Natural resources:
petroleum, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore, hydropower

Land use:
arable land: 1.26%
permanent crops: 0.66%
other: 98.08% (2001)

Irrigated land:
150 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
deforestation; poaching

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
a small population and oil and mineral reserves have helped Gabon
become one of Africa's wealthier countries; in general, these
circumstances have allowed the country to maintain and conserve its
pristine rain forest and rich biodiversity

People Gabon

Population:
1,355,246
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
2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 42.2% (male 286,819; female 285,184)
15-64 years: 53.7% (male 362,311; female 365,132)
65 years and over: 4.1% (male 23,157; female 32,643) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 18.5 years
male: 18.3 years
female: 18.8 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.5% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
36.4 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
11.43 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 54.34 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 44.23 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 64.15 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 56.46 years
male: 54.85 years
female: 58.12 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
4.8 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
8.1% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
48,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - dea