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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
land: 148.94 million sq km
water: 361.132 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, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia,
Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia,
Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, 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 entities 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:
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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 |
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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: 10.73%
permanent crops: 1%
other: 88.27% (2001) |
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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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6,446,131,400 (July 2005 est.) |
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Age structure:
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0-14
years: 27.8% (male 919,726,623; female 870,468,158)
15-64 years: 64.9% (male 2,117,230,183; female
2,066,864,970)
65 years and over: 7.3% (male 207,903,775; female
263,627,270)
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 (2005 est.) |
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Median age:
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total:
27.6 years
male: 27 years
female: 28.2 years (2005 est.) |
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Population growth rate:
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1.14%
(2005 est.) |
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Birth rate:
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20.15
births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
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Death rate:
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8.78
deaths/1,000 population (2005 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 (2005 est.)
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Infant mortality rate:
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total:
50.11 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 52.1 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 48.01 deaths/1,000 live births (2005
est.) |
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Life expectancy at birth:
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total
population: 64.33 years
male: 62.73 years
female: 66.04 years (2005 est.) |
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Total fertility rate:
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2.6
children born/woman (2005 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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NA% |
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
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NA |
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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
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NA |
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Religions:
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Christians 32.84% (of which Roman Catholics 17.34%,
Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.44%, Anglicans 1.27%),
Muslims 19.9%, Hindus 13.29%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs
0.39%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 12.63%, non-religious
12.44%, atheists 2.36% (2003 est.) |
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Languages:
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Chinese,
Mandarin 13.69%, Spanish 5.05%, English 4.84%, Hindi
2.82%, Portuguese 2.77%, Bengali 2.68%, Russian 2.27%,
Japanese 1.99%, German, Standard 1.49%, Chinese, Wu
1.21% (2004 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: 82%
male: 87%
female: 77%
note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million
illiterate adults are found in only eight countries
(India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia,
Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate adults in
the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy
rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West
Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where
around one-third of the men and half of all women are
illiterate (2005 est.) |
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Administrative divisions:
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271
nations, dependent areas, and other entities |
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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 4.9% in 2004, led by China (9.1%), Russia
(6.7%), and India (6.2%). 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 7%
range of growth. Growth results posted by the major
industrial countries varied from a small gain in Italy
(1.3%) to a strong gain by the United States (4.4%). 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
decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably
the European Union. 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 75 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 an
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
continued into 2005. |
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GDP (purchasing power parity):
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GWP
(gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $55.5
trillion (2004 est.) |
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GDP - real growth rate:
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4.9%
(2004 est.) |
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GDP - per capita:
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purchasing power parity - $8,800 (2004 est.) |
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GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 4%
industry: 32%
services: 64% (2004 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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Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest
10%: NA %
highest 10%: NA % |
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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 (2004
est.) |
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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% (2003
est.) |
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Electricity - production:
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15.29
trillion kWh (2002 est.) |
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Electricity - production by source:
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fossil
fuel: NA
hydro: NA
nuclear: NA
other: NA (2001) |
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Electricity - consumption:
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14.28
trillion kWh (2002 est.) |
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Electricity - exports:
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500.8
billion kWh (2002 est.) |
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Electricity - imports:
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497.6
billion kWh (2002 est.) |
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Oil - production:
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76.01
million bbl/day (2001 est.) |
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Oil - consumption:
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77.04
million bbl/day (2001 est.) |
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Oil - proved reserves:
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1.025
trillion bbl (1 January 2002 est.) |
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Natural gas - production:
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2.637
trillion cu m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - consumption:
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2.599
trillion cu m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - exports:
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693.7
billion cu m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - imports:
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718.7
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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$8.819
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 15.7%,
Germany 7.7%, China 5.4%, France 5.1%, UK 5.1%, Japan
4.5% (2004) |
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Imports:
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$8.754
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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Germany
9.4%, US 9.3%, China 8.5%, Japan 6.5%, France 4.5%
(2004) |
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Debt - external:
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$12.7
trillion (2004 est.) |
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Economic aid - recipient:
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$154
billion official development assistance (ODA) (2004)
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Telephones - main lines in use:
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843,923,500 (2003) |
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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:
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AM NA, FM
NA, shortwave NA |
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Radios:
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NA |
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Television broadcast stations:
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NA |
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Televisions:
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NA |
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Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
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10,350
(2000 est.) |
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Internet users:
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604,111,719 (2002 est.) |
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Railways:
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total:
1,115,205 km
broad gauge: 257,481 km
standard gauge: 671,413 km
narrow gauge: 186,311 km (2003) |
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Highways:
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total:
32,345,165 km
paved: 19,403,061 km
unpaved: 12,942,104 km (2002) |
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Waterways:
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671,886
km (2004) |
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Merchant marine:
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total
ships: 30,936 (2005) |
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Airports:
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49,973
(2004) |
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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 325
international land boundaries separate the 192
independent states and 73 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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Refugees and internally displaced persons:
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the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
estimated that in December 2003 there was a global
population of 9.7 million refugees and as many as 25
million IDPs |
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Illicit drugs:
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cocaine: worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated
173,450 hectares - almost exclusively in South America
with 70% in Colombia; potential cocaine production
during 2003 is estimated at 728 metric tons (or 835
metric tons of export quality cocaine); coca eradication
programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru; 376
metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to
have been seized in 2003, and 26 metric tons disrupted
(jettisoned or destroyed); consumption of export quality
cocaine is estimated to have been 800 metric tons
opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on
an estimated 137,944 hectares in 2003 - mostly in
Southwest and Southeast Asia - with 44% in Afghanistan,
potentially produced 3,775 metric tons of opium, which
conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 429
metric tons of pure heroin; opium eradication programs
have been undertaken in Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia,
Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam |
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This page was last updated on
20 October, 2005 |
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