Natural resources:
copper, mahogany forests, shrimp, hydropower
Land use: arable land: 6.72% permanent crops: 2.08% other: 91.2% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
320 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
occasional severe storms and forest fires in the Darien area
Environment - current issues: water pollution from agricultural runoff threatens fishery resources; deforestation of tropical rain forest; land degradation and soil erosion threatens siltation of Panama Canal; air pollution in urban areas; mining threatens natural resources
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note:
strategic location on eastern end of isthmus forming land bridge
connecting North and South America; controls Panama Canal that links
North Atlantic Ocean via Caribbean Sea with North Pacific Ocean
People Panama
Population:
2,960,784 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 30.6% (male 461,670; female 443,671)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 950,089; female 924,038)
65 years and over: 6.1% (male 86,006; female 95,310) (2003 est.)