Natural hazards: NA
Environment—current issues: deforestation as timber is cut for export; pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities
Environment—international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography—note: mostly tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development; relatively small population, most of which lives along the coast
People
Population: 431,156 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 33% (male 72,673; female 69,212)
15-64 years: 62% (male 135,573; female 130,700)
65 years and over: 5% (male 10,585; female 12,413) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.71% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 21.75 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 5.75 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)