obligation:
17 years of age with consent for voluntary military service (2001)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 17-49: 13,676,509 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 17-49: 11,262,661 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 389,204 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$45,238.1 million (2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.6% (2003)

Transnational Issues France

Disputes - international:
Madagascar claims Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands,
and Juan de Nova Island; Comoros claims Mayotte; Mauritius claims
Tromelin Island; territorial dispute between Suriname and the French
overseas department of French Guiana; France asserts a territorial
claim in Antarctica (Adelie Land); France and Vanuatu claim Matthew
and Hunter Islands, east of New Caledonia

Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for and consumer of South American cocaine,
Southwest Asian heroin, and European synthetics

This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005

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@French Guiana

Introduction French Guiana

Background:
First settled by the French in 1604, French Guiana was the site of
notorious penal settlements until 1951. The European Space Agency
launches its communication satellites from Kourou.

Geography French Guiana

Location:
Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between
Brazil and Suriname

Geographic coordinates:
4 00 N, 53 00 W

Map references:
South America

Area:
total: 91,000 sq km
land: 89,150 sq km
water: 1,850 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Indiana

Land boundaries:
total: 1,183 km
border countries: Brazil 673 km, Suriname 510 km

Coastline:
378 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical; hot, humid; little seasonal temperature variation

Terrain:
low-lying coastal plains rising to hills and small mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Bellevue de l'Inini 851 m

Natural resources:
bauxite, timber, gold (widely scattered), petroleum, kaolin, fish,
niobium, tantalum, clay

Land use:
arable land: 0.14%
permanent crops: 0.05%
other: 99.81% (90% forest, 10% other) (2001)

Irrigated land