Land use: 43% arable land; 3% permanent crops; 19% meadows and pastures; 28% forest and woodland; 7% other; includes 11% irrigated

Environment: frequent earthquakes most severe in south and southwest; geologic structure and climate promote landslides, air pollution in south

Note: controls most easily traversable land route between the Balkans and western USSR

- People
Population: 23,273,285 (July 1990), growth rate 0.5% (1990)

Birth rate: 16 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 1 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 19 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 75 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 2.2 children born/woman (1990)