by that of Mary Eugenia CHARLES, the
first female prime minister in the Caribbean, who remained in office
for 15 years. Some 3,000 Carib Indians still living on Dominica are
the only pre-Columbian population remaining in the eastern Caribbean.

Geography Dominica

Location:
Caribbean, island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic
Ocean, about one-half of the way from Puerto Rico to Trinidad and
Tobago

Geographic coordinates:
15 25 N, 61 20 W

Map references:
Central America and the Caribbean

Area:
total: 754 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 754 sq km

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

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
148 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm

Climate:
tropical; moderated by northeast trade winds; heavy rainfall

Terrain:
rugged mountains of volcanic origin

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Morne Diablatins 1,447 m

Natural resources:
timber, hydropower, arable land

Land use:
arable land: 6.67%
permanent crops: 20%
other: 73.33% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
flash floods are a constant threat; destructive hurricanes can be
expected during the late summer months

Environment - current issues:
NA

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

Geography - note:
known as "The Nature Island of the Caribbean" due to its
spectacular, lush, and varied flora and fauna, which are protected
by an extensive natural park system; the most mountainous of the
Lesser Antilles, its volcanic peaks are cones of lava craters and
include Boiling Lake, the second-largest, thermally active lake in
the world

People Dominica

Population:
69,278 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 27.3% (male 9,563; female 9,349)
15-64 years: 64.8% (male 23,097; female 21,804)
65 years and over: 7.9% (male 2,209; female 3,256) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 29 years
male: 28.7 years
female: 29.4 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
-0.45% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
16.25 bir