at result in an average of one major natural disaster every
five years

_#_Note: located 625 km southeast of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea

_*_People
_#_Population: 345,180 (July 1991), growth rate 0.9% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 19 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: - 3 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 10 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 73 years male, 80 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 2.1 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Martiniquais (sing. and pl.);
adjective--Martiniquais

_#_Ethnic divisions: African and African-Caucasian-Indian mixture
90%, Caucasian 5%, East Indian, Lebanese, Chinese less than 5%

_#_Religion: Roman Catholic 95%, Hindu and pagan African
5%

_#_Language: French, Creole patois

_#_Literacy: 93% (male 92%, female 93%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1982)

_#_Labor force: 100,000; service industry 31.7%, construction and
public works 29.4%, agriculture 13.1%, industry 7.3%, fisheries 2.2%,
other 16.3%

_#_Organized labor: 11% of labor force

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Department of Martinique

_#_Type: overseas department of France

_#_Capital: Fort-de-France

_#_Administrative divisions: none (overseas department of France)

_#_Independence: none (overseas department of France)

_#_Constitution: 28 September 1958 (French Constitution)

_#_Legal system: French legal system

_#_National holiday: Taking of the Bastille, 14 July (1789)

_#_Executive branch: government commissioner

_#_Legislative branch: unicameral General Council and unicameral
Regional Council

_#_Judicial branch: Supreme Court

_#_Leaders:

Chief of State--President Francois MITTERRAND (since
21 May 1981);

Head of Government--Government Commissioner Jean Claude ROURE
(since 5 May 1989); President of the General Council Emile MAURICE
(since NA 1988)

_#_Political parties:
Rally for the Republic (RPR), Stephen BAGO;
Union of the Left composed of the Progressive Party of Martinique (PPM),
Aime CESAIRE;
Socialist Federation of Martinique, Michael YOYO;
and
the Communist Party of Martinique (PCM), Armand NICOLAS;
Union for French Democracy (UDF), Jean MARAN

_#_Suffrage: universal at age 18

_#_Elections:

General Council--last held on NA October 1988
(next to be he