Location: Middle America, between Costa Rica and Honduras

Map references: Central America and the Caribbean, South America

Area:
total area: 129,494 sq km
land area: 120,254 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than New York State

Land boundaries: total 1,231 km, Costa Rica 309 km, Honduras 922 km

Coastline: 910 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 25-nm security zone (status of claim uncertain)
continental shelf: not specified
territorial sea: 200 nm

International disputes: territorial disputes with Colombia over the Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank; International Court of Justice (ICJ) referred the maritime boundary question in the Golfo de Fonseca to an earlier agreement in this century and advised that some tripartite resolution among El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua likely would be required

Climate: tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands

Terrain: extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain interrupted by volcanoes

Natural resources: gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, timber, fish

Land use:
arable land: 9%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 43%
forest and woodland: 35%
other: 12%

Irrigated land: 850 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:
current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution
natural hazards: subject to destructive earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and occasionally severe hurricanes
international agreements: party to - Endangered Species, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea

NOTE: The information regarding Nicaragua on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Nicaragua Geography 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Nicaragua Geography 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.