Bahrain Geography - 2021

Location

Middle East, archipelago in the Persian Gulf, east of Saudi Arabia

Geographic coordinates

26 00 N, 50 33 E

Map references

Middle East

Area

total: 760 sq km

land: 760 sq km

water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative

3.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries

total: 0 km

Coastline

161 km

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 12 nm

contiguous zone: 24 nm

continental shelf: extending to boundaries to be determined

Climate

arid; mild, pleasant winters; very hot, humid summers

Terrain

mostly low desert plain rising gently to low central escarpment

Elevation

highest point: Jabal ad Dukhan 135 m

lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m

Natural resources

oil, associated and nonassociated natural gas, fish, pearls

Land use

agricultural land: 11.3% (2018 est.)

arable land: 2.1% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 3.9% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 5.3% (2018 est.)

forest: 0.7% (2018 est.)

other: 88% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land

40 sq km (2012)

Total renewable water resources

116 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

Population distribution

smallest population of the Gulf States, but urbanization rate exceeds 90%; largest settlement concentration is found on the far northern end of the island in and around Manamah and Al Muharraq

Natural hazards

periodic droughts; dust storms

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note

close to primary Middle Eastern petroleum sources; strategic location in Persian Gulf, through which much of the Western world's petroleum must transit to reach open ocean