,797
(2002 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $723 million (FY00/01)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 10% (FY00/01)

Transnational Issues Qatar

Disputes - international: none

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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Reunion

Introduction

Reunion

Background: The Portuguese discovered the uninhabited island in
1513. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, French immigration supplemented
by influxes of Africans, Chinese, Malays, and Malabar Indians gave the
island its ethnic mix. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 cost the
island its importance as a stopover on the East Indies trade route.

Geography Reunion

Location: Southern Africa, island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar

Geographic coordinates: 21 06 S, 55 36 E

Map references: World

Area: total: 2,512 sq km water: 10 sq km land: 2,502 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Rhode Island

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 207 km

Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate: tropical, but temperature moderates with elevation; cool and
dry from May to November, hot and rainy from November to April

Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; fertile lowlands along coast

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point:
Piton des Neiges 3,069 m

Natural resources: fish, arable land, hydropower

Land use: arable land: 13% permanent crops: 2% other: 85% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 120 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: periodic, devastating cyclones (December to April);
Piton de la Fournaise on the southeastern coast is an active volcano

Environment - current issues: NA

Geography - note: this mountainous, volcanic island has an active
volcano, Piton de la Fournaise; there is a tropical cyclone center
at Saint-Denis, which is the monitoring station for the whole of the
Indian Ocean

People Reunion

Population: 743,981 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 31.7% (male 120,864; female 115,251) 15-64
years: 62.5% (male 228,864; female 235,991) 65 years and over: 5.8%
(male 17,459; female 25,552) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.52% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 20.7 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 5.51 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Se