Cyprus

Location: Middle East, island in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Turkey; note – Cyprus views itself as part of Europe; geopolitically, it can be classified as falling within Europe, the Middle East, or both.
Area: total: total: 9,251 sq km (of which 3,355 sq km are in north Cyprus), land: 9,241 sq km, water: 10 sq km.
Natural resources: Copper, pyrites, asbestos, gypsum, timber, salt, marble, clay earth pigment.
Population: 1,221,549 (July 2017 est.).
Capital: Nicosia.
Time Zone: UTC+2.
Languages: Greek, English.
Government type: Presidential democracy.
Legal system: Mixed legal system of English common law and civil law with European law supremacy.

International organization participation: Australia Group, C, CD, CE, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EMU, EU, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NAM, NSG, OAS (observer), OIF, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO.

Economy: Tourism, finance, shipping, and real estate have traditionally been the most important services. Cyprus has been a member of the EU since May 2004 and adopted the euro as its national currency in January 2008.
In October 2013, a US-Israeli consortium completed preliminary appraisals of hydrocarbon deposits in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which estimated gross mean reserves of about 130 billion cubic meters. Though exploration continues in Cyprus’ EEZ, no additional commercially exploitable reserves have been identified. Developing offshore hydrocarbon resources remains a critical component of the government’s economic recovery efforts, but development has been delayed as a result of regional developments and disagreements about exploitation methods.

Currency: Euro.