es age 16-49: 14,058,779 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 531,315
female: 511,288 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

1.8% of GDP (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues
Thailand

Disputes - international:

separatist violence in Thailand's predominantly Muslim southern
provinces prompt border closures and controls with Malaysia to stem
terrorist activities; Southeast Asian states have enhanced border
surveillance to check the spread of avian flu; talks continue on
completion of demarcation with Laos but disputes remain over several
islands in the Mekong River; despite continuing border committee
talks, Thailand must deal with Karen and other ethnic rebels,
refugees, and illegal cross-border activities, and as of 2006, over
116,000 Karen, Hmong, and other refugees and asylum seekers from
Burma; Cambodia and Thailand dispute sections of historic boundary
with missing boundary markers; Cambodia claims Thai encroachments
into Cambodian territory and obstructing access to Preah Vihear
temple ruins awarded to Cambodia by ICJ decision in 1962; Thailand
is studying the feasibility of jointly constructing the Hatgyi Dam
on the Salween river near the border with Burma; in 2004,
international environmentalist pressure prompted China to halt
construction of 13 dams on the Salween River that flows through
China, Burma, and Thailand

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 132,241 (Burma) (2007)

Illicit drugs:

a minor producer of opium, heroin, and marijuana; transit point for
illicit heroin en route to the international drug market from Burma
and Laos; eradication efforts have reduced the area of cannabis
cultivation and shifted some production to neighboring countries;
opium poppy cultivation has been reduced by eradication efforts;
also a drug money-laundering center; minor role in methamphetamine
production for regional consumption; major consumer of
methamphetamine since the 1990s despite a series of government
crackdowns

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Timor-Leste

Introduction
Timor-Leste

Background:

The Portuguese began to trade with the island of Timor in the early
16th century and colonized it in mid-century. Skirmishing with the
Dutch in the region eventually resulted in an 1859 treaty in which
P