Natural resources: phosphates (Curacao only), salt (Bonaire only)
Land use: arable land: 10% permanent crops: 0% other: 90% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
NA sq km
Natural hazards:
Curacao and Bonaire are south of Caribbean hurricane belt and are
rarely threatened; Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are
subject to hurricanes from July to October
Environment - current issues:
NA
Geography - note:
the five islands of the Netherlands Antilles are divided
geographically into the Leeward Islands (northern) group (Saba, Sint
Eustatius, and Sint Maarten) and the Windward Islands (southern)
group (Bonaire and Curacao)
People Netherlands Antilles
Population:
216,226 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 24.7% (male 27,383; female 26,122)
15-64 years: 67.1% (male 69,233; female 75,956)
65 years and over: 8.1% (male 7,244; female 10,288) (2003 est.)
Median age:
total: 31.8 years
male: 30.3 years
female: 33.2 years (2002)