Natural resources: cobalt, nickel, iron ore, copper, manganese, salt, timber, silica

Land use: 23% arable land; 6% permanent crops; 23% meadows and pastures; 17% forest and woodland; 31% other; includes 10% irrigated

Environment: averages one hurricane every other year

Note: largest country in Caribbean; 145 km south of Florida

- People
Population: 10,620,099 (July 1990), growth rate 1.1% (1990)

Birth rate: 18 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

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

Infant mortality rate: 12 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 73 years male, 78 years female (1990)