y owned, narrow-gauge plantation lines
Highways: 1,940 km total; 1,600 km paved, 340 km gravel and earth
Ports: Pointe-a-Pitre, Basse-Terre
Civil air: 2 major transport aircraft
Airports: 9 total, 9 usable, 8 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 1 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: domestic facilities inadequate; 57,300 telephones;
interisland radio relay to Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Martinique;
stations--2 AM, 8 FM (30 private stations licensed to broadcast FM),
9 TV; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT ground station
- Defense Forces
Note: defense is responsibility of France
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Guam
(territory of the US)
- Geography
Total area: 541 km2; land area: 541 km2
Comparative area: slightly more than three times the size of
Washington, DC
Land boundaries: none
Coastline: 125.5 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 12 nm;
Continental shelf: 200 m;
Extended economic zone: 200 nm;
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical marine; generally warm and humid, moderated by
northeast trade winds; dry season from January to June, rainy season from
July to December; little seasonal temperature variation
Terrain: volcanic origin, surrounded by coral reefs; relatively flat
coraline limestone plateau (source of most fresh water) with steep coastal
cliffs and narrow coastal plains in north, low-rising hills in center,
mountains in south
Natural resources: fishing (largely undeveloped), tourism (especially
from Japan)
Land use: 11% arable land; 11% permanent crops; 15% meadows and pastures;
18% forest and woodland; 45% other
Environment: frequent squalls during rainy season; subject to relatively
rare, but potentially very destructive typhoons (especially in August)
Note: largest and southernmost island in the Mariana Islands archipelago;
strategic location in western North Pacific Ocean 5,955 km west-southwest of
Honolulu about three-quarters of the way between Hawaii and the Philippines
- People
Population: 141,039 (July 1990), growth rate 2.8% (1990)
Birth rate: 26 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 4 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 5 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 12 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 70 years male, 75 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 3.0 children bo
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