Coastline: 4,828 km

Maritime claims:

Exclusive fishing zone: 150 nm;

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: claims Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands,
Juan de Nova Island, and Tromelin Island (all administered by France)

Climate: tropical along coast, temperate inland, arid in south

Terrain: narrow coastal plain, high plateau and mountains in center

Natural resources: graphite, chromite, coal, bauxite, salt,
quartz, tar sands, semiprecious stones, mica, fish

Land use: 4% arable land; 1% permanent crops; 58% meadows and
pastures; 26% forest and woodland; 11% other; includes 2% irrigated

Environment: subject to periodic cyclones; deforestation; overgrazing;
soil erosion; desertification

Note: world's fourth-largest island; strategic location
along Mozambique Channel

- People
Population: 11,800,524 (July 1990), growth rate 3.2% (1990)

Birth rate: 47 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 15 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 97 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 50 years male, 54 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 6.9 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Malagasy (sing. and pl.); adjective--Malagasy

Ethnic divisions: basic split between highlanders of predominantly
Malayo-Indonesian origin (Merina 1,643,000 and related Betsileo 760,000) on the
one hand and coastal tribes, collectively termed the Cotiers, with mixed
African, Malayo-Indonesian, and Arab ancestry (Betsimisaraka 941,000, Tsimihety
442,000, Antaisaka 415,000, Sakalava 375,000), on the other; there are also
11,000 European French, 5,000 Indians of French nationality, and 5,000 Creoles

Religion: 52% indigenous beliefs; about 41% Christian, 7% Muslim

Language: French and Malagasy (official)

Literacy: 67.5%

Labor force: 4,900,000; 90% nonsalaried family workers engaged in
subsistence agriculture; 175,000 wage earners--26% agriculture, 17% domestic
service, 15% industry, 14% commerce, 11% construction, 9% services,
6% transportation, 2% other; 51% of population of working age (1985)

Organized labor: 4% of labor force

- Government
Long-form name: Democratic Republic of Madagascar

Type: republic

Capital: Antananarivo

Administrative divisions: 6 provinces (plural--NA, singular--faritanin);
Antananarivo, Antsiranana, Fianarantsoa, Mahajanga, Toamasi