With backing from the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903 and promptly signed a treaty with the US allowing for the construction of a canal and US sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the structure (the Panama Canal Zone). The Panama Canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. On September 7, 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the US to Panama by 1999. Certain portions of the Zone and increasing responsibility over the Canal were turned over in the intervening years. With US help, dictator Manuel Noriega was deposed in 1989. The entire Panama Canal, the area supporting the Canal, and remaining US military bases are scheduled to be turned over to Panama on December 31, 1999.
Demographic Data
Capital: Panama
Government type: Democracy
Government stability: 80.4%
Government efficiency: 87.3%
Population's support to government: 80.1%
Area: 75,990 square kilometers
Habitable land: 77.0%
Farmable land: 6.0%
Total population: 2,680 thousands
Population's growth: 1.9%
Country's development level: 8,590
Economic Data
GNP: 12,300,000,000
Industralisation: 53.3%
International funding: 30,000,000
Political Data
Secret services efficiency: 2,113
Military Data
Technological generation: 1
Number of rebels: 241
Rebels development: 7,731
Rebels technological access: 6,012