d nickel; potential for onshore and offshore oil

Land use:
arable land: 3.95%
permanent crops: 5.52%
other: 90.53% (2001)

Irrigated land:
400 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
periodic droughts; hurricanes

Environment - current issues:
erosion; occasional drought causing water shortages

Geography - note:
important location along the Mona Passage - a key shipping lane to
the Panama Canal; San Juan is one of the biggest and best natural
harbors in the Caribbean; many small rivers and high central
mountains ensure land is well watered; south coast relatively dry;
fertile coastal plain belt in north

People Puerto Rico

Population:
3,897,960 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 22.4% (male 446,474; female 426,585)
15-64 years: 65.4% (male 1,220,721; female 1,329,936)
65 years and over: 12.2% (male 205,933; female 268,311) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 33.8 years
male: 32.1 years
female: 35.4 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
0.49% (2004 est.)

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

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

Net migration rate:
-1.46 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 8.37 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 6.98 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 9.7 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.49 years
male: 73.49 years
female: 81.68 years (2004 est.)

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

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
7,397 (1997)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality:
noun: Puerto Rican(s) (US citizens)
adjective: Puerto Rican

Ethnic groups:
white (mostly Spanish origin) 80.5%, black 8%, Amerindian 0.4%,
Asian 0.2%, mixed and other 10.9%

Religions:
Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant and other 15%

Languages:
Spanish, English

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 94.1%
male: 93.7%
female: 94.4% (2002)

Government Puerto Rico

Country name:
conventional long form: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
conventional short form: Puerto Ri