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Status: Overseas Department
Prefect: Jean-Pierre
Laflaquière (2006)
Land area: 34,421 sq mi (89,150 sq km);
total area: 35,135 sq mi (91,000 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 203,321 (growth
rate: 1.8%); birth rate 20.3/1000; infant mortality rate 11.8/1000;
life expectancy: 77.5; density per sq mi: 6
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Cayenne, 60,500
Monetary unit: Franc
Language: French
Ethnicity/race: black or mulatto 66%, white
12%, East Indian, Chinese, Amerindian 12%, other 10%
Religion: Roman Catholic
Literacy rate: 83% (1982 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2003
est.): $1.551 billion; per capita $8,300. Real growth rate:
n.a. Inflation: 1.5% (2002 est.). Unemployment: 22%
(2001). Arable land: 0.14%. Agriculture: corn, rice,
manioc (tapioca), sugar, cocoa, vegetables, bananas; cattle, pigs,
poultry. Labor force: 58,800 (1997); services, government,
and commerce 60.6%, industry 21.2%, agriculture 18.2% (1980).
Industries: construction, shrimp processing, forestry
products, rum, gold mining. Natural resources: bauxite,
timber, gold (widely scattered), cinnabar, kaolin, fish. Exports:
$155 million (f.o.b., 2002 est.): shrimp, timber, gold, rum,
rosewood essence, clothing. Imports: $625 million (c.i.f.,
2002 est.): food (grains, processed meat), machinery and transport
equipment, fuels and chemicals. Major trading partners:
France, Switzerland, U.S., Trinidad and Tobago, Italy (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 51,000 (2001); mobile cellular: 138,200 (2002. Radio
broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 14 (including 6 repeaters),
shortwave 6 (including 5 repeaters) (1998). Television broadcast
stations: 3 (plus eight low-power repeaters) (1997). Internet
hosts: n.a. Internet users: 3,200 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km.
Highways: total: 817 km; paved: n.a.; unpaved: n.a. (1998).
Waterways: 3,760 km; note: 460 km navigable by small
oceangoing vessels and coastal and river steamers, 3,300 km by
native craft (2004). Ports and harbors: Degrad des Cannes.
Airports: 11 2004 est.).
International disputes: Suriname claims
area between Riviere Litani and Riviere Marouini (both headwaters of
the Lawa) in French Guiana.
Major sources and definitions
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