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The World
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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 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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Area: |
ttotal: 510.072
million sq km
land: 148.94
million sq km
water: 361.132
million sq km
note: 70.9%
of the world's surface is water, 29.1% is land |
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Area - comparative: |
land area about 16 times the size of
the US |
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Land boundaries: |
the land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km (not
counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and
Russia, each border 14 other countries
note: 45
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, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan,
Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi,
Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San
Marino, Serbia, 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: |
356,000 km
note: 94
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, 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, Falkland
Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French
Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland,
Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands,
Howland Island, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan Mayen,
Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef,
Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, 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 Barthelemy, 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, Turks and
Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake
Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan |
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Maritime claims: |
aa
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: |
a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates -
bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones -
that separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates |
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Terrain: |
the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m
in the Pacific Ocean |
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Elevation extremes: |
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: |
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: |
arable land: 10.57%
permanent crops: 1.04%
other: 88.38%
(2005) |
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Irrigated land: |
2,770,980 sq km (2003) |
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Natural hazards: |
large areas subject to severe weather
(tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes,
landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
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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;
global warming becoming a greater concern |
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Geography - note: |
the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old,
just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated
for the universe |
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Population: |
6,706,993,152 (July 2008 est.) |
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Age structure: |
0-14 years: 27.3%
(male 944,665,142/female 887,471,328)
15-64 years: 65.1%
65 years and over: 7.6%
(male 222,808,372/female 284,647,297) (2008 est.) |
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Median age: |
male: 27.4
years
female: 28.7
years (2008 est.) |
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Population growth rate: |
1.188% (2008 est.) |
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Birth rate: |
20.18 births/1,000 population (2008 est.) |
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Death rate: |
8.23 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.) |
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Sex ratio: |
at birth: 1.07
male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06
male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02
male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78
male(s)/female
total population: 1.01
male(s)/female (2008 est.) |
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Infant mortality rate: |
total: 42.09
deaths/1,000 live births
male: 44.91
deaths/1,000 live births
female: 39.09
deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.) |
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Life expectancy at birth: |
total population: 66.26
years
male: 64.3
years
female: 68.35
years (2008 est.) |
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Total fertility rate: |
2.61 children born/woman (2008 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: |
NA |
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: |
NA |
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HIV/AIDS - deaths: |
NA |
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Religions: |
Christians 33.32% (of which Roman Catholics 16.99%,
Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.53%, Anglicans 1.25%), Muslims
21.01%, Hindus 13.26%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.35%, Jews
0.23%, Baha'is 0.12%, other religions 11.78%, non-religious
11.77%, atheists 2.32% (2007 est.) |
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Languages: |
Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%,
Arabic 3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%,
Russian 2.2%, Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, French
1.2% (2005 est.) |
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Literacy: |
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: |
266 nations, dependent areas, and other entities |
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Legal system: |
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: |
Global output rose by 5.2% in 2007, led by China (11.4%),
India (9.2%), and Russia (8.1%). The 14 other 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 8%-10%
range of growth. From 2006 to 2007 growth rates slowed in
all the major industrial countries except for the United
Kingdom (3.1%). Analysts attribute the slowdown to
uncertainties in the financial markets and lowered consumer
confidence. Worldwide, nations varied widely in their growth
results. 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 EU. 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 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 accentuated
a 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
initial coalition victory, the complex political
difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing
domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that
continued through 2007. |
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GDP (purchasing power parity): |
GWP (gross world product): $65.61 trillion (2007 est.) |
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GDP (official exchange rate): |
GWP (gross world product): $54.62 trillion (2007 est.) |
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GDP - real growth rate: |
5.2% (2007 est.) |
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GDP - per capita (PPP): |
$10,000 (2007 est.) |
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GDP - composition by sector: |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32%
services: 64%
(2007 est.) |
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Labor force: |
3.131 billion (2007 est.) |
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Labor force - by occupation: |
agriculture: 40.2%
industry: 20.5%
services: 39.4%
(2007 est.) |
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Unemployment rate: |
30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many
non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically
4%-12% unemployment (2007 est.) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 29.8%
(2002 est.) |
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Inflation rate (consumer prices): |
developed countries 1% to 4% typically;
developing countries 5% to 20% typically; national inflation
rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices
in Japan to hyperinflation in one Third World countries
(Zimbabwe); inflation rates have declined for most countries
for the last several years, held in check by increasing
international competition from several low wage countries
(2005 est.) |
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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 |
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Industrial production growth rate: |
5% (2007 est.) |
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Electricity - production: |
18.58 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
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Electricity - consumption: |
16.83 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
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Electricity - exports: |
634.8 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity - imports: |
620.5 billion kWh (2005) |
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Oil - production: |
78.9 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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Oil - consumption: |
80.29 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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Oil - proved reserves: |
1.336 trillion bbl (1 January 2006 est.) |
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Natural gas - production: |
2.854 trillion cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - consumption: |
3 trillion cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - exports: |
808 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - imports: |
786.5 billion cu m (2005) |
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Natural gas - proved reserves: |
172 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
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Exports: |
$13.89 trillion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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Exports - commodities: |
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and
services
top ten - share of world trade: electrical
machinery, including computers 14.8%; mineral fuels,
including oil, coal, gas, and refined products 14.4%;
nuclear reactors, boilers, and parts 14.2%; cars, trucks,
and buses 8.9%; scientific and precision instruments 3.5%;
plastics 3.4%; iron and steel 2.7%; organic chemicals 2.6%;
pharmaceutical products 2.6%; diamonds, pearls, and precious
stones 1.9% (2006 est.) |
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Exports - partners: |
US 13.5%, Germany 7.4%, China 6.6%, France 4.6%, UK 4.5%,
Japan 4.1% (2007) |
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Imports: |
$13.74 trillion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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Imports - commodities: |
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and
services
top ten - share of world trade: see
listing for exports |
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Imports - partners: |
Germany 9.4%, US 9.3%, China 8.5%,
Japan 6.5%, France 4.5% (2004) |
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Debt - external: |
$51.78 trillion
note: this
figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt,
both public and private (2004 est.) |
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Economic aid - recipient: |
ODA, $106.4 billion (2005) |
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Telephones - main lines in use: |
ODA, $106.4 billion (2005) |
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Telephones - mobile cellular: |
2,168,433,600 (2005) |
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Telephone system: |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA
international: NA |
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Radio broadcast stations: |
AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
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Television broadcast stations: |
NA |
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Internet users: |
1,018,057,389 (2005) |
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Airports:
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total
airports - 49,024
top ten by passengers: Atlanta
- 84,846,639; Chicago - 77,028,134; London - 67,530,197;
Tokyo - 65,810,672; Los Angeles - 61,041,066; Dallas/Fort
Worth - 60,226,138; Paris - 56,849,567; Frankfurt -
52,810,683; Beijing - 48,654,770; Denver - 47,325,016
top ten by cargo (metric tons): Memphis
- 3,692,081; Hong Kong - 3,609,780; Anchorage - 2,691,395;
Seoul - 2,336,572; Tokyo - 2,280,830; Shanghai - 2,168,122;
Paris - 2,130,724; Frankfurt - 2,127,646; Louisville (US) -
1,983,032; Singapore - 1,931,881 (2006) |
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Heliports:
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1,359 (2007) |
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Railways:
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total: 1,370,782
km (2006) |
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Roadways:
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total: 32,345,165
