Area:

total: 27,750 sq km
land: 27,560 sq km
water: 190 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly smaller than Maryland

Land boundaries:

total: 360 km
border countries: Dominican Republic 360 km

Coastline:

1,771 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: to depth of exploitation

Climate:

tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds

Terrain:

mostly rough and mountainous

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Chaine de la Selle 2,680 m

Natural resources:

bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower

Land use:

arable land: 28.11%
permanent crops: 11.53%
other: 60.36% (2005)

Irrigated land:

920 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

14 cu km (2000)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.99 cu km/yr (5%/1%/94%)
per capita: 116 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards:

lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and subject to severe
storms from June to October; occasional flooding and earthquakes;
periodic droughts

Environment - current issues:

extensive deforestation (much of the remaining forested land is
being cleared for agriculture and used as fuel); soil erosion;
inadequate supplies of potable water

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine
Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Hazardous Wastes

Geography - note:

shares island of Hispaniola with Dominican Republic (western
one-third is Haiti, eastern two-thirds is the Dominican Republic)

People
Haiti

Population:

8,924,553
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the
effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower
life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower
population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of
population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 41.8% (male 1,881,509/female 1,851,591)
15-64 years: 54.7% (male 2,386,761/female 2,495,233)
65 years and over: 3.5% (male 135,695/female 173,764) (2008 est.)

Median age:

total: 18.5 years
male: 18.1 years
female: 19 years (2008 est.)

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