(1987),
346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

- Communications
Highways: 22,000 km total; 458 km bituminous, 10,542 km improved earth,
11,000 unimproved earth

Inland waterways: 800 km; traditional trade carried on by means of
shallow-draft dugouts; Oubangui is the most important river

Civil air: 2 major transport aircraft

Airports: 66 total, 49 usable; 4 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 22 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: fair system; network relies primarily on radio
relay links, with low-capacity, low-powered radiocommunication also used;
6,000 telephones; stations--1 AM, 1 FM, 1 TV; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT
earth station

- Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Air Force

Military manpower: males 15-49, 642,207; 335,863 fit for military service

Defense expenditures: 1.8% of GDP, or $23 million (1989 est.)
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Chad
- Geography
Total area: 1,284,000 km2; land area: 1,259,200 km2

Comparative area: slightly more than three times the size of California

Land boundaries: 5,968 km total; Cameroon 1,094 km, Central African
Republic 1,197 km, Libya 1,055 km, Niger 1,175 km, Nigeria 87 km, Sudan 1,360 km

Coastline: none--landlocked

Maritime claims: none--landlocked

Disputes: Libya claims and occupies a small portion of the Aozou Strip in
far north; exact locations of the Chad-Niger-Nigeria and Cameroon-Chad-Nigeria
tripoints in Lake Chad have not been determined--since the boundary has
not been demarcated, border incidents have resulted

Climate: tropical in south, desert in north

Terrain: broad, arid plains in center, desert in north, mountains in
northwest, lowlands in south

Natural resources: small quantities of crude oil (unexploited but
exploration beginning), uranium, natron, kaolin, fish (Lake Chad)

Land use: 2% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 36% meadows and
pastures; 11% forest and woodland; 51% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: hot, dry, dusty harmattan winds occur in north; drought and
desertification adversely affecting south; subject to plagues of locusts

Note: landlocked; Lake Chad is the most significant water body
in the Sahel

- People
Population: 5,017,431 (July 1990), growth rate 2.1% (1990)

Birth rate: 42 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 22 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration