: 10,374,314 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 8,346,155 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--reaching military age annually:
males: 311,350 (1999 est.)

Military expenditures--dollar figure: $6.3 billion (1995)

Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 1.4% (1995)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: Gibraltar issue with UK; Spain controls
five places of sovereignty (plazas de soberania) on and off the
coast of Morocco--the coastal enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which
Morocco contests, as well as the islands of Penon de Alhucemas,
Penon de Velez de la Gomera, and Islas Chafarinas

Illicit drugs: key European gateway country for Latin American
cocaine and North African hashish entering the European market;
transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin

======================================================================

@Spratly Islands
---------------

Geography

Location: Southeastern Asia, group of reefs and islands in the
South China Sea, about two-thirds of the way from southern Vietnam
to the southern Philippines

Geographic coordinates: 8 38 N, 111 55 E

Map references: Southeast Asia

Area:
total: less than 5 sq km
land: less than 5 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes 100 or so islets, coral reefs, and sea mounts
scattered over an area of nearly 410,000 sq km of the central South
China Sea

Area--comparative: NA

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 926 km

Maritime claims: NA

Climate: tropical

Terrain: flat

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Southwest Cay 4 m

Natural resources: fish, guano, undetermined oil and natural gas
potential

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 100%

Irrigated land: 0 sq km (1993)

Natural hazards: typhoons; serious maritime hazard because of
numerous reefs and shoals

Environment--current issues: NA

Environment--international agreements:
party to: none of the selected agreements
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography--note: strategically located near several primary
shipping lanes in the central South China Sea; includes numerous
small islands, atolls, shoals, and coral reefs

People

Population: no indigenous inhabitants
no