comparative:
slightly smaller than Colorado

Land boundaries:
total: 2,551 km
border countries: Cameroon 298 km, Republic of the Congo 1,903 km,
Equatorial Guinea 350 km

Coastline:
885 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical; always hot, humid

Terrain:
narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and south

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mont Iboundji 1,575 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, diamond, niobium, manganese, uranium, gold,
timber, iron ore, hydropower

Land use:
arable land: 1.21%
permanent crops: 0.64%
other: 98.15% (2005)

Irrigated land:
70 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
deforestation; poaching

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands,
Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
a small population and oil and mineral reserves have helped Gabon
become one of Africa's wealthier countries; in general, these
circumstances have allowed the country to maintain and conserve its
pristine rain forest and rich biodiversity

People Gabon

Population:
1,424,906
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the
effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower
life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of
population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2006 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 42.1% (male 300,914/female 299,141)
15-64 years: 53.9% (male 383,137/female 384,876)
65 years and over: 4% (male 23,576/female 33,262) (2006 est.)

Median age:
total: 18.6 years
male: 18.4 years
female: 18.8 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.13% (2006 est.)

Birth rate:
36.16 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate:
12.25 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate:
-2.65 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female