me independent. It subsequently became one of the
world's most prosperous countries with strong international trading
links (its port is one of the world's busiest in terms of tonnage
handled) and with per capita GDP equal to that of the leading
nations of Western Europe.

Geography Singapore

Location:
Southeastern Asia, islands between Malaysia and Indonesia

Geographic coordinates:
1 22 N, 103 48 E

Map references:
Southeast Asia

Area:
total: 692.7 sq km
land: 682.7 sq km
water: 10 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly more than 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
193 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 3 nm
exclusive fishing zone: within and beyond territorial sea, as
defined in treaties and practice

Climate:
tropical; hot, humid, rainy; two distinct monsoon seasons -
Northeastern monsoon from December to March and Southwestern monsoon
from June to September; inter-monsoon - frequent afternoon and early
evening thunderstorms

Terrain:
lowland; gently undulating central plateau contains water catchment
area and nature preserve

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Singapore Strait 0 m
highest point: Bukit Timah 166 m

Natural resources:
fish, deepwater ports

Land use:
arable land: 1.64%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 98.36% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
industrial pollution; limited natural fresh water resources;
limited land availability presents waste disposal problems; seasonal
smoke/haze resulting from forest fires in Indonesia

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
focal point for Southeast Asian sea routes

People Singapore

Population:
4,425,720 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 16% (male 366,971/female 342,295)
15-64 years: 75.9% (male 1,639,842/female 1,719,829)
65 years and over: 8.1% (male 157,636/female 199,147) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 36.76 years
male: 36.4 years
female: 37.07 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.56% (2005 est.)

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

Death rate:
4.16 deaths/1