LIECHTENSTEIN
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LAND
168 km2
Land boundaries: 76 km
PEOPLE
Population: 26,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 1.7%
Nationality: noun—Liechtensteiner(s); adjective—Liechtenstein
Ethnic divisions: 95% Germanic, 5% Italian and other
Religion: 82.7% Roman Catholic, 7.1% Protestant, 10.2% other
Language: German, Alemannic dialect
Literacy: 100%
Labor force: 11,368, 5,078 foreign workers (mostly from Switzerland and Austria); 54.5% industry, trade, building trade; 41.6% services; 4.0% agriculture, forestry, and hunting
GOVERNMENT
Official name: Principality of Liechtenstein
Type: hereditary constitutional monarchy
Capital: Vaduz
Political subdivisions: 11 communes
Legal system: principality has its own civil and penal codes; lowest court is county court (Landgericht), presided over by one judge, which decides minor civil cases and summary criminal offenses; criminal court (Kriminalgericht), with a bench of five judges, is for major crimes; another court of mixed jurisdiction is the court of assizes (three judges) for misdemeanors; Superior Court (Obergericht) and Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) are courts of appeal for civil and criminal cases (five judges each); an administrative court of appeal from government actions and the State Court determine the constitutionality of laws; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Branches: unicameral Parliament, hereditary Prince, independent judiciary Government leaders: Head of State, H. S. H. Prince FRANZ Josef II; Head of Government (Prime Minister), Hans BRUNHART
Suffrage: males age 20 and over
Elections: every 4 years; last election 1982
Political parties and leaders: Fatherland Union (VU), Dr. Otto Hasler; Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP), Dr. Peter Marxer; Christian Social Party, Fritz Kaiser
Voting strength (1978): FBP 51%, VU 49%; in 1982 elections Brunhart received 53.6% of the vote
Communists: none
Member of: Council of Europe, EFTA, IAEA, INTELSAT, ITU, UNCTAD, UNIDO, UPU, WIPO; considering UN membership; under several post-World War I treaties Switzerland handles Liechtenstein's customs and postal telephone and telegraph systems and represents the principality abroad on a diplomatic and consular level whenever requested to do so by the Liechtenstein Government
ECONOMY
Liechtenstein has a prosperous economy based primarily on small-scale light industry and some farming; metal industry is by far the most prominent sector employing almost 4,000 workers; high-frequency installations, boilers for central heating, hardware, small machinery, canned goods, furniture and upholstery, chemical and pharmaceutical goods, vacuum installations, optical and measuring instruments, oil tanks, artificial teeth, ceramics, and textiles are the principal manufactures, intended almost entirely for export; industry accounts for 98 percent of total employment; livestock raising and dairying are the main sources of income in the small farm sector; major source of income to the government is the sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors, estimated at $6 million annually; low business taxes and easy incorporation rules have induced between 20,000 and 30,000 holding companies, so-called letter box companies, to establish nominal offices in the principality; average tax paid by one of these companies is about $400 a year; economy is tied closely to that of Switzerland in a customs union; no national accounts data are available
GNP: approximately $14,000 per capita (1978)
