Continental shelf: outer edge of continental margin or 200 nm;

Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 6 nm

_#_Climate: tropical maritime; little seasonal temperature variation

_#_Terrain: rugged highlands and mountains with fertile valleys interspersed

_#_Natural resources: nickel, bauxite, gold, silver

_#_Land use: arable land 23%; permanent crops 7%; meadows and pastures 43%; forest and woodland 13%; other 14%; includes irrigated 4%

_#_Environment: subject to occasional hurricanes (July to October); deforestation

_#_Note: shares island of Hispaniola with Haiti (western one-third is Haiti, eastern two-thirds is the Dominican Republic)

_*People #_Population: 7,384,837 (July 1991), growth rate 2.0% (1991)