Force (VMF)
Manpower availability:
males 15-49, NA; NA fit for military service
Defense expenditures:
$NA, NA% of GDP

:Venezuela Geography

Total area:
912,050 km2
Land area:
882,050 km2
Comparative area:
slightly more than twice the size of California
Land boundaries:
4,993 km total; Brazil 2,200 km, Colombia 2,050 km, Guyana 743 km
Coastline:
2,800 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone:
15 nm
Continental shelf:
200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
Territorial sea:
12 nm
Disputes:
claims all of Guyana west of the Essequibo river; maritime boundary dispute
with Colombia in the Gulf of Venezuela
Climate:
tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands
Terrain:
Andes mountains and Maracaibo lowlands in northwest; central plains
(llanos); Guyana highlands in southeast
Natural resources:
crude oil, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower,
diamonds
Land use:
arable land 3%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures 20%; forest and
woodland 39%; other 37%; includes irrigated NEGL%
Environment:
subject to floods, rockslides, mudslides; periodic droughts; increasing
industrial pollution in Caracas and Maracaibo
Note:
on major sea and air routes linking North and South America

:Venezuela People

Population:
20,675,970 (July 1992), growth rate 2.4% (1992)
Birth rate:
27 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
4 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
1 migrant/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
23 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
71 years male, 78 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
3.3 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Venezuelan(s); adjective - Venezuelan
Ethnic divisions:
mestizo 67%, white 21%, black 10%, Indian 2%
Religions:
nominally Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2%
Languages:
Spanish (official); Indian dialects spoken by about 200,000 Amerindians in
the remote interior
Literacy:
88% (male 87%, female 90%) age 15 and over can read and write (1981 est.)
Labor force:
5,800,000; services 56%, industry 28%, agriculture 16% (1985)
Organized labor:
32% of labor force

:Venezuela Government

Long-form name:
Republic of Venezuela
Type:
republic
Capital:
Caracas
Administrative d