DEFINITIONS AND NOTES
Abbreviations This information is included in Appendix A: Abbreviations, which includes all abbreviations and acronyms used in the Factbook, with their expansions.
Acronyms An acronym is an abbreviation coined from the initial letter of each successive word in a term or phrase. In general, an acronym made up solely from the first letter of the major words in the expanded form is rendered in all capital letters (NATO from North Atlantic Treaty Organization; an exception would be ASEAN for Association of Southeast Asian Nations). In general, an acronym made up of more than the first letter of the major words in the expanded form is rendered with only an initial capital letter (Comsat from Communications Satellite Corporation; an exception would be NAM from Nonaligned Movement). Hybrid forms are sometimes used to distinguish between initially identical terms (ICC for International Chamber of Commerce and ICCt for International Criminal Court).
Administrative divisions This entry generally gives the numbers, designatory terms, and first-order administrative divisions as approved by the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN). Changes that have been reported but not yet acted on by the BGN are noted. Geographic names conform to spellings approved by the BGN with the exception of the omission of diacritical marks and special characters.
Age structure This entry provides the distribution of the population according to age. Information is included by sex and age group as follows: 0-14 years (children), 15-64 years (working age), and 65 years and over (elderly). The age structure of a population affects a nation’s key socioeconomic issues. Countries with young populations (high percentage under age 15) need to invest more in schools, while countries with older populations (high percentage ages 65 and over) need to invest more in the health sector. The age structure can also be used to help predict potential political issues. For example, the rapid growth of a young adult population unable to find employment can lead to unrest.
Agricultural products This entry provides a list of a country’s most important agricultural products, listed by annual tonnage.
Air pollutants This entry refers to specified gases and particulates released by various sources of animals, plants, goods, and processes that can contribute to global warming, poor air quality, pollution, and climate change.
particulate matter emissions - This entry provides the modeled annual mean concentration of particulate matter of less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) measured in micrograms per cubic meter of air. Exposure to PM2.5 pollutants should not exceed an annual mean concentration of 10 micrograms per cubic meter, according to World Health Organization guidelines. Particulate matter are inhalable and respirable particles composed of sulphate, nitrates, ammonia, sodium chloride, black carbon, mineral dust, and water. Fine particles less than 2.5 microns pose the greatest health risks because they can penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Sources include combustion engines, solid-fuel combustion, and other industrial activities. Exposure to high concentrations of particulate matter is associated with increased mortality and morbidity, although even low concentrations of particulate matter can impact health. By reducing air pollution levels, countries can decrease the burden of disease from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and both chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma.
carbon dioxide emissions - This entry provides the annual quantity of carbon dioxide emissions for a country, as measured in megatons. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas emitted through human-influenced and natural processes. Human-influenced sources include the burning of fossil fuels (including coal, natural gas, and oil), solid waste, trees, and other biological materials, as well as certain chemical processes, such as cement production. Natural sources include decomposition, ocean release, and respiration. Carbon dioxide is a major contributor to climate warming, air quality, global warming, and pollution.
methane emissions - This entry provides the annual quantity of methane emissions for a country, as measured in megatons. Methane is a greenhouse gas emitted from the breakdown of organic material from human-influenced and natural processes. Human-influenced sources include the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil; the decay of organic waste in landfills; agricultural activities; stationary and mobile combustion; waste water treatment; and certain industrial processes. Natural sources include the decay of plant material in wetlands, the seepage of gas from underground deposits, and the digestion of food by ruminants. Methane emissions cause poor air quality, health issues for animals and humans, and reduced crop yields, and are a contributor to climate change.
Airports This entry gives the total number of airports or airfields recognizable from the air. The runway(s) may be paved (concrete or asphalt surfaces) or unpaved (grass, earth, sand, or gravel surfaces) and may include closed or abandoned installations. Airports or airfields that are no longer recognizable (overgrown, no facilities, etc.) are not included. Note that not all airports have accommodations for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control.
