600 km

Coastline:
386 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 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: Juliana Top 1,230 m

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

Land use:
arable land: 0.36%
permanent crops: 0.06%
other: 99.58% (2005)

Irrigated land:
510 sq km (2003)

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, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
smallest independent country on South American continent; mostly
tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora and fauna that, for
the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development;
relatively small population, mostly along the coast

People Suriname

Population:
439,117 (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 29% (male 65,412/female 62,069)
15-64 years: 64.7% (male 145,913/female 138,076)
65 years and over: 6.3% (male 12,223/female 15,424) (2006 est.)

Median age:
total: 26.5 years
male: 26 years
female: 26.9 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate:
0.2% (2006 est.)

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

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

Net migration rate:
-8.76 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 23.02 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 26.89 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 18.95 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.01 years
male: 66.66 years
female: 71.47 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.32 children born/woman (2006 es