Location:
Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana and Guyana

Geographic coordinates:
4 00 N, 56 00 W

Map references:
South America

Area:
total: 163,820 sq km
land: 156,000 sq km
water: 7,820 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than Georgia

Land boundaries:
total: 1,703 km
border countries: Brazil 593 km, French Guiana 510 km, Guyana 600 km

Coastline:
386 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical; moderated by trade winds

Terrain:
mostly rolling hills; narrow coastal plain with swamps

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: unnamed location in the coastal plain -2 m
highest point: Juliana Top 1,230 m

Natural resources:
timber, hydropower, fish, kaolin, shrimp, bauxite, gold, and small amounts of nickel, copper, platinum, iron ore

Land use:
arable land: 0.36%
permanent crops: 0.06%
other: 99.58% (2005)

Irrigated land:
510 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:
122 cu km (2003)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
total: 0.67 cu km/yr (4%/3%/93%)
per capita: 1,489 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
deforestation as timber is cut for export; pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
smallest independent country on South American continent; mostly tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development; relatively small population, mostly along the coast