km
border countries: Cameroon 298 km, Republic of the Congo 1,903 km,
Equatorial Guinea 350 km

Coastline: 885 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone : 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; always hot, humid

Terrain: narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and
south

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mont Iboundji 1,575 m

Natural resources: petroleum, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron
ore

Land use:
arable land: 1%
permanent crops : 1%
permanent pastures: 18%
forests and woodland: 77%
other: 3% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 40 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment - current issues: deforestation; poaching

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Desertification, Endangered Species, Marine Dumping, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea

@Gabon:People

Population: 1,190,159 (July 1997 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34% (male 199,730; female 199,369)
15-64 years: 61% (male 368,086; female 359,086)
65 years and over : 5% (male 31,475; female 32,413) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.47% (1997 est.)

Birth rate: 28.11 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 13.39 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years : 1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.97 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 87.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 56.05 years
male: 53.13 years
female : 50.06 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.85 children born/woman (1997 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Gabonese (singular and plural)
adjective: Gabonese

Ethnic groups: Bantu tribes including four major tribal groupings
(Fang, Eshira, Bapounou, Bateke), other Africans and Europeans
154,000, including 6,000 French and 11,000 persons of dual nationality

Religions: Christian 55%-75%, Muslim less than 1%, animist

Languages: French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira,
Bandjabi

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 63.2%
male: 73.7%
female : 53.3%