General Information

Capital:

Nicosia

Area:

9,250 sq km (3,572 sq mi)

Form of government

Republic

GDP per capita

Purchasing power parity Greek sector-$15,400 (1998 est.)

Turkish sector-$5,000 (1998 est.)

Population

754,064 (July 1999 est.)

Ethnic composition

Greek - 78.0%

Turkish - 18.0%

Other - 4.0%

Updated (December 2003)

According to the latest official Census, approximately 759,100 persons live legally on the island.

Eighty-five percent (647,100) of those, living in the government-controlled territory, are members of the Greek Cypriot community, including some 8,000 Maronites, Armenians and Latins who opted to join the Greek community, in accordance with Article 2 of the Constitution.

There are around 4,600 Maronites who speak an oral Arabic dialect, 2,500 Armenians and 900 Italian-speaking Latins. Around 24,200 (3 percent) who also live in the government-controlled areas are foreign residents, mostly Britons, and a multinational work force (Filipino, Sri Lanka, Romanian, etc.).

The prominent Muslim Turkish Cypriot community, living in the north of the island, is estimated to have about 87,800 members (12 percent), including a very tiny percentage of Muslim gypsies (less than 250 persons).

Source: Minority-language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford University & Institute for Information Law (IViR) (http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Study commissioned by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), April 2003, edited by T. McGonagle (IViR), B. Davis Noll & M. Price (PCMLP), http://www.ivir.nl/publications/mcgonagle/Minority-language%20broadcasting.pdf

Official Language(s)

Greek, Turkish

Minority Language(s)

Turkish can be considered to be a minority language with 18%, Armenian, Maronites

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