flowers, vegetables, and sugarcane for rum; dependent on
imported food, particularly meat and vegetables

Aid: Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-87), $9.8 billion

Currency: French franc (plural--francs); 1 French franc (F) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: French francs (F) per US$1--5.7598 (January 1990),
6.3801 (1989), 5.9569 (1988), 6.0107 (1987), 6.9261 (1986), 8.9852 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

- Communications
Highways: 1,680 km total; 1,300 km paved, 380 km gravel and earth

Ports: Fort-de-France

Civil air: no major transport aircraft

Airports: 2 total; 2 usable; 1 with permanent-surface runways;
1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 1 with runways less than 2,439 m

Telecommunications: domestic facilities are adequate; 68,900 telephones;
interisland radio relay links to Guadeloupe, Dominica, and St. Lucia;
stations--1 AM, 6 FM, 10 TV; 2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth stations

- Defense Forces
Note: defense is the responsibility of France
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Mauritania
- Geography
Total area: 1,030,700 km2; land area: 1,030,400 km2

Comparative area: slightly larger than three times the size of New Mexico

Land boundaries: 5,074 km total; Algeria 463 km, Mali 2,237 km, Senegal
813 km, Western Sahara 1,561 km

Coastline: 754 km

Maritime claims:

Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm;

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: armed conflict in Western Sahara; boundary with Senegal

Climate: desert; constantly hot, dry, dusty

Terrain: mostly barren, flat plains of the Sahara; some central hills

Natural resources: iron ore, gypsum, fish, copper, phosphate

Land use: 1% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 38% meadows and
pastures; 5% forest and woodland; 56% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: hot, dry, dust/sand-laden sirocco wind blows primarily
in March and April; desertification; only perennial river is the Senegal

- People
Population: 1,934,549 (July 1990), growth rate 3.1% (1990)

Birth rate: 49 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 18 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

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

Infant mortality rate: 96 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 44 years male, 49 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 7.3 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Mauritanian(s);