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Background:
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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 decline 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).
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Map references:
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Physical Map of
the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of
the World |
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Area:
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total:
510.072 million sq km
water: 361.132 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km
note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is
land |
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Area - comparative:
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land area about
16 times the size of the US |
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Land boundaries:
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the land
boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared
boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border
14 other countries
note: 43 nations and other areas are landlocked, these
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; two of these,
Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
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Coastline:
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356,000 km
note: 98 nations and other areas are islands that
border no other countries, they include: American Samoa,
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier
Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bassas
da India, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean
Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands,
Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands,
Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus,
Dominica, Europa Island, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas),
Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and
Antarctic Lands, Glorioso Islands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam,
Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island,
Iceland, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey,
Johnston Atoll, Juan de Nova Island, Kingman Reef, Kiribati,
Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Isle of Man, Marshall Islands,
Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of
Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island,
New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern
Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands,
Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint
Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and
Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome
and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri
Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tromelin
Island, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin
Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan |
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Maritime claims - as described in UNCLOS 1982 (see Notes and
Definitions):
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a variety of
situations exist, but in general, most countries make the
following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as
described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea:
territorial sea - 12 NM, contiguous zone - 24 NM, and
exclusive economic zone - 200 NM; additional zones provide for
exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive
fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states
prevent many countries from extending their fishing or
economic zones to a full 200 NM |
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Climate:
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two large areas
of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate
zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical
climates |
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Terrain:
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the greatest
ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific
Ocean |
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point:
Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the
Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the
surface of the Pacific Ocean
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
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Natural resources:
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the rapid
depletion 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 |
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Land use:
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arable land:
10.58%
permanent crops: 1%
other: 88.42% (1998 est.) |
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Irrigated land:
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2,714,320 sq km
(1998 est.) |
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Natural hazards:
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large areas
subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural
disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic
eruptions) |
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Environment - current issues:
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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 |
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Geography - note:
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the world is now
thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about
one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the
universe |
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Population:
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6,379,157,361
(July 2004 est.) |
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Age structure:
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0-14 years:
28.2% (male 925,276,767; female 875,567,830)
15-64 years: 64.5% (male 2,083,789,165; female
2,033,226,759)
65 years and over: 7.2% (male 203,286,504; female
257,705,851)
note: some countries do not maintain age structure
information, thus a slight discrepancy exists between the
total world population and the total for world age structure
(2004 est.) |
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Population growth rate:
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1.14% (2004 est.) |
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Birth rate:
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20.24
births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
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Death rate:
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8.86 deaths/1,000
population (2004 est.) |
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Sex ratio:
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at birth:
1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
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Infant mortality rate:
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total:
50.31 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 52.17 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 48.33 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
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Life expectancy at birth:
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total
population: 64.05 years
male: 62.48 years
female: 65.7 years (2004 est.) |
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Total fertility rate:
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2.62 children
born/woman (2004 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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NA% |
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Religions:
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Christians
32.79% (of which Roman Catholics 17.33%, Protestants 5.62%,
Orthodox 3.51%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.6%, Hindus
13.31%, Buddhists 5.88%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other
religions 12.83%, non-religious 12.53%, atheists 2.44% (2001
est.) |
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Languages:
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Chinese, Mandarin
14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali
3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German,
Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)
note: percents are for "first language"
speakers only |
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Literacy:
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definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77%
male: 83%
female: 71% (1995 est.) |
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Administrative divisions:
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268 nations,
dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
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Legal system:
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all members of
the UN are parties to the statute that established the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
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Economy - overview:
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Global output
rose by 3.7% in 2003, led by China (9.1%), India (7.6%), and
Russia (7.3%). The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and
the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely
divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as
strong performers, in the 5%-7% range of growth. Growth
results posted by the major industrial countries varied from a
loss by Germany (-0.1%) to a strong gain by the United States
(3.1%). The developing nations also varied in their growth
results, with many countries facing population increases that
erode 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, in Iraq, in
Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government
is losing decision-making powers to international bodies. 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. 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
economic risks because of varying levels of income and
cultural and political differences among the participating
nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001
accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity,
illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources
away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening
of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added
new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the
coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the
high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq
became major global problems that continue into 2004. |
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GDP:
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GWP (gross world
product) - purchasing power parity - $51.41 trillion (2003
est.) |
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GDP - real growth rate:
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3.7% (2003 est.) |
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GDP - per capita:
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purchasing power
parity - $8,200 (2003 est.) |
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GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture:
4%
industry: 32%
services: 64% (2002 est.) |
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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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developed
countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60%
typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual
cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in
several Third World countries (2003 est.) |
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Labor force:
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NA |
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Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture NA%,
industry NA%, services NA% |
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Unemployment rate:
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30% combined
unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized
countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment |
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Industries:
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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 |
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Industrial production growth rate:
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3% (2002 est.) |
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Electricity - production:
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14.85 trillion
kWh (2001 est.) |
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Electricity - production by source:
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fossil fuel:
NA%
hydro: NA%
other: NA% (2001)
nuclear: NA% |
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Electricity - consumption:
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13.93 trillion
kWh (2001 est.) |
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Oil - production:
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75.34 million
bbl/day (2001 est.) |
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Oil - consumption:
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75.81 million
bbl/day (2001 est.) |
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Oil - proved reserves:
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1.025 trillion
bbl (1 January 2002) |
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Natural gas - production:
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2.578 trillion cu
m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - consumption:
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2.555 trillion cu
m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - exports:
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712 billion cu m
(2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - imports:
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697.5 billion cu
m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - proved reserves:
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161.2 trillion cu
m (1 January 2002) |
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Exports:
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$7.24 trillion
f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
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Exports - commodities:
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the whole range
of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
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Exports - partners:
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US 17.6%, Germany
7.6%, UK 5.4%, France 5.1%, Japan 4.8%, China 4.2% (2002) |
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Imports:
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$7.24 trillion
f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
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Imports - commodities:
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the whole range
of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
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Imports - partners:
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US 11.3%, Germany
9.1%, China 7.3%, Japan 6.9%, France 4.6%, UK 4% (2002) |
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Debt - external:
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$2 trillion for
less developed countries (2002 est.) |
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Economic aid - recipient:
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official
development assistance (ODA) $50 billion |
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Telephones - main lines in use:
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NA |
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Telephones - mobile cellular:
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NA |
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Telephone system:
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general
assessment: NA
domestic: NA
international: NA |
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Radio broadcast stations:
|
AM NA, FM NA,
shortwave NA |
|
Television broadcast stations:
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NA |
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Internet users:
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604,111,719 (2002
est.) |
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Railways:
|
total:
1,201,337 km includes 191,702 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
narrow gauge: 239,430 km
standard gauge: 710,754 km |
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Highways:
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total: NA
km
paved: NA km
unpaved: NA km |
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Ports and harbors:
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Chiba, Houston,
Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New
Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
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Military expenditures - dollar figure:
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aggregate real
expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at
approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a
trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
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Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
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roughly 2% of
gross world product (1999 est.) |
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Disputes - international:
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stretching over
250,000 km, the world's 322 international land boundaries
separate the 192 independent states and 70 dependencies, areas
of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities;
ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided
states into separate political entities as much as history,
physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in
sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; maritime states
have claimed limits and have so far established over 130
maritime boundaries and joint development zones to allocate
ocean resources and to provide for national security at sea;
boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary
in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or
militarized; most disputes over the alignment of political
boundaries are confined to short segments and are today less
common and less hostile than borderland, resource, and
territorial disputes; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and
unmanaged boundaries, however, encourage illegal cross-border
activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation;
territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or
cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource
competition; ethnic clashes continue to be responsible for
much of the territorial fragmentation around the world;
disputes over islands at sea or in rivers frequently form the
source of territorial and boundary conflict; other sources of
contention include access to water and mineral (especially
petroleum) resources, fisheries, and arable land; nonetheless,
most nations cooperate to clarify their international
boundaries and to resolve territorial and resource disputes
peacefully; regional discord directly affects the sustenance
and welfare of local populations, often leaving the world
community to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease,
impoverishment, deforestation, and desertification |
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Illicit drugs:
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cocaine:
worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 205,450 hectares -
almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia;
potential cocaine production during 2002 is estimated at 938
metric tons (or 1,200 metric tons of export quality cocaine at
an average of 78% purity); coca eradication programs continue
in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, and 292 metric tons of export
quality cocaine are documented to have been seized in 2002;
consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have
been 875 metric tons
opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an
estimated 141,213 hectares in 2002 and potentially produced
2,183 metric tons of opium - which conceivably could be
converted to the equivalent of 238 metric tons of pure heroin;
opium eradication programs have been undertaken in
Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and
Vietnam, and the annual average for opiates seized worldwide
over the past five years (1998-2002) has been 45 metric tons
of pure heroin equivalent; estimates for average annual
consumption over this time period are 315 metric tons pure
heroin equivalent |
This page was last updated on 11 May, 2004
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