Environment:
current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; desertification
natural hazards: earthquakes; droughts; occasional cyclonic
disturbances from the Indian Ocean bring heavy rains and flash floods
international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Endangered Species,
Law of the Sea, Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified - Climate
Change, Desertification
Note: strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes and close to Arabian oilfields; terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia; a vast wasteland
@Djibouti:People
Population: 421,320 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 43% (female 90,070; male 90,631)
15-64 years: 55% (female 108,824; male 121,715)
65 years and over: 2% (female 4,900; male 5,180) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.48% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 42.79 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 15.51 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: -12.46 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 108.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)