--------

Telephones: NA

Telephone system:
domestic: NA
international: NA

Radio broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA

Radios: NA

Television broadcast stations: NA

Televisions: NA

Defense
-------

Defense note: defense is the responsibility of France

======================================================================

@Gabon
-----

Map
---

Location: 1 00 S, 11 45 E -- Western Africa, bordering the
Atlantic Ocean at the Equator, between Congo and Equatorial Guinea

Flag
----

Description: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow,
and blue

Geography
---------

Location: Western Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean at the
Equator, between Congo and Equatorial Guinea

Geographic coordinates: 1 00 S, 11 45 E

Map references: Africa

Area:
total area: 267,670 sq km
land area: 257,670 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Colorado

Land boundaries:
total: 2,551 km
border countries: Cameroon 298 km, 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

International disputes: maritime boundary dispute with Equatorial
Guinea because of disputed sovereignty over islands in Corisco Bay

Climate: tropical; always hot, humid

Terrain: narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and
south
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%
meadows and pastures: 18%
forest and woodland: 78%
other: 2%

Irrigated land: NA sq km

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

People
------

Population: 1,172,798 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34% (male 197,188; female 196,562)
15-64 years: 61% (male 364,033; female 353,451)
65 years and over: 5% (male 30,270; female 31,294) (July 1996 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.47% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 28.22 births/1,000 population (1996 es