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Economy
According to the annual statistics of the UNO, in 1993-1998 Canada was on the first place in the world in the list of the countries considered to be the best on several major criteria (general standard of living, ecology, culture and art, education, crime rate, etc.).
Canada is one of the most ecologically safe countries in the world. In the UNO report in 1998 devoted to the living standards of population in many countries it was mentioned that Canada had surpassed all the other countries.
Macroeconomic parameters of the country are the following: with the population about 31 million people at the beginning of 1997 the total internal product of the country was equal 633.2 billon of American dollars (1996), or $21.000 per one citizen.
Canadian economy as any other capitalist economy has uneven development, though in 1990s it was characterized by annual increase on 2-4%. Inflation also decreased and its rate in 1996 was only 0,3%. The structure of Canadian economy is also of particular interest. 15% of able-bodied population is engaged in the services sphere, 14% - in industrial enterprises, 4% - in agriculture, 3% - in construction and 4% - in some other spheres.
In January 1993 falling-off of Canadian economy stopped and the level of consumption reached the highest point as to be compared with the previous three years. Canada used to be considered a source of raw materials: grain, oil, wood and minerals. But during last several years the structure of its economy has changed greatly. Export of raw materials decreased and consists now only 1/9 of total Canadian export (compare with 40% in 1963).
A little more than 7% of the population are unemployed (compare with 29% in 1946). The sphere of services is growing rapidly in Canada, about 70% of able-bodied population are engaged in this sphere nowadays. This process leads to the lack of some professions and to money redistribution. Because of it educational priorities are changing and new educational retraining programs appear.
In 1985 the program encouraging foreign investments into Canada was adopted. As a result, the country drew a lot of foreign money to its economy. Due to this program, investments into Canadian industry increased from 62 to 110 million of Canadian dollars during the period 1980-1988. That enabled to develop new technologies, to organize new industrial spheres, to employ more workers and to train new technical specialists and managers.
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