1987 Edition

Boundary disputes

Suriname claims area between Litani Rivier and Riviére Marounini (both headwaters of the Lawa)

Climate

tropical; hot, humid; little seasonal temperature variation

tropical, but moderate

Coastline

378 km

2,525 km

Communists

Communist party membership negligible

Comparative area

slightly smaller than Maine

larger than Rhode Island

Contiguous zone

12 nm

Continental shelf

200 meters or to depth of exploitation

200 meters or to depth of exploitation

Environment

mostly an unsettled wilderness

occasional cyclonic storm in January

Extended economic zone

200 nm

200 nm

Land boundaries

1,183 km total

Land use

NEGL% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; NEGL% meadows and pastures; 82% forest and woodland; 18% other

1% arable land; 19% permanent crops; 5% meadows and pastures; 31% forest and woodland; 44% other

Member of

WFTU

Special notes

none

Makatea is one of three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific (others are Banaba or Ocean Island in Kiribati and Nauru)

Terrain

mixture of rugged high islands and low islands with reefs

Territorial sea

12 nm

12 nm

Terxain

low lying coastal plains rising to hills and small mountains

Total area

91,000 km2: land area: 89,150 km?

4,000 km?; land area: 3,660 km?

Ethnic divisions

66% black or mulatto; 12% Caucasian; 12% East Indian, Chinese, Amerindian; 10% other

78% Polynesian, 12% Chinese, 6% local French, 4% metropolitan French

Labor force

23,265; services, government, and commerce 60.6%; industry 21.2%; agriculture 18.2%; 10% unemployment (1980)

Language

French

Literacy

73%

Nationality

noun—French Guianese (sing., pl.); adjective—French Guiana

noun—French Polynesian(s); adjective—French Polynesian

Organized labor

7% of labor force

Population

92,038 (July 1987), average annual growth rate 4.06%

185,683 (July 1987), average annual growth rate 2.84%

Religion

predominantly Roman Catholic

mainly Christian; 55% Protestant, 32% Catholic

Administrative divisions

2 arrondissements, 19 communes each with a locally elected municipal council

48 communes

Branches

executive—Prefect appointed by Paris; legislative—popularly elected 16-member General Council and a Regional Council composed of members of the local General Council and of the locally elected deputy and senator to the French parliament; judicial, under jurisdiction of French judicial system

30-member Territorial Assembly, popularly elected; five-member Council of Government, elected by Assembly; popular election of two deputies to National Assembly and one senator to Senate in Paris

Capital

Cayenne

Papeete |

Elections

General Council elections normally are held every five years; last election February 1983 Political parties and leaders: Guianese Socialist Party (PSG), Raymond Tarcy (senator), Léopold Helder; Union of the Guianese People (UPG), weak leftist party allied with and reported to have been absorbed by the PSG; Rally for the Republic (RPR), Héctor Rivierez; National AntiColonist Guianese Party (PANGA), Michel Kapel; Popular and National Party of Guiana (PNPG), Michael Alain

every five years; last held in | May 1982 Political parties and leaders: Tahoeraa - Huiraatira (Gaullist), Gaston Flosse; Ai’a Api (New Country Party), Emile Vernaudon; Here Ai’a, Jean Juventin; la Mana (Socialist), Jacques Crollet; Te E’a Api (Socialist), Jacques VII

Government leader

Bernard COURTOIS, Prefect of the Republic (since 1984)

Government leaders

Pierre ANGELI, High Commissioner appointed by French | Government (since April 1986); Jacques TEUIRA, President of the Territorial Government (since February 1987), Jacques TEHEIURA, Vice President of the Territorial Government | Suffrage: universal adult

Legal system

French legal system; highest court is Court of Appeals based in Martinique with jurisdiction over Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana

based on French; lower and higher courts

Official name

Department of French Guiana

Territory of French Polynesia

Suffrage

universal over age 18

Type

overseas department and region of France; represented by one deputy in French National Assembly and one senator in French Senate

overseas territory of France

Voting strength

(1982 election) Tahoeraa Huiraatira, 13 seats; Ai’a Api, 3 seats; Here Ai’a, 6 seats; la Mana, 3 seats; Independents, 4 seats; Te E’a Api, 1 seat

Agriculture

limited vegetables for local consumption; rice, corn, manioc, cocoa, bananas, sugar

Aid

bilateral commitments, ODA and OOF (FY70-79), from Western (non-US) countries, $700 million

Budget

$101 million (1982)

Electric power

31,000 kW capacity; 156 million kWh produced, 1,770 kWh per capita (1986)

72,000 kW capacity; 265 million kWh produced, 1,470 kWh per capita (1986) | Exports: $21 million (1977); 79% coconut products, 14% mother-of-pearl, vanilla

Exports

$37.0 million (1982); shrimp, timber, rum, rosewood essence

Fiscal year

calendar year

Fishing

catch 1,430 metric tons (1983 est.)

GDP

$2.0 billion, $3,239 per capita (1981)

A$931.3 million, US$6,400 per capita (1980) _ Agriculture: coconuts

Imports

$276.0 million (1982); food (grains, processed meat), other consumer goods, producer goods, and petroleum

Major industries

construction, shrimp processing, forestry products, rum, gold mining

maintenance of French nuclear test base, tourism

Major trade partners

exports—54% US, 17% Japan, 15% France, 5% Martinique; imports—53% France, 15% Trinidad and Tobago, 10% US (1981)

Monetary conversion rate

6.62 French francs=US$1 (November 1986)

Natural resources

bauxite, timber, gold (widely scattered), cinnabar, clay, lowgrade iron ore

Airfields

11 total, 11 usable; 5 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 1 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

no major transport aircraft

Highways

680 km total; 510 km paved, 170 km improved and unimproved earth

Inland waterways

460 km, navigable by small oceangoing vessels and river and coastal steamers; 3,300 km possibly navigable by native craft

Ports

1 major (Cayenne), 7 minor

Railroads

none

Telecommunications

fair open-wire and radio-relay system with about 18,100 telephones (27.2 per 100 popl.); 6 AM, 7 FM, 9 TV stations; 1 Atlantic Ocean satellite station

Military manpower

males 15-49, 21,000; 15,000 fit for military service (1986 est.) French Polynesia me les -o. Marquises * » South Pacific Ocean a free ft; - thn oe -. Hes ee ht, PAPEETE «2 °*- ~Tuamotu Hles de - *¢, ke ne ¥ ahiti la Société ae ae iki x > Bas les», pe Tubuai 500 km Rapa