expenditures: 1.3% of GDP, or $42 million (1989 est.)
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Paracel Islands
- Geography
Total area: undetermined

Comparative area: undetermined

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 518 km

Maritime claims: undetermined

Disputes: occupied by China, but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam

Climate: tropical

Terrain: undetermined

Natural resources: none

Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures;
0% forest and woodland; 100% other

Environment: subject to typhoons

Note: located 400 km east of Vietnam in the South China Sea
about one-third of the way between Vietnam and the Philippines

- People
Population: no permanent inhabitants

- Government
Long-form name: none

- Economy
Overview: no economic activity

- Communications
Ports: none; offshore anchorage only

- Defense Forces
Note: occupied by China
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Paraguay
- Geography
Total area: 406,750 km2; land area: 397,300 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than California

Land boundaries: 3,920 km total; Argentina 1,880 km, Bolivia 750 km,
Brazil 1,290 km

Coastline: none--landlocked

Maritime claims: none--landlocked

Disputes: short section of the boundary with Brazil (just west of
Guaira Falls on the Rio Parana) is in dispute

Climate: varies from temperate in east to semiarid in far west

Terrain: grassy plains and wooded hills east of Rio Paraguay;
Gran Chaco region west of Rio Paraguay mostly low, marshy plain near the
river, and dry forest and thorny scrub elsewhere

Natural resources: iron ore, manganese, limestone, hydropower, timber

Land use: 20% arable land; 1% permanent crops; 39% meadows and
pastures; 35% forest and woodland; 5% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: local flooding in southeast (early September to June);
poorly drained plains may become boggy (early October to June)

Note: landlocked; buffer between Argentina and Brazil

- People
Population: 4,660,270 (July 1990), growth rate 3.0% (1990)

Birth rate: 36 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

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

Infant mortality rate: 48 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 67 years male, 72 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 4.8 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Paraguay