copper, steel, chemicals, optic fiber

Agriculture

dates, limes, bananas, alfalfa, vegetables; camels, cattle; fish

Exports

petroleum, reexports, fish, metals, textiles

 

Your Family

We pay special attention to families. We provide cross-cultural orientation and information to the new professional's family (spouse, children, parents, and other important people) about location-specific needs such as social overview, spousal employment opportunities, document management, medical, housing, schooling, and travel. We assist the company's recruitment department to support the family's transition to a new country and culture so the experience can be as positive as possible.

Capital: Doha
Population: 928,000
Area: 4,448 square mi 11,521 square km
Languages: Arabic, English commonly a second language
Religions: Muslim, Christian
Literacy: 89.0%
Life Exp.: 75.0 years
GDP (PPP): $103500

Qatar occupies a peninsula that extends into the Persian Gulf. This oil-rich nation, under British protection until 1971, chose not to join the United Arab Emirates. Qatar has exported oil since 1949, and as reserves decline, the nation has turned to its natural gas. The North Field (half the size of the entire country) is the largest single reservoir of natural gas in the world. The current emir has instituted political reforms, including allowing women to vote and hold office.

Industries

crude oil production and refining, ammonia, fertilizers, petrochemicals, steel reinforcing bars, cement, commercial ship repair

Agriculture

fruits, vegetables; poultry, dairy products, beef; fish

Exports

liquefied natural gas (LNG), petroleum products, fertilizers, steel

Your Family

We pay special attention to families. We provide cross-cultural orientation and information to the new professional's family (spouse, children, parents, and other important people) about location-specific needs such as social overview, spousal employment opportunities, document management, medical, housing, schooling, and travel. We assist the company's recruitment department to support the family's transition to a new country and culture so the experience can be as positive as possible.

Capital: Kuwait City
Population: 2,669,000
Area: 6,880 square mi 17,818 square km
Languages: Arabic, English
Religions: Sunni Muslim, Shiite Muslim, other (includes Christian, Hindu, Parsi)
Literacy: 93.3%
Life Exp.: 77.6 years
GDP (PPP): $57400

A small, oil-rich country on the Persian Gulf, Kuwait is flat and arid, but oil wealth makes this an attractive place for immigrants. Kuwaiti Arabs make up a third of the population, with other Arabs (Egyptians, Palestinians) 22 percent, and non-Arabs (mostly South Asians) 38 percent. Founded in the 18th century, the ruling al-Sabah dynasty was in place in 1899 when Kuwait came under British protection. Full independence was achieved in 1961. Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, but a U.S.-led coalition routed Iraqi forces. Kuwait was the principal platform for U.S. military operations against Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Industries

petroleum, petrochemicals, cement, shipbuilding and repair, water desalination, food processing, construction materials

Agriculture

practically no crops; fish

Exports

oil and refined products, fertilizers

Your Family

We pay special attention to families. We provide cross-cultural orientation and information to the new professional's family (spouse, children, parents, and other important people) about location-specific needs such as social overview, spousal employment opportunities, document management, medical, housing, schooling, and travel. We assist the company's recruitment department to support the family's transition to a new country and culture so the experience can be as positive as possible.