Airports - with paved runways This entry gives the total number of airports with paved runways (concrete or asphalt surfaces); it includes four sub-fields listing the number of airports by type for civil airports, military airports, joint use (civil and military) airports, and other airports in a country. The description of each airport type follows below.
civil airports - active civil airfields controlled and operated by civil authorities primarily for use by civil aircraft, although the military may have landing privileges and/or contract rights. At a minimum, the following facilities and services must be available: Control tower or a similar air traffic control service, permanent hard surface runways, permanent or temporary lighting, fuel, and facilities for organizational maintenance or better.
military airports - active military airfields controlled and operated by military authorities primarily for use by military aircraft, although civil aircraft may have landing privileges and/or contracts rights. Minimum facilities and services are the same as for active civil airfields.
joint use airports - active joint (Civil and Military) airfields jointly controlled, used and/or operated by both civil and military agencies. The military agencies must be permanent, operational, flight line tenants with or without aircraft stationed on the airfield. Minimum facilities and services are the same as for active civil airfields.
other airports – active airports that do not meet the criteria for civil airports; most commonly the lack of a control tower for local air traffic control.
Only airports with usable runways are included in this listing.
Airports - with unpaved runways This entry gives the total number of airports with unpaved runways (grass, dirt, sand, or gravel surfaces) that are most suited to the operation of light aircraft. Only airports with usable runways are included in this listing. Air facilities with unpaved runways are usually fairly austere, lacking a control tower for traffic control, often there is no fixed base operator (FBO), and services like fuel and maintenance are limited or non-existent. The type of aircraft capable of operating from a runway of a given length is dependent upon a number of factors including elevation of the runway, runway gradient, average maximum daily temperature at the airport, engine types, flap settings, take-off weight of the aircraft, and landing speeds. The US Federal Aviation Administration states that smaller aircraft with approach speeds of 30-50 knots should use 244 m (800 ft.) at mean sea level. A note provides a succinct definition of what constitutes an unpaved runway and the factors that go into determining runway length.
Alcohol consumption per capita This entry provides information on alcohol consumption per capita (APC), which is the recorded amount of alcohol consumed per capita by persons aged 15 years and over in a calendar year, measured in liters of pure alcohol. APC is broken down further into beer, wine, spirits, and other subfields. Beer includes malt beers, wine includes wine made from grapes, spirits include all distilled beverages, and other includes one or several other alcoholic beverages, such as fermented beverages made from sorghum, maize, millet, rice, or cider, fruit wine, and fortified wine. APC only takes into account the consumption that is recorded from production, import, export, and sales data, primarily derived from taxation.
Area This entry includes three subfields. Total area is the sum of all land and water areas delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines. Land area is the aggregate of all surfaces delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines, excluding inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers). Water area is the sum of the surfaces of all inland water bodies, such as lakes, reservoirs, or rivers, as delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines.
Area - comparative This entry provides an area comparison based on total area equivalents. Most entities are compared with the entire US or one of the 50 states based on area measurements (1990 revised) provided by the US Bureau of the Census. The smaller entities are compared with Washington, DC (178 sq km, 69 sq mi) or The Mall in Washington, DC (0.59 sq km, 0.23 sq mi, 146 acres).
Area - rankings This entry, which appears only in the World, Geography category, provides rankings for the earth’s largest (or smallest) continents, countries, oceans, islands, mountain ranges, or other physical features.
Average household expenditures This entry refers to the average consumer expenditures on food, alcohol, and tobacco for the country specified in a given year. The data is presented as a percentage of all goods and services consumed in private settings for personal or household uses.
Background This entry usually highlights major historic events and current issues and may include a statement about one or two key future trends.
Bathymetry Beneath the smooth ocean surface extends an underwater landscape as complex as anything you might find on land. While the ocean has an average depth of 3.7 km (2.3 mi), the shape and depth of the seafloor is complex. The topography of the ocean floor is described in terms of bathymetry. This field describes the major bathymetric features found on the ocean floor. The profile of the ocean floor includes seven major features extending from the shoreline. Specific bathymetric features associated with each of the following categories are listed for each ocean.
• The Continental Shelf, a rather flat area of the sea floor adjacent to the coast that gradually slopes down from the shore to water depths of about 200 m (660 ft). It is narrow or nearly nonexistent in some places; in others, it extends for hundreds of miles. The waters along the continental shelf are usually productive in both plant and animal life, both from sunlight and nutrients from ocean upwelling and terrestrial runoff.
