nd
Forces, Navy, and Air Force), Coast Guard

Military manpower-military age: 17 years of age

Military manpower-availability:
males age 15-49: 19,818,187 (1998 est.)

Military manpower-fit for military service:
males: 12,519,072 (1998 est.)

Military manpower-reaching military age annually:
males: 811,382 (1998 est.)

Military expenditures-dollar figure: $544 million (1995)

Military expenditures-percent of GDP: 2.7% (1995)

@Vietnam:Transnational Issues

Disputes-international: maritime boundary with Cambodia not defined;
involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China,
Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and possibly Brunei; maritime boundary
with Thailand resolved, August 1997; maritime boundary dispute with
China in the Gulf of Tonkin; Paracel Islands occupied by China but
claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; offshore islands and sections of
boundary with Cambodia are in dispute; sections of land border with
China are indefinite

Illicit drugs: key growing areas in Vietnam cultivated 6,150 hectares
of poppy in 1997 (an increase of 95% over 1996), with a potential
production of 45 metric tons (an increase of 80% over 1996) of opium;
opium producer and probably minor transit point for Southeast Asian
heroin destined for the US and Europe; growing opium addiction;
possible small-scale heroin production

______________________________________________________________________

VIRGIN ISLANDS

(territory of the US)

@Virgin Islands:Geography

Location: Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and the North
Atlantic Ocean, east of Puerto Rico

Geographic coordinates: 18 20 N, 64 50 W

Map references: Central America and the Caribbean

Area:
total: 352 sq km
land: 349 sq km
water: 3 sq km

Area-comparative: twice the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 188 km

Maritime claims:
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: subtropical, tempered by easterly trade winds, relatively low
humidity, little seasonal temperature variation; rainy season May to
November

Terrain: mostly hilly to rugged and mountainous with little level land

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Crown Mountain 474 m

Natural resources: sun, sand, sea, surf

Land use:
arable land: 15%
permanent crops: 6%
permanent pastures: 26%
forests and woodland: 6%
other: 47% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Natural hazards: sever