lican Guard, Police

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 1,307,210; males fit for
military service 679,640; males reach military age (20) annually
54,945 (1995 est.)

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $74 million, 11.1% of
GDP (1994)

________________________________________________________________________

CHILE

@Chile:Geography

Location: Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean
and South Pacific Ocean, between Argentina and Peru

Map references: South America

Area:
total area: 756,950 sq km
land area: 748,800 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than twice the size of Montana
note: includes Isla de Pascua (Easter Island) and Isla Sala y Gomez

Land boundaries: total 6,171 km, Argentina 5,150 km, Bolivia 861 km,
Peru 160 km

Coastline: 6,435 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: short section of the southern boundary with
Argentina is indefinite; Bolivia has wanted a sovereign corridor to
the South Pacific Ocean since the Atacama area was lost to Chile in
1884; dispute with Bolivia over Rio Lauca water rights; territorial
claim in Antarctica (Chilean Antarctic Territory) partially overlaps
Argentine and British claims

Climate: temperate; desert in north; cool and damp in south

Terrain: low coastal mountains; fertile central valley; rugged Andes
in east

Natural resources: copper, timber, iron ore, nitrates, precious
metals, molybdenum

Land use:
arable land: 7%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 16%
forest and woodland: 21%
other: 56%

Irrigated land: 12,650 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:
current issues: air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions;
water pollution from raw sewage; deforestation contributing to loss of
biodiversity; soil erosion; desertification
natural hazards: severe earthquakes; active volcanism; tsunamis
international agreements: party to - Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling;
signed, but not ratified - Law of the Sea

Note: strategic location relative to sea lanes between Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake