_#_Climate: semiarid; warm winters and hot summers
_#_Terrain: predominately flat to gently rolling tableland; Kalahari Desert in southwest
_#_Natural resources: diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal, iron ore, silver, natural gas
_#_Land use: arable land 2%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures 75%; forest and woodland 2%; other 21%; includes irrigated NEGL%
_#_Environment: rains in early 1988 broke six years of drought that had severely affected the important cattle industry; overgrazing; desertification
_#_Note: landlocked
_*People #_Population: 1,258,392 (July 1991), growth rate 2.7% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 36 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)