al : 620 sq km
land: 620 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative: 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 161 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: extending to boundaries to be determined
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: arid; mild, pleasant winters; very hot, humid summers

Terrain: mostly low desert plain rising gently to low central
escarpment

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
highest point: Jabal ad Dukhan 122 m

Natural resources: oil, associated and nonassociated natural gas, fish

Land use:
arable land: 1%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 6%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 92% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 10 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: periodic droughts; dust storms

Environment - current issues: desertification resulting from the
degradation of limited arable land, periods of drought, and dust
storms; coastal degradation (damage to coastlines, coral reefs, and
sea vegetation) resulting from oil spills and other discharges from
large tankers, oil refineries, and distribution stations; no natural
fresh water resources so that groundwater and sea water are the only
sources for all water needs

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the
Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified : none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: close to primary Middle Eastern petroleum sources;
strategic location in Persian Gulf which much of Western world's
petroleum must transit to reach open ocean

@Bahrain:People

Population: 603,318 (July 1997 est.)
note: includes 221,182 non-nationals (July 1997 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 31% (male 94,330; female 91,532)
15-64 years: 66% (male 240,496; female 160,662)
65 years and over : 3% (male 8,375; female 7,923) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.18% (1997 est.)

Birth rate: 23.01 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 3.27 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: 2.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years : 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.5 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.06 male(s)/female
total population: 1.32 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 16.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.63 years
male: 72.