Natural hazards: periodic droughts
Environment - current issues: pollution of the Mediterranean Sea from raw sewage and effluents from the offshore production of oil and gas; water quality and quantity nationwide; air pollution; deforestation; desertification
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping,
Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands,
Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Desertification,
Law of the Sea
Geography - note: strategic location along approaches to Strait of
Gibraltar
@Spain:People
Population: 39,107,912 (July 1997 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 15% (male 3,121,625; female 2,942,492) 15-64 years: 69% (male 13,396,398; female 13,400,728) 65 years and over: 16% (male 2,592,692; female 3,653,977) (July 1997 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.06% (1997 est.)
Birth rate: 9.94 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Death rate: 9.54 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)