ed Sea, between Egypt and Eritrea

Geographic coordinates:
15 00 N, 30 00 E

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 2,505,810 sq km
water: 129,810 sq km
land: 2.376 million sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly more than one-quarter the size of the US

Land boundaries:
total: 7,687 km
border countries: Central African Republic 1,165 km, Chad 1,360 km,
Democratic Republic of the Congo 628 km, Egypt 1,273 km, Eritrea 605
km, Ethiopia 1,606 km, Kenya 232 km, Libya 383 km, Uganda 435 km

Coastline:
853 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 18 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate:
tropical in south; arid desert in north; rainy season varies by
region (April to November)

Terrain:
generally flat, featureless plain; mountains in far south,
northeast and west; desert dominates the north

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Red Sea 0 m
highest point: Kinyeti 3,187 m

Natural resources:
petroleum; small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc,
tungsten, mica, silver, gold, hydropower

Land use:
arable land: 6.83%
permanent crops: 0.18%
other: 92.99% (2001)

Irrigated land:
19,500 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
dust storms and periodic persistent droughts

Environment - current issues:
inadequate supplies of potable water; wildlife populations
threatened by excessive hunting; soil erosion; desertification;
periodic drought

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

Geography - note:
largest country in Africa; dominated by the Nile and its tributaries

People Sudan

Population:
39,148,162 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 43.7% (male 8,730,609; female 8,358,569)
15-64 years: 54.1% (male 10,588,634; female 10,571,199)
65 years and over: 2.3% (male 490,869; female 408,282) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 17.9 years
male: 17.7 years
female: 18.1 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.64% (2004 est.)

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

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

Net migration rate:
-0.02 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 yea