avanna

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Dangme Chu 97 m
highest point: Khula Kangri I 7,553 m

Natural resources: timber, hydropower, gypsum, calcium carbide

Land use:
arable land: 2%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 6%
forests and woodland: 66%
other: 26% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 340 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: violent storms coming down from the Himalayas are the
source of the country's name which translates as Land of the Thunder
Dragon; frequent landslides during the rainy season

Environment-current issues: soil erosion; limited access to potable
water

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Nuclear Test Ban
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea

Geography-note: landlocked; strategic location between China and
India; controls several key Himalayan mountain passes

@Bhutan:People

Population: 1,908,307 (July 1998 est.)
note: other estimates range as low as 600,000

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (male 396,839; female 368,391)
15-64 years: 56% (male 549,050; female 518,780)
65 years and over: 4% (male 38,235; female 37,012) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.27% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 37.33 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 14.6 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.08 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.03 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 111.66 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 52.31 years
male: 52.77 years
female: 51.83 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.22 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Bhutanese (singular and plural)
adjective: Bhutanese

Ethnic groups: Bhote 50%, ethnic Nepalese 35%, indigenous or migrant
tribes 15%

Religions: Lamaistic Buddhism 75%, Indian- and Nepalese-influenced
Hinduism 25%

Languages: Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects,
Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 42.2%
male: 56.2%
female: 28.1% (1995 est.)

People-note: refugee issue over the presence in Nepal of approximately
91,000 Bhutanese refugees, 90% of whom are in seven United Nations
Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) camps

@Bhutan:Go