La
Soufriere is an active volcano

_#_Note: located 500 km southeast of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea

_*_People
_#_Population: 344,897 (July 1991), growth rate 0.8% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 20 births/1,000 population (1991)

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

_#_Net migration rate: - 5 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 17 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 70 years male, 77 years female (1991)

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

_#_Nationality: noun--Guadeloupian(s); adjective--Guadeloupe

_#_Ethnic divisions: black or mulatto 90%; white 5%; East Indian,
Lebanese, Chinese less than 5%

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

_#_Language: French, creole patois

_#_Literacy: 90% (male 90%, female 91%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1982)

_#_Labor force: 120,000; 53.0% services, government, and commerce,
25.8% industry, 21.2% agriculture

_#_Organized labor: 11% of labor force

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

_#_Type: overseas department of France

_#_Capital: Basse-Terre

_#_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: Court of Appeal (Cour d'Appel) with jurisdiction
over Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Martinique

_#_Leaders:

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

Head of Government--Commissioner of the Republic Jean-Paul PROUST
(since November 1989)

_#_Political parties and leaders:
Rally for the Republic (RPR), Marlene CAPTANT;
Communist Party of Guadeloupe (PCG), Christian Medard CELESTE;
Socialist Party (PSG), Dominique LARIFLA;
Independent Republicans;
Union for French Democracy (UDF);
Union for a New Majority (UNM)

_#_Suffrage: universal at age 18

_#_Elections:

General Council --last held NA 1986 (next to be held by NA 1992);
results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(42 total) number of seats by party NA;

Regional Council--last held on 16 March 1986 (next