Natural hazards: recurring droughts; frequent dust storms over eastern plains in summer
Environment - current issues: famine; use of contaminated water contributes to human health problems; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
Environment - international agreements: party to: Endangered Species, Law of the Sea signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban
Geography - note: strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal
@Somalia:People
Population: 6,590,325 (July 1997 est.) note: this estimate was derived from an official census taken in 1987 by the Somali Government with the cooperation of the UN and the US Bureau of the Census; population estimates are updated year by year between census years by factoring growth rates into them and by taking account of refugee movements and of losses due to famine; lower estimates of Somalia's population in mid-1996 (on the order of 6.0 million to 6.5 million) have been made by aid and relief agencies, based on the number of persons being fed; population counting in Somalia is complicated by the large numbers of nomads and by refugee movements in response to famine and clan warfare
Age structure: 0-14 years: 44% (male 1,449,037; female 1,452,171) 15-64 years: 53% (male 1,777,131; female 1,718,389) 65 years and over: 3% (male 89,346; female 104,251) (July 1997 est.)
Population growth rate: 3.03% (1997 est.) (1997 est.)
Birth rate: 45.49 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Death rate: 18.34 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.) (1997 est.)