rock)

Irrigated land: 0 sq km

Environment:
current issues: NA
natural hazards: maritime hazard since it is usually under water
during high tide and surrounded by reefs; subject to periodic cyclones

international agreements: NA

@Bassas Da India:People

Population: uninhabited

@Bassas Da India:Government

Names:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Bassas da India

Digraph: BS

Type: French possession administered by a Commissioner of the
Republic, resident in Reunion

Capital: none; administered by France from Reunion

Independence: none (possession of France)

@Bassas Da India:Economy

Overview: no economic activity

@Bassas Da India:Transportation

Ports: none; offshore anchorage only

@Bassas Da India:Defense Forces

Note: defense is the responsibility of France

________________________________________________________________________

BELARUS

@Belarus:Geography

Location: Eastern Europe, east of Poland

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States - European States

Area:
total area: 207,600 sq km
land area: 207,600 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Kansas

Land boundaries: total 3,098 km, Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km,
Poland 605 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none; landlocked

International disputes: none

Climate: cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between
continental and maritime

Terrain: generally flat and contains much marshland

Natural resources: forest land, peat deposits, small quantities of oil
and natural gas

Land use:
arable land: 29%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 15%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 55%

Irrigated land: 1,490 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of
the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor
accident at Chornobyl'
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Biodiversity,
Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Climate Change, Law of
the Sea

Note: landlocked

@Belarus:People

Population: 10,437,418 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 22% (female 1,126,062; male 1,166,439)
15-64 years: 65% (female 3,494,891;