ds: 642 km 1.000-meter gauge; linked to Senegal's rail
system through Kayes

_#_Highways: about 15,700 km total; 1,670 km bituminous, 3,670 km
gravel and improved earth, 10,360 km unimproved earth

_#_Inland waterways: 1,815 km navigable

_#_Civil air: no major transport aircraft

_#_Airports: 37 total, 29 usable; 8 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 6 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 10 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m

_#_Telecommunications: domestic system poor but improving; provides
only minimal service with radio relay, wire, and radio communications
stations; expansion of radio relay in progress; 11,000 telephones;
stations--2 AM, 2 FM, 2 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean
INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Army, Air Force; paramilitary Gendarmerie,
Republican Guard, National Guard, National Police

_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 1,631,445; 940,954 fit for
military service; no conscription

_#_Defense expenditures: $45 million, 2.4% of GDP (1988)
_%_
_@_Malta
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 320 km2; land area: 320 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly less than twice the size of Washington,
DC

_#_Land boundaries: none

_#_Coastline: 140 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 24 nm;

Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation;

Exclusive fishing zone: 25 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Climate: Mediterranean with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry
summers

_#_Terrain: mostly low, rocky, flat to dissected plains; many coastal
cliffs

_#_Natural resources: limestone, salt

_#_Land use: arable land 38%; permanent crops 3%; meadows and pastures
0%; forest and woodland 0%; other 59%; includes irrigated 3%

_#_Environment: numerous bays provide good harbors; fresh water very
scarce--increasing reliance on desalination

_#_Note: strategic location in central Mediterranean, 93 km south
of Sicily, 290 km north of Libya

_*_People
_#_Population: 356,427 (July 1991), growth rate 0.8% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 15 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: 1 migrant/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 7 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 74 years male, 79 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 2.0 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: no