branches: Royal Omani Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force),
Royal Omani Police

Military manpower - military age: 14 years of age (2002 est.)

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 780,292 (2002 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 434,026
(2002 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 26,470
(2002 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $2,424,400,000 (FY01)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 12.2% (FY01)

Transnational Issues Oman

Disputes - international: Oman signed a boundary treaty with the UAE in
1999, but the completed boundary is not expected until the end of 2002;
undefined segments of the Oman-UAE boundary remain with Ra's al-Khaymah
and Ash Shariqah (Sharjah) emirates, including the Musandam Peninsula,
where an administrative boundary substitutes for an international boundary

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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Maldives

Introduction

Maldives

Background: The Maldives were long a sultanate, first under Dutch and
then under British protection. They became a republic in 1968, three
years after independence. Tourism and fishing are being developed on
the archipelago.

Geography Maldives

Location: Southern Asia, group of atolls in the Indian Ocean,
south-southwest of India

Geographic coordinates: 3 15 N, 73 00 E

Map references: Asia

Area: total: 300 sq km water: 0 sq km land: 300 sq km

Area - comparative: about 1.7 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 644 km

Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic baselines territorial
sea: 12 NM exclusive economic zone: 200 NM contiguous zone: 24 NM

Climate: tropical; hot, humid; dry, northeast monsoon (November to
March); rainy, southwest monsoon (June to August)

Terrain: flat, with white sandy beaches

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point:
unnamed location on Wilingili island in the Addu Atoll 2.4 m

Natural resources: fish

Land use: arable land: 3% permanent crops: 7% other: 90% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Natural hazards: low level of islands makes them very sensitive to sea
level rise

Environment - current issues: depletion of freshwater aquifers threatens
water supplies; global warming and sea level rise; coral reef bleaching

Environment - i