orts: $16.3 million (c.i.f., FY85); commodities--NA;
partners--Australia, Pacific Islands, NZ, Asia, Europe

External debt: NA

Industrial production: growth rate NA%

Electricity: 7,000 kW capacity; 8 million kWh produced,
3,210 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: tourism

Agriculture: Norfolk Island pine seed, Kentia palm seed, cereals,
vegetables, fruit, cattle, poultry

Aid: none

Currency: Australian dollar (plural--dollars);
1 Australian dollar ($A) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Australian dollars ($A) per US$1--1.2784 (January 1990),
1.2618 (1989), 1.2752 (1988), 1.4267 (1987), 1.4905 (1986), 1.4269 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June

- Communications
Highways: 80 km of roads, including 53 km of sealed roads; remainder are
earth formed or coral surfaced

Ports: none; loading jetties at Kingston and Cascade

Airports: 1 with permanent-surface runways 1,220-2,439 m
(Australian owned)

Telecommunications: 1,500 radio receivers (1982); radio link service
with Sydney; 987 telephones (1983); stations--1 AM, no FM, no TV

- Defense Forces
Note: defense is the responsibility of Australia
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Northern Mariana Islands
(commonwealth associated with the US)
- Geography
Total area: 477 km2; land area: 477 km2; includes Saipan, Rota, and Tinian

Comparative area: slightly more than 2.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 1,482 km

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 12 nm;

Continental shelf: 200 m;

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 3 nm

Climate: tropical marine; moderated by northeast trade winds, little
seasonal temperature variation; dry season December to July, rainy season
July to October

Terrain: southern islands are limestone with level terraces and fringing
coral reefs; northern islands are volcanic; highest elevation is 471 meters
(Mt. Tagpochu on Saipan)

Natural resources: arable land, fish

Land use: 1% arable land; NA% permanent crops; 19% meadows and
pastures; NA% forest and woodland; NA% other

Environment: Mt. Pagan is an active volcano (last erupted in October
1988); subject to typhoons during the rainy season

Note: strategic location 5,635 km west-southwest of Honolulu in the
North Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way between Hawaii and
the Philippines

- People
Population: 22,719 (July 1990), growth rate 3.4% (1990)

Birth rate: 43 births/1,000