Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49 : 790,838 (1997 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males: 424,962 (1997 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 20,584 (1997 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $1.59 billion (1994)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 4.3% (1994)
Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: location and status of boundary with Saudi Arabia is not final, de facto boundary reflects 1974 agreement; no defined boundary with most of Oman, but Administrative Line in far north; claims two islands in the Persian Gulf occupied by Iran: Lesser Tunb (called Tunb as Sughra in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Kuchek in Persian by Iran) and Greater Tunb (called Tunb al Kubra in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg in Persian by Iran); claims island in the Persian Gulf jointly administered with Iran (called Abu Musa in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Abu Musa in Persian by Iran) - over which Iran has taken steps to exert unilateral control since 1992, including access restrictions and a military build-up on the island; the UAE has garnered significant diplomatic support in the region in protesting these Iranian actions
Illicit drugs: growing role as heroin transshipment and money-laundering center due to its proximity to southwest Asian producing countries and the bustling free trade zone in Dubai ______________________________________________________________________