Security Council recommends admission of Brunei Darussalam.

The admission of Brunei Darussalam to the United Nations was unanimously recommended by the Security Council on 24 February. The General Assembly will act on the recommendation later this year. There are 158 United Nations Member states at present.

Brunei Darussalam attained independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984. Its application for United Nations membership was contained in a letter of 8 February from His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the Head of State and Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam.

More populous than the remaining small Territories and the richest among them, with an abundance of oil, the sultanate of Brunei Darussalam is situated on the north-west coast of Borneo. Its area is 2,226 square miles and its populations is about 150,000. Tropical rain forest covers 70 per cent of the area and there is a narrow cultivated coastal strip.

Brunei nationals constitute two thirds of the population. Immigrant workers numbered some 24,000 in 1982--approximately 21 per cent of the population and one third of the labour force. Malays (65.2 per cent) and Chinese (20.4 per cent) are predominant among Brunei's ethnic groups. Petroleum and Gas Resources

Brunei's economy depends almost entirely on its petroleum resources and on liquefied natural gas, which account for over 80 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 98 per cent by value of all exports. Falling oil prices caused the country's GDP per capital to decline 20 per cent in 1982 to approximately...