Total area: 637,660 km2
land area: 627,340 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: 2,340 km total
Djibouti 58 km, Ethiopia 1,600 km, Kenya 682 km

Coastline: 3,025 km

Maritime claims: Territorial sea: 200 nm

Disputes: southern half of boundary with Ethiopia is a Provisional Administrative Line; territorial dispute with Ethiopia over the Ogaden; possible claims to Djibouti and parts of Ethiopia and Kenya based on unification of ethnic Somalis

Climate: desert; northeast monsoon (December to February), cooler southwest monsoon (May to October); irregular rainfall; hot, humid periods (tangambili) between monsoons

Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plateau rising to hills in north

Natural resources: uranium, and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt

Land use: arable land 2%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and pastures 46%; forest and woodland 14%; other 38%; includes irrigated 3%

Environment: recurring droughts; frequent dust storms over eastern plains in summer; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Note: strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal

NOTE: The information regarding Somalia on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Somalia Geography 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Somalia Geography 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.