_#_Environment: many small rivers and high central mountains ensure land is well watered; south coast relatively dry; fertile coastal plain belt in north
_#_Note: important location between the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands group along the Mona Passage—a key shipping lane to the Panama Canal; San Juan is one of the biggest and best natural harbors in the Caribbean
_*People #_Population: 3,294,997 (July 1991), growth rate 0.1% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 19 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: - 10 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 16 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 76 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 2.1 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun—Puerto Rican(s); adjective—Puerto Rican