fense, National Gendarmerie

Military manpower--military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower--availability:
males age 15-49: 14,666,286 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 12,203,675 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--reaching military age annually:
males: 411,911 (1999 est.)

Military expenditures--dollar figure: $39.831 billion (1997)

Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 2.5% (1995)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: Madagascar claims Bassas da India, Europa
Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, and Tromelin Island;
Comoros claims Mayotte; Mauritius claims Tromelin Island;
territorial dispute between Suriname and French Guiana; territorial
claim in Antarctica (Adelie Land); Matthew and Hunter Islands east
of New Caledonia claimed by France and Vanuatu

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for and consumer of South
American cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin

======================================================================

@French Guiana
-------------

Geography

Location: Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic
Ocean, between Brazil and Suriname

Geographic coordinates: 4 00 N, 53 00 W

Map references: South America

Area:
total: 91,000 sq km
land: 89,150 sq km
water: 1,850 sq km

Area--comparative: slightly smaller than Indiana

Land boundaries:
total: 1,183 km
border countries: Brazil 673 km, Suriname 510 km

Coastline: 378 km

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

Climate: tropical; hot, humid; little seasonal temperature
variation

Terrain: low-lying coastal plains rising to hills and small
mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Bellevue de l'Inini 851 m

Natural resources: bauxite, timber, gold (widely scattered),
cinnabar, kaolin, fish

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 83%
other: 17% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 20 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: high frequency of heavy showers and severe
thunderstorms; flooding

Environment--current issues: NA

Environment--international agreements:
party to: NA
signed, but not ratified: NA

Geography--note: mostly an unsettled wilderness

People

Population: 167,982 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14