semiarid; warm winters and hot summers

Terrain:

predominantly flat to gently rolling tableland; Kalahari Desert in
southwest

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: junction of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers 513 m
highest point: Tsodilo Hills 1,489 m

Natural resources:

diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal, iron ore,
silver

Land use:

arable land: 0.65%
permanent crops: 0.01%
other: 99.34% (2005)

Irrigated land:

10 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

14.7 cu km (2001)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.19 cu km/yr (41%/18%/41%)
per capita: 107 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards:

periodic droughts; seasonal August winds blow from the west,
carrying sand and dust across the country, which can obscure
visibility

Environment - current issues:

overgrazing; desertification; limited fresh water resources

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

landlocked; population concentrated in eastern part of the country

People
Botswana

Population:

1,842,323
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: 35.2% (male 329,418/female 318,160)
15-64 years: 60.9% (male 566,239/female 556,286)
65 years and over: 3.9% (male 29,165/female 43,055) (2008 est.)

Median age:

total: 21.2 years
male: 21 years
female: 21.4 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:

1.434% (2008 est.)

Birth rate:

22.96 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:

14.02 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate:

5.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: there is an increasing flow of Zimbabweans into South Africa
and Botswana in search of better economic opportunities (2008 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.