tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands
Terrain:
Andes mountains and Maracaibo lowlands in northwest; central plains
(llanos); Guyana highlands in southeast
Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower,
diamonds
Land use:
arable land:
3%
permanent crops:
1%
meadows and pastures:
20%
forest and woodland:
39%
other:
37%
Irrigated land:
2,640 km2 (1989 est.)
Environment:
subject to floods, rockslides, mudslides; periodic droughts; increasing
industrial pollution in Caracas and Maracaibo
Note:
on major sea and air routes linking North and South America

*Venezuela, People

Population:
20,117,687 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.22% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
26.37 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
4.69 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
0.48 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
28.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
72.69 years
male:
69.76 years female:
75.77 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
3.14 children born/woman (1993 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Venezuelan(s)
adjective:
Venezuelan
Ethnic divisions:
mestizo 67%, white 21%, black 10%, Indian 2%
Religions:
nominally Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2%
Languages:
Spanish (official), Indian dialects spoken by about 200,000 Amerindians in
the remote interior
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
total population:
88%
male:
87%
female:
90%
Labor force:
5.8 million
by occupation:
services 56%, industry 28%, agriculture 16% (1985)

*Venezuela, Government

Names:
conventional long form:
Republic of Venezuela
conventional short form:
Venezuela
local long form:
Republica de Venezuela
local short form:
Venezuela
Digraph:
VE
Type:
republic
Capital:
Caracas
Administrative divisions:
21 states (estados, singular - estado), 1 territory* ( territorio), 1, federal district**,
(distrito federal), and 1 federal dependence***, (dependencia federal); Amazonas*, Anzoategui,,
Apure, Aragua, Barinas,
Bolivar, Carabobo, Cojedes, Delta Amacuro, Dependencias Federales***,, Distrito Federal**,,
Falcon, Guarico, Lara, Merida, Miranda, Monagas, Nueva
Esparta, Portuguesa, Sucre, Tachira, Trujillo, Yaracuy, Zulia
note: the federal dependence