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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

@Dominican Republic:Geography

Location: Caribbean, eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola,
between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Haiti

Geographic coordinates: 19 00 N, 70 40 W

Map references: Central America and the Caribbean

Area:
total: 48,730 sq km
land: 48,380 sq km
water: 350 sq km

Area-comparative: slightly more than twice the size of New Hampshire

Land boundaries:
total: 275 km
border countries: Haiti 275 km

Coastline: 1,288 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 6 nm

Climate: tropical maritime; little seasonal temperature variation;
seasonal variation in rainfall

Terrain: rugged highlands and mountains with fertile valleys
interspersed

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Lago Enriquillo -46 m
highest point: Pico Duarte 3,175 m

Natural resources: nickel, bauxite, gold, silver

Land use:
arable land: 21%
permanent crops: 9%
permanent pastures: 43%
forests and woodland: 12%
other: 15% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 2,300 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: occasional hurricanes (July to October)

Environment-current issues: water shortages; soil eroding into the sea
damages coral reefs; deforestation

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Desertification, Endangered Species, Marine
Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change, Law of the Sea

Geography-note: shares island of Hispaniola with Haiti (eastern
two-thirds is the Dominican Republic, western one-third is Haiti)

@Dominican Republic:People

Population: 7,998,766 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 35% (male 1,435,698; female 1,382,377)
15-64 years: 60% (male 2,452,310; female 2,379,991)
65 years and over: 5% (male 165,602; female 182,788) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.63% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 26.42 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 5.73 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -4.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 44.26 dea