f Mary Eugenia CHARLES, the
first female prime minister in the Caribbean, who remained in office
for 15 years. Some 3,000 Carib Indians still living on Dominica are
the only pre-Columbian population remaining in the eastern Caribbean.

Geography
Dominica

Location:

Caribbean, island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic
Ocean, about half way between Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago

Geographic coordinates:

15 25 N, 61 20 W

Map references:

Central America and the Caribbean

Area:

total: 754 sq km
land: 754 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly more than four times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

148 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:

tropical; moderated by northeast trade winds; heavy rainfall

Terrain:

rugged mountains of volcanic origin

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Morne Diablatins 1,447 m

Natural resources:

timber, hydropower, arable land

Land use:

arable land: 6.67%
permanent crops: 21.33%
other: 72% (2005)

Irrigated land:

NA

Total renewable water resources:

NA

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.02 cu km/yr
per capita: 213 cu m/yr (1996)

Natural hazards:

flash floods are a constant threat; destructive hurricanes can be
expected during the late summer months

Environment - current issues:

NA

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

known as "The Nature Island of the Caribbean" due to its
spectacular, lush, and varied flora and fauna, which are protected
by an extensive natural park system; the most mountainous of the
Lesser Antilles, its volcanic peaks are cones of lava craters and
include Boiling Lake, the second-largest, thermally active lake in
the world

People
Dominica

Population:

72,514 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 24.7% (male 9,175/female 8,762)
15-64 years: 65.1% (male 24,192/female 22,995)
65 years and over: 10.2% (male 3,178/female 4,212) (2008