Climate: tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October to mid-March)

Terrain: low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest

Natural resources: phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil deposits, forests

Land use: 22% arable land; 2% permanent crops; 1% meadows and pastures; 40% forest and woodland; 35% other; includes 5% irrigated

Environment: occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding

- People
Population: 66,170,889 (July 1990), growth rate 2.1% (1990)

Birth rate: 30 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

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

Infant mortality rate: 50 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)