Land use:
arable land: 30%
permanent crops: 9%
permanent pastures: 21%
forests and woodland: 32%
other: 8% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 34,530 sq km (1993 est.)
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-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, 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-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification
Geography—note: strategic location along approaches to Strait of
Gibraltar
People
Population: 39,167,744 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 15% (male 3,012,907; female 2,835,455)
15-64 years: 68% (male 13,411,046; female 13,406,214)
65 years and over: 17% (male 2,702,654; female 3,799,468) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.1% (1999 est.)