Full country name: República Bolivariana de Venezuela
Area: 912,050 sq km (355,700 sq mi)
Population: 25 million
Capital city: Caracas (pop 4,608,934)
People: 67% mestizo, 21% European descent, 10% African descent, 2% indigenous. There are approximately 200,000 Amerindians, remnants of a number of diverse semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer societies.
Languages: Spanish is the official language, but more than 30 Amerindian languages still survive, predominantly belonging to the Arawak, Cariban and Chibcha ethnolinguistic categories.
Religion: 96% Roman Catholic, 2% Protestant
Government: Federal Republic
Head of State: Hugo Chávez

GDP: US$194.5 billion
GDP per head: US$8500
Annual growth: -0.9%
Inflation: 29.9%
Major industries: Petroleum, iron ore, cereals, fruit, sugar and coffee
Major trading partners: USA, Germany, Japan, Colombia, Brazil, Italy