available for military service:males age 17–49: 13,676,509 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 17–49: 11,262,661 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 389,204 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$45,238.1 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.6% (2003)
Transnational Issues France
Disputes - international:
Madagascar claims Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands,
and Juan de Nova Island; Comoros claims Mayotte; Mauritius claims
Tromelin Island; territorial dispute between Suriname and the French
overseas department of French Guiana; France asserts a territorial
claim in Antarctica (Adelie Land); France and Vanuatu claim Matthew
and Hunter Islands, east of New Caledonia
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for and consumer of South American cocaine,
Southwest Asian heroin, and European synthetics
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@French Guiana
Introduction French Guiana
Background:
First settled by the French in 1604, French Guiana was the site of
notorious penal settlements until 1951. The European Space Agency
launches its communication satellites from Kourou.
Geography French Guiana
Location:
Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between
Brazil and Suriname
Geographic coordinates:
4 00 N, 53 00 W
Map references:
South America
Area:
total: 91,000 sq km
land: 89,150 sq km
water: 1,850 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Indiana
Land boundaries: total: 1,183 km border countries: Brazil 673 km, Suriname 510 km
Coastline: 378 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Climate:
tropical; hot, humid; little seasonal temperature variation
Terrain:
low-lying coastal plains rising to hills and small mountains
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Bellevue de l'Inini 851 m
Natural resources:
bauxite, timber, gold (widely scattered), petroleum, kaolin, fish,
niobium, tantalum, clay
Land use: arable land: 0.14% permanent crops: 0.05% other: 99.81% (90% forest, 10% other) (2001)
Irrigated land:
20 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
high frequency of heavy showers and severe thunderstorms; flooding
Environment - current issues:
NA
Geography - note:
mostly an unsettled wilderness; the only non-independent portion of
the South American continent
People French Guiana
Population:
195,506 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0–14 years: 29.3% (male 29,262/female 27,947)
15–64 years: 64.7% (male 67,895/female 58,534)
65 years and over: 6.1% (male 6,038/female 5,830) (2005 est.)
Median age:
total: 28.45 years
male: 29.49 years
female: 27.31 years (2005 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.1% (2005 est.)
Birth rate:
20.7 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate:
4.85 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate:
5.11 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1.16 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.04 male(s)/female
total population: 1.12 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 12.07 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 12.91 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 11.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.09
