Land use: 2% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 36% meadows and pastures; 11% forest and woodland; 51% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: hot, dry, dusty harmattan winds occur in north; drought and desertification adversely affecting south; subject to plagues of locusts

Note: landlocked; Lake Chad is the most significant water body in the Sahel

- People
Population: 5,017,431 (July 1990), growth rate 2.1% (1990)

Birth rate: 42 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 22 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

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

Infant mortality rate: 136 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 38 years male, 40 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 5.3 children born/woman (1990)