World

1. World Introduction

Background:
  Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world
  wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast
  colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from
  the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the
  landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and
  the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North
  America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the
  environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water,
  the drop in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of
  the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the
  only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode:
  from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4
  billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the
  21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and
  technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears
  (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war).

2. World Geography

Map references:
  World, Time Zones

Area:
  total: 510.072 million km
  land: 148.94 million km
  water: 361.132 million km
  note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land

Area - comparative:
  land area about 16 times the size of the US

Land boundaries:
  the land boundaries in the world total 251,480.24 km (not counting shared
  boundaries twice)

Coastline:
  356,000 km

Maritime claims:
  contiguous zone: 24 NM claimed by most, but can vary continental shelf:
    200-m depth claimed by most or to depth of exploitation; others claim 200
    NM or to the edge of the continental margin
  exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary
  exclusive economic zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary
  territorial sea: 12 NM claimed by most, but can vary
  note: boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries
    from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43
    nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra,
    Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina
    Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia,
    Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho,
    Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger,
    Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland,
    Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan,
    Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Climate:
  two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate
  zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates

Terrain:
  the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific
  Ocean

Elevation extremes:
  lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m highest point: Mount
    Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)

Natural resources:
  the rapid using up of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of
  forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and
  the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe,
  the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that
  governments and peoples are only beginning to address

Land use:
  arable land: 10%
  permanent crops: 1%
  permanent pastures: 26%
  forests and woodland: 32%
  other: 31% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land:
  2,481,250 km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards:
  large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural
  disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)

Environment - current issues:
  large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution
  (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing,
  deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil
  depletion, erosion

3. World People

Population:
  6,157,400,560 (July 2001 est.)

Age structure:
  0-14 years: 29.6% (male 933,647,850; female 886,681,514)
  15-64 years: 63.4% (male 1,975,418,386; female 1,931,021,694)
  65 years and over: 7% (male 188,760,223; female 241,449,691) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate:
  1.25% (2001 est.)

Birth rate:
  21.37 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate:
  8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Sex ratio:
  at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
  under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
  15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
  65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
  total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
  52.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
  total population: 63.79 years male: 62.15 years
  female: 65.51 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate:
  2.73 children born/woman (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
  NA%

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
  NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
  NA

4. World Government

Administrative divisions:
  267 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries

Legal system:
  all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that
  established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court

5. World Economy

Economy - overview:
  Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) rose to 4.8% in 2000
  from 3.5% in 1999, despite continued low growth in Japan, severe financial
  difficulties in other East Asian countries, and widespread dislocations in
  several transition economies. The US economy continued its remarkable
  sustained prosperity, growing at 5% in 2000, although growth slowed in
  fourth quarter 2000; the US accounted for 23% of GWP. The EU economies grew
  at 3.3% and produced 20% of GWP. China, the second largest economy in the
  world, continued its strong growth and accounted for 10% of GWP. Japan grew
  at only 1.3% in 2000; its share in GWP is 7%. As usual, the 15 successor
  nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations experienced
  widely different rates of growth. The developing nations also varied in
  their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that
  eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock
  economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over
  international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally,
  the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as
  separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain
  momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union,
  in the former Yugoslavia, in India, and in Canada. In Western Europe,
  governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources
  away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen
  incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year
  to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution,
  desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their
  own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote
  insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the
  world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming
  further marginalized. Continued financial difficulties in East Asia,
  Russia, and many African nations, as well as the slowdown in US economic
  growth, cast a shadow over short-term global economic prospects; GWP
  probably will grow at 3-4% in 2001. The introduction of the euro as the
  common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the
  way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses serious economic risks
  because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences
  among the participating nations. (For specific economic developments in
  each country of the world in 2000, see the individual country entries.)

GDP:
  GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $43.6 trillion (2000
  est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
  4.8% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita:
  purchasing power parity - $7,200 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
  agriculture: 4% industry: 32%
  services: 64% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
  lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
  all countries 25%; developed countries 1% to 3% typically; developing
  countries 5% to 60% typically (2000 est.)
  note: national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from stable
    prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World countries

Labor force:
  NA

Labor force - by occupation:
  agricultue NA%, industry NA%, services NA%

Unemployment rate:
  30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized
  countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2000 est.)

Industries:
  dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics,
  telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these
  advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD
  countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological
  forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural)
  technology is complicating already grim environmental problems

Industrial production growth rate:
  6% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production by source:
  fossil fuel: NA% hydro: NA%
  nuclear: NA%
  other: NA%

Exports:
  $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities:
  the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services

Exports - partners:
  in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries

Imports:
  $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities:
  the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services

Imports - partners:
  in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries

Debt - external:
  $2 trillion for less developed countries (2000 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
  traditional worldwide foreign aid $50 billion (1997 est.)

6. World Communications

Telephones - main lines in use:
  NA

Telephones - mobile cellular:
  NA

Telephone system:
  general assessment: NA domestic: NA
  international: NA

Radio broadcast stations:
  AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA

Radios:
  NA

Television broadcast stations:
  NA

Televisions:
  NA

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
  10,350 (2000 est.)

Internet users:
  407.1 million (2000 est.)

7. World Transportation

Railways:
  total: 1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified
    routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East,
    11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North
    America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by
    France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a
    Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line
  broad gauge: 251,153 km
  standard gauge: 710,754 km
  narrow gauge: 239,430 km

Highways:
  total: NA km
  paved: NA km
  unpaved: NA km

Ports and harbors:
  Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New
  Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama

8. World Military

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
  aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at
  approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars
  (1999 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
  roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.)
