)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: none

Illicit drugs: increasingly a transshipment point for Southeast
and Southwest Asian heroin and South American cocaine for the
European and US markets

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

@Libya
-----

Geography

Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea,
between Egypt and Tunisia

Geographic coordinates: 25 00 N, 17 00 E

Map references: Africa

Area:
total: 1,759,540 sq km
land: 1,759,540 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area--comparative: slightly larger than Alaska

Land boundaries:
total: 4,383 km
border countries: Algeria 982 km, Chad 1,055 km, Egypt 1,150 km,
Niger 354 km, Sudan 383 km, Tunisia 459 km

Coastline: 1,770 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
note: Gulf of Sidra closing line--32 degrees 30 minutes north

Climate: Mediterranean along coast; dry, extreme desert interior

Terrain: mostly barren, flat to undulating plains, plateaus,
depressions

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Sabkhat Ghuzayyil -47 m
highest point: Bikku Bitti 2,267 m

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, gypsum

Land use:
arable land: 1%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 8%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 91% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 4,700 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: hot, dry, dust-laden ghibli is a southern wind
lasting one to four days in spring and fall; dust storms, sandstorms

Environment--current issues: desertification; very limited natural
fresh water resources; the Great Manmade River Project, the largest
water development scheme in the world, is being built to bring water
from large aquifers under the Sahara to coastal cities

Environment--international agreements:
party to: Desertification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the
Sea

People

Population: 4,992,838 (July 1999 est.)
note: includes 161,251 non-nationals (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 36% (male 930,661; female 891,046)
15-64 years: 60% (male 1,545,958; female 1,437,120)
65 years and over: 4% (male 93,726; female 94,327) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.4% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 27.33 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 3.35 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net mi