lowest point: Gulf of Guinea 0 m
highest point: Mont Nimba 1,752 m

Natural resources: petroleum, diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt,
bauxite, copper

Land use:
arable land: 8%
permanent crops: 4%
permanent pastures: 41%
forests and woodland: 22%
other: 25% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 680 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: coast has heavy surf and no natural harbors; during
the rainy season torrential flooding is possible

Environment-current issues: deforestation (most of the country's
forests-once the largest in West Africa-have been cleared by the
timber industry); water pollution from sewage and industrial and
agricultural effluents

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

@Cote d'Ivoire:People

Population: 15,446,231 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 47% (male 3,629,286; female 3,590,782)
15-64 years: 51% (male 4,049,355; female 3,842,508)
65 years and over: 2% (male 170,120; female 164,180) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.41% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 42.15 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 16.12 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.96 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)
note: of the more than 350,000 refugees that fled to Cote d'Ivoire
since 1989 to escape the civil war in Liberia, only about 210,000
remained in Cote d'Ivoire according to a 1997 census

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.03 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 95.95 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 46.24 years
male: 44.73 years
female: 47.8 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.97 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Ivorian(s)
adjective: Ivorian

Ethnic groups: Baoule 23%, Bete 18%, Senoufou 15%, Malinke 11%, Agni,
foreign Africans (mostly Burkinabe and Malians, about 3 million),
non-Africans 130,000 to 330,000 (French 30,000 and Lebanese 100,000 to
300,000)

Religions: Muslim 60%, Christian 12%, indigenous 25% (some of these
are also numbered among the Christians and Muslims)