Argentina

Military branches: Argentine Army, Navy of the Argentine Republic
(includes naval aviation and Marines), Coast Guard, Argentine Air Force,
National Gendarmerie, National Aeronautical Police Force

Military manpower - military age: 20 years of age (2002 est.)

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 9,521,633 (2002 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 7,721,219
(2002 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 335,085
(2002 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $4.3 billion (FY99)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.3% (FY00)

Transnational Issues Argentina

Disputes - international: claims UK-administered Falkland Islands
(Islas Malvinas); claims UK-administered South Georgia and the South
Sandwich Islands; territorial claim in Antarctica partially overlaps
British and Chilean claims

Illicit drugs: used as a transshipment country for cocaine headed for
Europe and the US; increasing use as a money-laundering center; domestic
consumption of drugs in urban centers is increasing

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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Australia

Introduction

Australia

Background: Australia became a commonwealth of the British Empire
in 1901. It was able to take advantage of its natural resources to
rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to
make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II.
Long-term concerns include pollution, particularly depletion of the ozone
layer, and management and conservation of coastal areas, especially the
Great Barrier Reef. A referendum to change Australia's status, from a
commonwealth headed by the British monarch to an independent republic,
was defeated in 1999.

Geography Australia

Location: Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South
Pacific Ocean

Geographic coordinates: 27 00 S, 133 00 E

Map references: Oceania

Area: total: 7,686,850 sq km water: 68,920 sq km note: includes Lord
Howe Island and Macquarie Island land: 7,617,930 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 25,760 km

Maritime claims: 12 NM exclusive economic zone: Climate: generally
arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north

Terrain: mostly low plateau wi