Military expenditures--dollar figure: $562 million (FY97/98)

Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 1.05% (FY97/98)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: territorial claim in Antarctica (Ross
Dependency)

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@Nicaragua
---------

Geography

Location: Middle America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and
the North Pacific Ocean, between Costa Rica and Honduras

Geographic coordinates: 13 00 N, 85 00 W

Map references: Central America and the Caribbean

Area:
total: 129,494 sq km
land: 120,254 sq km
water: 9,240 sq km

Area--comparative: slightly smaller than the state of New York

Land boundaries:
total: 1,231 km
border countries: Costa Rica 309 km, Honduras 922 km

Coastline: 910 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 25-nm security zone
continental shelf: natural prolongation
territorial sea: 200 nm

Climate: tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands

Terrain: extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central
interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain interrupted by
volcanoes

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mogoton 2,438 m

Natural resources: gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc,
timber, fish

Land use:
arable land: 9%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 46%
forests and woodland: 27%
other: 17% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 880 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: destructive earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides,
and occasionally severe hurricanes

Environment--current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; water
pollution; Hurricane Mitch damage

Environment--international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol,
Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea

People

Population: 4,717,132 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 44% (male 1,037,269; female 1,018,909)
15-64 years: 54% (male 1,236,326; female 1,297,356)
65 years and over: 2% (male 54,706; female 72,566) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.84% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 35.04 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 5.6 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.06 migrant(s)/1,000