49: 6,137,622 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 4,907,947
females age 18-49: 5,151,843 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 252,396
females age 18-49: 237,300 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$1.61 billion (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.2% (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues Venezuela

Disputes - international:
claims all of the area west of the Essequibo River in Guyana,
preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has
expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that
Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into
their waters; dispute with Colombia over maritime boundary and
Venezuelan-administered Los Monjes islands near the Gulf of
Venezuela; Colombian-organized illegal narcotics and paramilitary
activities penetrate Venezuela's shared border region; in 2006, an
estimated 139,000 Colombians seek protection in 150 communities
along the border in Venezuela; US, France, and the Netherlands
recognize Venezuela's granting full effect to Aves Island, thereby
claiming a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending over a large
portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest
Venezuela's full effect claim

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination
country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual
exploitation and forced labor; women and children from Colombia,
China, Peru, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic are trafficked to
and through Venezuela and subjected to commercial sexual
exploitation or forced labor; Venezuelans are trafficked internally
and to Western Europe, particularly Spain and the Netherlands, and
to countries in the Caribbean region for commercial sexual
exploitation; Venezuela is a transit country for illegal migrants
from other countries in the region and for Asian nationals, some are
believed to be trafficking victims
tier rating: Tier 3 - Venezuela does not fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not
making significant efforts to do so

Illicit drugs:
small-scale illicit producer of opium and coca for