Mauritania (continued)
Electricity: 189,000 kW capacity; 136 million kWh produced, 70 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: fishing, fish processing, mining of iron ore and gypsum
Agriculture: accounts for 29% of GDP (including fishing); largely subsistence farming and nomadic cattle and sheep herding except in Senegal river valley; crops—dates, millet, sorghum, root crops; fish products number-one export; large food deficit in years of drought
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $160 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.1 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $490 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $277 million
Currency: ouguiya (plural—ouguiya); 1 ouguiya (UM) = 5 khoums
Exchange rates: ouguiya (UM) per US$1—83.838 (January 1990), 83.051 (1989), 75.261 (1988), 73.878 (1987), 74.375 (1986), 77.085 (1985)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Railroads: 670 km 1.435-meter standard
gauge, single track, owned and operated
by government mining company
Highways: 7,525 km total; 1,685 km paved; 1,040 km gravel, crushed stone, or otherwise improved; 4,800 km unimproved roads, trails, tracks
Inland waterways: mostly ferry traffic on the Senegal River
Ports: Nouadhibou, Nouakchott
Merchant marine: 1 cargo ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,272 GRT/1,840 DWT
Civil air: 2 major transport aircraft
Airports: 30 total, 29 usable; 9 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 4 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 17 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: poor system of cable and open-wire lines, minor radio relay links, and radio communications stations; 5,200 telephones; stations—2 AM, no FM, 1 TV; satellite earth stations—1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 2 ARABSAT, with a third planned
Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force,
paramilitary Gendarmerie, paramilitary
National Guard, paramilitary National
Police, paramilitary Presidential Guard,
paramilitary Nomad Security Guards
Military manpower: males 15-49, 410,153; 200,212 fit for military service; conscription law not implemented
Defense expenditures: 4.2% of GDP (1987)
Mauritius
_Mauritius.jpg)
See regional map VII
Geography
Total area: 1,860 km²; land area: 1,850
km²; includes Agalega Islands, Cargados
Carajos Shoals (St. Brandon) and
Rodrigues
Comparative area: slightly less than 10.5 times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: none
Coastline: 177 km
Maritime claims:
- Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm
- Extended economic zone: 200 nm
- Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: claims Chagos Archipelago, which includes the island of Diego Garcia in UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory; claims French-administered Tromelin Island
Climate: tropical modified by southeast trade winds; warm, dry winter (May to November); hot, wet, humid summer (November to May)
Terrain: small coastal plain rising to discontinuous mountains encircling central plateau
Natural resources: arable land, fish
Land use: 54% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 4% meadows and pastures; 31% forest and woodland; 7% other; includes 9% irrigated
Environment: subject to cyclones (November to April); almost completely surrounded by reefs
Note: located 900 km east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean
People
Population: 1,070,005 (July 1990), growth
rate 1.8% (1990)
Birth rate: 21 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
