Territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior
Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain
Natural resources: bauxite, gypsum, limestone
Land use: 19% arable land; 6% permanent crops; 18% meadows and pastures; 28% forest and woodland; 29% other; includes 3% irrigated
Environment: subject to hurricanes (especially July to November); deforestation; water pollution
Note: strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica
Channel, the main sea lanes for Panama Canal
- People
Population: 2,441,396 (July 1990), growth rate 0.6% (1990)
Birth rate: 21 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1990)