Irrigated land:
150 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
NA
Environment - current issues:
deforestation; poaching
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical
Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
a small population and oil and mineral reserves have helped Gabon
become one of Africa's wealthier countries; in general, these
circumstances have allowed the country to maintain and conserve its
pristine rain forest and rich biodiversity
People Gabon
Population:
1,321,560
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the
effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower
life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of
population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 42.3% (male 280,218; female 278,808)
15-64 years: 53.5% (male 352,363; female 355,315)
65 years and over: 4.2% (male 22,786; female 32,070) (2003 est.)
Median age:
total: 18.5 years
male: 18.3 years
female: 18.7 years (2002)
Population growth rate:
2.54% (2003 est.)