le carrier,
1 livestock carrier, 118 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 5
chemical tanker, 3 combination ore/oil, 1 specialized tanker, 7 liquefied
gas, 75 bulk, 2 combination bulk; note--many Singapore flag ships are
foreign owned

_#_Civil air: 38 major transport aircraft (est.)

_#_Airports: 9 total, 9 usable; 9 with permanent-surface runways;
2 with runways over 3,659 m; 4 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 2 with runways
1,220-2,439 m

_#_Telecommunications: good domestic facilities; good international
service; good radio and television broadcast coverage; 1,110,000
telephones; stations--13 AM, 4 FM, 2 TV; submarine cables extend to
Malaysia (Sabah and peninsular Malaysia), Indonesia, and the Philippines;
satellite earth stations--1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Pacific Ocean
INTELSAT

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, People's Defense Force, Police
Force

_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 842,721; 625,546 fit for
military service

_#_Defense expenditures: $1.7 billion, 4% of GDP (1990 est.)
_%_
_@_Solomon Islands
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 28,450 km2; land area: 27,540 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly larger than Maryland

_#_Land boundaries: none

_#_Coastline: 5,313 km

_#_Maritime claims: (measured from claimed archipelagic baselines);

Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Climate: tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather

_#_Terrain: mostly rugged mountains with some low coral atolls

_#_Natural resources: fish, forests, gold, bauxite, phosphates

_#_Land use: arable land 1%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures
1%; forest and woodland 93%; other 4%

_#_Environment: subject to typhoons, which are rarely destructive;
geologically active region with frequent earth tremors

_#_Note: located just east of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific
Ocean

_*_People
_#_Population: 347,115 (July 1991), growth rate 3.5% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 40 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 39 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 67 years male, 72 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 6.2 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Solomon Islander(s); adjective--Solomon Islander

_#_Ethnic divisions: Melan