npower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,513,312
females age 16-49: 1,507,999 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,235,400
females age 16-49: 1,302,318 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 72,689
female: 70,452 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

0.6% of GDP (2006)

Transnational Issues
Nicaragua

Disputes - international:

memorials and countermemorials were filed by the parties in
Nicaragua's 1999 and 2001 proceedings against Honduras and Colombia
at the ICJ over the maritime boundary and territorial claims in the
western Caribbean Sea, final public hearings are scheduled for 2007;
the 1992 ICJ ruling for El Salvador and Honduras advised a
tripartite resolution to establish a maritime boundary in the Gulf
of Fonseca, which considers Honduran access to the Pacific; legal
dispute over navigational rights of San Juan River on border with
Costa Rica

Illicit drugs:

transshipment point for cocaine destined for the US and
transshipment point for arms-for-drugs dealing

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Niger

Introduction
Niger

Background:

Niger became independent from France in 1960 and experienced
single-party and military rule until 1991, when Gen. Ali SAIBOU was
forced by public pressure to allow multiparty elections, which
resulted in a democratic government in 1993. Political infighting
brought the government to a standstill and in 1996 led to a coup by
Col. Ibrahim BARE. In 1999 BARE was killed in a coup by military
officers who promptly restored democratic rule and held elections
that brought Mamadou TANDJA to power in December of that year.
TANDJA was reelected in 2004. Niger is one of the poorest countries
in the world with minimal government services and insufficient funds
to develop its resource base. The largely agrarian and
subsistence-based economy is frequently disrupted by extended
droughts common to the Sahel region of Africa. A predominately
Tuareg ethnic group emerged in February 2007, the Nigerien Movement
for Justice (MNJ), and attacked several military targets in Niger's
northern region throughout 2007. Events have since evolved into a
budding insurrection.

Geography
Niger

Location:

Western Africa, southeast of Algeria

Geographic coordinates