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: 28.3%
permanent crops: 11.61%
other: 60.09% (2001)

Irrigated land:
750 sq km (1998 est.)

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, 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:
8,121,622
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 and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of
population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 42.6% (male 1,741,622/female 1,721,436)
15-64 years: 53.9% (male 2,137,225/female 2,242,639)
65 years and over: 3.4% (male 124,383/female 154,317) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 18.03 years
male: 17.63 years
female: 18.44 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.26% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
36.59 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
12.34 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
-1.68 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 73.45 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 79.92 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 66.79 deaths/1,000 live bi