ontiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: none

Climate: desert; torrid, dry

Terrain: coastal plain and plateau separated by central mountains

Natural resources: geothermal areas

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 9%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 91%

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Environment:
current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; desertification
natural hazards: earthquakes; droughts; occasional cyclonic
disturbances from the Indian Ocean bring heavy rains and flash floods
international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Endangered Species,
Law of the Sea, Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified - Climate
Change, Desertification

Note: strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes and close
to Arabian oilfields; terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia; a vast
wasteland

@Djibouti:People

Population: 421,320 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 43% (female 90,070; male 90,631)
15-64 years: 55% (female 108,824; male 121,715)
65 years and over: 2% (female 4,900; male 5,180) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.48% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 42.79 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 15.51 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -12.46 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 108.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 49.7 years
male: 47.83 years
female: 51.62 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.15 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Djiboutian(s)
adjective: Djiboutian

Ethnic divisions: Somali 60%, Afar 35%, French, Arab, Ethiopian, and
Italian 5%

Religions: Muslim 94%, Christian 6%

Languages: French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
total population: 48%
male: 63%
female: 34%

@Djibouti:Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Djibouti
conventional short form: Djibouti
former: French Territory of the Afars and Issas French Somaliland

Digraph: DJ

Type: republic

Capital: Djibouti

Administrative divisions: 5 districts (cercles, singular - cercle);
'Ali Sabih, Dikhil, Djibouti, Obock, Tadjoura

Independence: 27 June 1977 (from France)

National holiday: Independence Day, 27 June (1