'ib Triangle," a barren area of 20,580 sq km

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SURINAME

@Suriname:Geography

Location: Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean,
between French Guiana and Guyana

Geographic coordinates: 4 00 N, 56 00 W

Map references: South America

Area:
total: 163,270 sq km
land: 161,470 sq km
water: 1,800 sq km

Area-comparative: slightly larger than Georgia

Land boundaries:
total: 1,707 km
border countries: Brazil 597 km, French Guiana 510 km, Guyana 600 km

Coastline: 386 km

Maritime claims:
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; moderated by trade winds

Terrain: mostly rolling hills; narrow coastal plain with swamps

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: unnamed location in the coastal plain -2 m
highest point: Wilhelmina Gebergte 1,286 m

Natural resources: timber, hydropower potential, fish, kaolin, shrimp,
bauxite, gold, and small amounts of nickel, copper, platinum, iron ore

Land use:
arable land: NA
permanent crops: NA
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 96%
other: 4% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 600 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment-current issues: deforestation as timber is cut for export;
pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea

Geography-note: mostly tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora
and fauna which for the most part is increasingly threatened by new
development; relatively small population most of which lives along the
coast

@Suriname:People

Population: 427,980 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 33% (male 72,945; female 69,468)
15-64 years: 62% (male 133,840; female 129,452)
65 years and over: 5% (male 10,309; female 11,966) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.77% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 22.48 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 5.79 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -8.99 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 27