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Offical name
Principality of Andorra
Capital
Andorra la Vella
Government type
parliamentary democracy
Language
Catalan, French
Area
468 sq km
Population
71,201 ( 2006 est.)
Currency
euro (EUR)
Religion
Catholic
Time zone
GMT/UTC +1 ()
Country dialing code
376
Click to see larger map
Andorra is a small princedom located on the east of the Pyrenees near the border of France and Spain. A level lower than a kingdom, a princedom is a country governed by a hereditary lord (prince) with a peerage of Grand Duke. Most of the Andorran territory is covered with mountains and narrow valleys. In the 13th century, the Spanish Catholic Parish and the French Feudal Lord made an agreement concerning the supremacy over this country. This agreement has been stipulated in 1993 as a statute law, and as a result, the sovereigns of Andorra today are the Bishop of Spain and the President of France. In short, Andorra is the only country in the world that has two sovereigns. Tourism is the most important industry of the country, taking up about 80% of the country’s GDP. In average, about 10 million tourists visit this country each year. Since Andorra is a duty-free country, many foreigners, including the neighboring French and Spanish, visit the country for shopping purposes. With more than 2,000 modern shopping malls, the whole country is called the ‘Shopping Outlet of Europe.’ Besides the country’s shopping malls, the ski slopes in Pyrenees are also very famous. There are even places where lifts are directly connected to the cities. In Andorra, many winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding can be enjoyed with a low price.
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