Haiti

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Haiti

conventional short form: Haiti
local long form: Republique d'Haiti/Repiblik d' Ayiti
local short form: Haiti/Ayiti

Capital:: Port-au-Prince
geographic coordinates: 18 32 N, 72 20 W
time difference: UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: no DST planned for 2012

Government type: republic

Location	Caribbean, western one-third of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic
Geographic coordinates	19 00 N, 72 25 W
Map references	Central America and the Caribbean
Area	total: 27,750 sq km land: 27,560 sq km water: 190 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than Maryland
Land boundaries	total: 360 km border countries: Dominican Republic 360 km
Coastline	1,771 km
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: to depth of exploitation
Climate	tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds
Terrain	mostly rough and mountainous
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: Chaine de la Selle 2,680 m
Natural resources	bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower
Land use	arable land: 28.11% permanent crops: 11.53% other: 60.36% (2005)
Irrigated land	920 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	14 cu km (2000)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 0.99 cu km/yr (5%/1%/94%) per capita: 116 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and subject to severe storms from June to October; occasional flooding and earthquakes; periodic droughts
Environment - current issues	extensive deforestation (much of the remaining forested land is being cleared for agriculture and used as fuel); soil erosion; inadequate supplies of potable water
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: Hazardous Wastes
Geography - note	shares island of Hispaniola with Dominican Republic (western one-third is Haiti, eastern two-thirds is the Dominican Republic)