Geography People Government Transportation Communications Defense Forces

WORLD

@World:Geography

 Map references: World, Time Zones

 Area:
 total area: 510.072 million sq km
 land area: 148.94 million sq km
 water area: 361.132 million sq km
 comparative area: land area about 16 times the size of the US
 note: 70.8% of the world is water, 29.2% is land

 Land boundaries: the land boundaries in the world total 250,883.64 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, 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: highest elevation is Mt. Everest at 8,848 meters and lowest
 depression is the Dead Sea at 392 meters below sea level; greatest
 ocean depth is the Marianas Trench at 10,924 meters

 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 and the former USSR) pose
 serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only
 beginning to address

 Land use:
 arable land: 10%
 permanent crops: 1%
 meadows and pastures: 24%
 forest and woodland: 31%
 other: 34%

 Irrigated land: NA sq km

 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
 natural hazards: large areas subject to severe weather (tropical
 cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis,
 volcanic eruptions)
 international agreements: 23 selected international environmental
 agreements included under the Environment entry for each country and
 in Appendix E: Selected International Environmental Agreements

@World:People

 Population: 5,733,687,096 (July 1995 est.)

 Age structure:
 0-14 years: 31.6% (female 882,809,689; male 928,121,801)
 15-64 years: 62% (female 1,752,393,539; male 1,802,004,124)
 65 years and over: 6.4% (female 209,437,234; male 158,246,581) (July
 1995 est.)

 Population growth rate: 1.5% (1995 est.)

 Birth rate: 24 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

 Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

 Infant mortality rate: 64 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

 Life expectancy at birth:
 total population: 62 years
 male: 61 years
 female: 64 years (1995 est.)

 Total fertility rate: 3.1 children born/woman (1995 est.)

 Labor force: 2.24 billion (1992)
 by occupation: NA

@World:Government

 Digraph: XX

 Administrative divisions: 265 nations, dependent areas, other, and
 miscellaneous entries

 Legal system: varies by individual country; 186 (note including
 Yugoslavia) are parties to the United Nations International Court of
 Justice (ICJ or World Court)

Economy

 Overview: Led by recovery in Western Europe and strong performances by
 the US, Canada, and key Third World countries, real global output -
 gross world product (GWP) - rose 3% in 1994 compared with 2% in 1993.
 Results varied widely among regions and countries. Average growth of
 3% in the GDP of industrialized countries (60% of GWP in 1994) and
 average growth of 6% in the GDP of less developed countries (34% of
 GWP) were partly offset by a further 11% drop in the GDP of the former
 USSR/Eastern Europe area (now only 6% of GWP). With the notable
 exception of Japan at 2.9%, unemployment was typically 5%-12% in the
 industrial world. The US accounted for 22% of GWP in 1994; Western
 Europe accounted for another 22%; and Japan accounted for 8%. These
 are the three "economic superpowers" which are presumably destined to
 compete for mastery in international markets on into the 21st century.
 As for the less developed countries, China, India, and the Four
 Dragons - South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore - once again
 posted records of 5% growth or better; however, many other countries,
 especially in Africa, continued to suffer from drought, rapid
 population growth, inflation, and civil strife. Central Europe made
 considerable progress in moving toward "market-friendly" economies,
 whereas the 15 ex-Soviet countries (with the notable exceptions of the
 three Baltic states) typically experienced further declines in output,
 sometimes as high as 30%. 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 in a number of cases is losing
 control over resources as separatist regional movements - typically
 based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in the successor states of
 the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, and in India. 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 nearly 100 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, the industrialized countries have inadequate resources to
 deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least
 from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized.
 (For the specific economic problems of each country, see the
 individual country entries in this volume.)

 National product: GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity
 - $30.7 trillion (1994 est.)

 National product real growth rate: 3.2% (1994 est.)

 National product per capita: $5,400 (1994 est.)

 Inflation rate (consumer prices):
 all countries: 25%
 developed countries: 5%
 developing countries: 50% (1994 est.)
 note: national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from
 stable prices to hyperinflation

 Unemployment rate: 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in
 many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically
 5%-12% unemployment

 Exports: $4 trillion (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
 commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and
 services
 partners: in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries

 Imports: $4.1 trillion (c.i.f., 1994 est.)
 commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and
 services
 partners: in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries

 External debt: $1 trillion for less developed countries (1993 est.)

 Industrial production: growth rate 5% (1994 est.)

 Electricity:
 capacity: 2,773,000,000 kW
 production: 11.601 trillion kWh
 consumption per capita: 1,937 kWh (1993)

 Industries: industry worldwide is 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, and the
 technological gap between the industrial nations and the
 less-developed countries continues to widen; the rapid development of
 new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already
 grim environmental problems

 Agriculture: the production of major food crops has increased
 substantially in the last 20 years; the annual production of cereals,
 for instance, has risen by 50%, from about 1.2 billion metric tons to
 about 1.8 billion metric tons; production increases have resulted
 mainly from increased yields rather than increases in planted areas;
 while global production is sufficient for aggregate demand, about
 one-fifth of the world's population remains malnourished, primarily
 because local production cannot adequately provide for large and
 rapidly growing populations, which are too poor to pay for food
 imports; conditions are especially bad in Africa where drought in
 recent years has intensified the consequences of overpopulation

 Economic aid: $NA

@World:Transportation

 Railroads:
 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 SNCF TGV-Atlantique line
 broad gauge: 251,153 km
 standard gauge: 710,754 km
 narrow gauge: 239,430 km

 Highways:
 total: NA
 paved: NA
 unpaved: NA

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

 Merchant marine:
 total: 25,364 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 435,458,296
 GRT/697,171,651 DWT
 ships by type: barge carrier 39, bulk 5,202, cargo 8,121, chemical
 tanker 911, combination bulk 293, combination ore/oil 290, container
 1,903, liquefied gas 675, livestock carrier 48, multifunction
 large-load carrier 53, oil tanker 4,332, passenger 287,
 passenger-cargo 114, railcar carrier 24, refrigerated cargo 1,023,
 roll-on/roll-off cargo 1,047, short-sea passenger 465, specialized
 tanker 77, vehicle carrier 460 (April 1995)

@World:Communications

 Telephone system:
 local: NA
 intercity: NA
 international: NA

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

 Television:
 broadcast stations: NA
 televisions: NA

@World:Defense Forces

 Branches: ground, maritime, and air forces at all levels of technology

 Defense expenditures: a further decline in 1994, by perhaps 5%-10%, to
 roughly three-quarters of a trillion dollars, or 2.5% of gross world
 product (1994 est.)


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