Part 415

Telephones: 6,600 (1991 est.)

Telephone system: service to general public very poor; radiotelephone communications network provides generally erratic service to government users domestic: radiotelephone communications international: satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean Region)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 10, FM 0, shortwave 0

Radios: 560,000 (1992 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 2

Televisions: 32,000 (1993 est.)

Defense -------

Branches: Lao People's Army (LPA; includes riverine naval and militia elements), Air Force, National Police Department

Manpower availability: males age 15-49: 1,087,264 males fit for military service: 586,664 males reach military age (18) annually: 53,250 (1996 est.)

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $105 million, 8.1% of GDP (FY92/93)

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@Latvia ------

Map ---

Location: 57 00 N, 25 00 E -- Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania

Flag ----

Description: two horizontal bands of maroon (top and bottom), white (middle, narrower than other two bands)

Geography ---------

Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania

Geographic coordinates: 57 00 N, 25 00 E

Map references: Europe

Area: total area: 64,100 sq km land area: 64,100 sq km comparative area: slightly larger than West Virginia

Land boundaries: total: 1,078 km border countries: Belarus 141 km, Estonia 267 km, Lithuania 453 km, Russia 217 km

Coastline: 531 km

Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

International disputes: the Abrene/Pytalovo section of border ceded by the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic to Russia in 1944; the maritime borders with Lithuania and Estonia

Climate: maritime; wet, moderate winters

Terrain: low plain lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m highest point: Gaizinkalns 312 m

Natural resources: minimal; amber, peat, limestone, dolomite