ferences: Southeast Asia

Area: total: 181,040 sq km land: 176,520 sq km water: 4,520 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Oklahoma

Land boundaries: total: 2,572 km border countries: Laos 541 km, Thailand
803 km, Vietnam 1,228 km

Coastline: 443 km

Maritime claims: contiguous zone: 24 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
continental shelf: 200 NM exclusive economic zone: 200 NM

Climate: tropical; rainy, monsoon season (May to November); dry season
(December to April); little seasonal temperature variation

Terrain: mostly low, flat plains; mountains in southwest and north

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Gulf of Thailand 0 m highest point:
Phnum Aoral 1,810 m

Natural resources: timber, gemstones, some iron ore, manganese,
phosphates, hydropower potential

Land use: arable land: 21% permanent crops: 1% other: 78% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 2,700 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: monsoonal rains (June to November); flooding;
occasional droughts

Environment - current issues: illegal logging activities throughout the
country and strip mining for gems in the western region along the border
with Thailand have resulted in habitat loss and declining biodiversity (in
particular, destruction of mangrove swamps threatens natural fisheries);
soil erosion; in rural areas, a majority of the population does not have
access to potable water; toxic waste delivery from Taiwan sparked unrest
in Kampong Saom (Sihanoukville) in December 1998

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life
Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping

Geography - note: a land of paddies and forests dominated by the Mekong
River and Tonle Sap

People Cambodia

Population: 12,775,324 note: estimates for this country explicitly take
into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result
in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population
by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 40.7% (male 2,646,883; female 2,550,015)
15-64 years: 55.8% (male 3,373,692; female 3,758,736) 65 years and over:
3.5% (male 182,149; female 263,849) (2002 est.)

Population growt