Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas, asphalt

Land use: 14% arable land; 17% permanent crops; 2% meadows and pastures; 44% forest and woodland; 23% other; includes 4% irrigated

Environment: outside usual path of hurricanes and other tropical storms

Note: located 11 km from Venezuela

- People
Population: 1,344,639 (July 1990), growth rate 2.2% (1990)

Birth rate: 28 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 10 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 74 years female (1990)