Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central
Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia

42 50 N, 12 50 E

Europe

total: 301,230 sq km
land: 294,020 sq km
water: 7,210 sq km
note: includes Sardinia and Sicily

slightly larger than Arizona

total: 1,932.2 km
border countries: Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican
City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 232 km, Switzerland 740 km

7,600 km

continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
territorial sea: 12 nm

predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in
south

mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands

lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) 4,807 m

mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural
gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal, arable land

arable land: 31%
permanent crops: 10%
permanent pastures: 15%
forests and woodland: 23%
other: 21% (1993 est.)

27,100 sq km (1993 est.)

regional risks include landslides, mudflows,
avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence
in Venice

air pollution from industrial emissions
such as sulfur dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from
industrial and agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes;
inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile
Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants,
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

strategic location dominating central Mediterranean
as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe