npower availability: males age 15-49 5,491,524; males fit for
military service 3,981,190; males reach military age (18) annually
227,292 (1995 est.)

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $1.95 billion, 4% of
GDP (1991)

________________________________________________________________________

VIETNAM

@Vietnam:Geography

Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of
Tonkin, and South China Sea, between China and Cambodia

Map references: Southeast Asia

Area:
total area: 329,560 sq km
land area: 325,360 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than New Mexico

Land boundaries: total 3,818 km, Cambodia 982 km, China 1,281 km, Laos
1,555 km

Coastline: 3,444 km (excludes islands)

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: 12 nm

International disputes: maritime boundary with Cambodia not defined;
involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China,
Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and possibly Brunei; unresolved
maritime boundary with Thailand; maritime boundary dispute with China
in the Gulf of Tonkin; Paracel Islands occupied by China but claimed
by Vietnam and Taiwan

Climate: tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season
(mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October to
mid-March)

Terrain: low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly,
mountainous in far north and northwest

Natural resources: phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate,
offshore oil deposits, forests

Land use:
arable land: 22%
permanent crops: 2%
meadows and pastures: 1%
forest and woodland: 40%
other: 35%

Irrigated land: 18,300 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:
current issues: logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices are
contributing to deforestation; soil degradation; water pollution and
overfishing threatening marine life populations; inadequate supplies
of potable water because of groundwater contamination
natural hazards: occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive
flooding
international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified -
Nuclear Test Ban

@Vietnam:People

Population: 74,393,324 (