_#_Natural resources: coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, crude oil, natural gas, timber
_#_Land use: arable land 20%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and pastures 26%; forest and woodland 29%; other 25%; includes irrigated 2%
_#_Environment: pollution control measures improving air and water quality; acid rain; agricultural fertilizer and pesticide pollution; management of sparse natural water resources in west; desertification; tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquake activity around Pacific Basin; continuous permafrost in northern Alaska is a major impediment to development
_#_Note: world's fourth-largest country (after USSR, Canada, and China)
_*People #_Population: 252,502,000 (July 1991), growth rate 0.8% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 15 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 2 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 10 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 72 years male, 79 years female (1991)