km (2002) |
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Waterways:
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671,886 km
(2004) |
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Ports and terminals:
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top ten
container ports (TEUs): Singapore
- 24,792,400; Hong Kong - 23,539,000; Shanghai - 21,710,000;
Shenzhen (China) - 18,468,890; Busan (South Korea) -
12,030,000; Kaohsiung (Taiwan) - 9,774,670; - Rotterdam -
9,603,000; Dubai (UAE) - 8,923,465; Hamburg - 8,861,545; Los
Angeles - 8,469,853 (2006) |
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Military expenditures - dollar figure: |
aggregate real expenditure on arms
worldwide has increased in the beginning of the 21st
century, with the largest increase in the US; a rough
estimate for 2005 is $1.2 trillion (at puchasing power
parity) (2005 est.) |
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Military expenditures - percent of GDP: |
roughly 2% of gross world product (2005
est.) |
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Transnational Issues |
World |
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Disputes - international: |
stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 322 international land
boundaries separate 194 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; most maritime states
have claimed limits that include territorial seas and exclusive
economic zones; overlapping limits due to adjacent or opposite
coasts create the potential for 430 bilateral maritime
boundaries of which 209 have agreements that include contiguous
and non-contiguous segments; boundary, borderland/resource, and
territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant
to violent or militarized; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and
unmanaged boundaries tend to 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 and cultural clashes continue to be responsible for much
of the territorial fragmentation and internal displacement of
the estimated 6.6 million people and cross-border displacements
of 8.6 million refugees around the world as of early 2006; just
over one million refugees were repatriated in the same period;
other sources of contention include access to water and mineral
(especially hydrocarbon) resources, fisheries, and arable land;
armed conflict prevails not so much between the uniformed armed
forces of independent states as between stateless armed entities
that detract from the sustenance and welfare of local
populations, leaving the community of nations to cope with
resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, and
environmental degradation |
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Refugees and internally displaced persons: |
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
estimated that in December 2006 there was a global population of
8.8 million registered refugees and as many as 24.5 million IDPs
in more than 50 countries; the actual global population of
refugees is probably closer to 10 million given the estimated
1.5 million Iraqi refugees displaced throughout the Middle East
(2007) |
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Illicit drugs: |
cocaine: worldwide
coca leaf cultivation in 2005 amounted to 208,500 hectares;
Colombia produced slightly more than two-thirds of the worldwide
crop, followed by Peru and Bolivia; potential pure cocaine
production rose to 900 from 645 metric tons in 2005 - partially
due to improved methodologies used to calculate levels of
production; Colombia conducts aggressive coca eradication
campaign, but both Peruvian and Bolivian Governments are
hesitant to eradicate coca in key growing areas; 551 metric tons
of export-quality cocaine (85% pure) is documented to have been
seized or destroyed in 2005; US consumption of export quality
cocaine is estimated to have been in excess of 380 metric tons
opiates: worldwide
illicit opium poppy cultivation reached 208,500 hectares in
2005; potential opium production of 4,990 metric tons was only a
9% decrease over 2004's highest total recorded since estimates
began in mid-1980s; Afghanistan is world's primary opium
producer, accounting for 90% of the global supply; Southeast
Asia - responsible for 9% of global opium - saw marginal
increases in production; Latin America produced 1% of global
opium, but most was refined into heroin destined for the US
market; if all potential opium was processed into pure heroin,
the potential global production would be 577 metric tons of
heroin in 2005 |
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Trafficking in persons:
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current
situation: approximately
800,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked
annually across national borders, not including millions
trafficked within their own countries; at least 80% of the
victims are female and up to 50% are minors; 75% of all victims
are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation; almost
two-thirds of the global victims are trafficked intra-regionally
within East Asia and the Pacific (260,000 to 280,000 people) and
Europe and Eurasia (170,000 to 210,000 people)
Tier 2 Watch List: Albania,
Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burundi, Cameroon,
Central African Republic, Chad, China, Costa Rica, Cote
d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican
Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia,
Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, India, Jordan, Libya,
Malaysia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Niger, Panama, Republic of the
Congo, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Tier 3: Algeria,
Burma, Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Kuwait, Moldova, North Korea, Oman,
Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria (2008) |
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Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Britain
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burma
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo (Republic)
Congo (DRC)
Costa Rica
Cote D'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Holland
Holy See
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Korea (North)
Korea (South)
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Morocco
Namibia
Mozambique
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Lucia
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Vincent & The Grenadines
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tajikistan
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States of America
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
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