nways 2,440-3,659 m; 17 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m

_#_Telecommunications: poor system of cable and open-wire lines, minor
radio relay links, and radio communications stations; 5,200 telephones;
stations--2 AM, no FM, 1 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean
INTELSAT and 2 ARABSAT, with a third planned

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, National Gendarmerie, National
Guard, National Police, Presidential Guard, Nomad Security Guard

_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 423,501; 206,733 fit for
military service; conscription law not implemented

_#_Defense expenditures: $37 million, 4.2% of GDP (1987)
_%_
_@_Mauritius
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 1,860 km2; land area: 1,850 km2; includes Agalega
Islands, Cargados Carajos Shoals (Saint Brandon), and Rodrigues

_#_Comparative area: slightly less than 10.5 times the size of
Washington, DC

_#_Land boundaries: none

_#_Coastline: 177 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm;

Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Disputes: claims Chagos Archipelago, which includes the island of
Diego Garcia in UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory; claims
French-administered Tromelin Island

_#_Climate: tropical modified by southeast trade winds; warm, dry
winter (May to November); hot, wet, humid summer (November to May)

_#_Terrain: small coastal plain rising to discontinuous mountains
encircling central plateau

_#_Natural resources: arable land, fish

_#_Land use: arable land 54%; permanent crops 4%; meadows and pastures
4%; forest and woodland 31%; other 7%; includes irrigated 9%

_#_Environment: subject to cyclones (November to April); almost
completely surrounded by reefs

_#_Note: located 900 km east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean

_*_People
_#_Population: 1,081,000 (July 1991), growth rate 0.8% (1991)

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

_#_Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: - 4 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 20 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 74 years female (1991)

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

_#_Nationality: noun--Mauritian(s); adjective--Mauritian

_#_Ethnic divisions: Indo-Mauritian 68%, Creole 27%, Sino-Mauritian
3%, Franco-Mauritian 2%

_#