• The Continental Slope is where the bottom drops off more rapidly until it meets the deep-sea floor (Abyssal Plain) at about 3,200 m (10,500 ft) water depth. The deep waters of the Continental Slope are characterized by cold temperatures, low light conditions, and very high pressures. Sunlight does not penetrate to these depths, having been absorbed or reflected in the water above. The continental slope can be indented by submarine canyons, often associated with the outflow of major rivers. Another feature of the continental slope are alluvial fans or cones of sediments carried downstream to the ocean by major rivers and deposited down the slope.
• The Abyssal Plains, at depths of over 3,000 m (10,000 ft) and covering 70% of the ocean floor, are the largest habitat on earth. Sunlight does not penetrate to the sea floor, making these deep, dark ecosystems less productive than those along the continental shelf. But despite their name, these “plains” are not uniformly flat. They are interrupted by features like hills, valleys, and seamounts.
• The Mid-ocean Ridge, rising up from the Abyssal Plain, is an underwater mountain range, over 64,000 km (40,000 mi) long, rising to an average depth of 2,400 m (8,000 ft). Mid-ocean ridges form at divergent plate boundaries where two tectonic plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle. Tracing their way around the global ocean, this system of underwater volcanoes forms the longest mountain range on Earth.
• Seamounts are submarine mountains at least 1,000 m (3,300 ft) high formed from individual volcanoes on the ocean floor. They are distinct from the plate-boundary volcanic system of the mid-ocean ridges, because seamounts tend to be circular or conical. A circular collapse caldera is often centered at the summit, evidence of a magma chamber within the volcano. Flat topped seamounts are known as Guyots. Long chains of seamounts are often fed by “hot spots” in the deep mantle. These hot spots are associated with stationary plumes of molten rock rising from deep within the Earth’s mantle. These hot spot plumes melt through the overlying tectonic plate as it moves and supplies magma to the active volcanic island at the end of the chain of volcanic islands and seamounts.
• Ocean Trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean floor and are created by the process of subduction. Trenches form along convergent boundaries where tectonic plates are moving toward each other, and one plate sinks (is subducted) under another. The location where the sinking of a plate occurs is called a subduction zone. Subduction can occur when oceanic crust collides with and sinks under (subducts) continental crust resulting in volcanic, seismic, and mountain-building processes. Subduction can also occur in the convergence of two oceanic plates where one will sink under the other and in the process create a deep ocean trench. Subduction processes in oceanic-oceanic plate convergence also result in the formation of volcanoes. Over millions of years, the erupted lava and volcanic debris pile up on the ocean floor until a submarine volcano rises above sea level to form a volcanic island. Such volcanoes are typically strung out in chains called island arcs. As the name implies, volcanic island arcs, which closely parallel the trenches, are generally curved.
• Atolls are the remains of dormant volcanic islands. In warm tropical oceans, coral colonies establish themselves on the margins of the island. Then, over time, the high elevation of the island collapses and erodes away to sea level leaving behind an outline of the island in the form of the fringing coral reef. The resulting low island is typified by the coral reef surrounding a low elevation of sand and coral above sea level with an interior shallow lagoon. Often times the remaining dry land is broken into a ring of islets. Some lagoons can be hundreds of square kilometers. It may take as long as 300,000 years for an atoll formation to occur. Guyots are submerged atoll structures, which explains why they are flat topped seamounts.
Birth rate This entry gives the average annual number of births during a year per 1,000 persons in the population at midyear; also known as crude birth rate. The birth rate is usually the dominant factor in determining the rate of population growth. It depends on both the level of fertility and the age structure of the population.
Broadband - fixed subscriptions This entry gives the total number of fixed-broadband subscriptions, as well as the number of subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Fixed broadband is a physical wired connection to the Internet (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber) at speeds equal to or greater than 256 kilobits/second (256 kbit/s).
Broadcast media This entry provides information on the approximate number of public and private TV and radio stations in a country, as well as basic information on the availability of satellite and cable TV services.
Budget This entry includes revenues and expenditures. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) This entry records the difference between national government revenues and expenditures, expressed as a percent of GDP. A positive (+) number indicates that revenues exceeded expenditures (a budget surplus), while a negative (-) number indicates the reverse (a budget deficit). Normalizing the data, by dividing the budget balance by GDP, enables easy comparisons across countries and indicates whether a national government saves or borrows money. Countries with high budget deficits (relative to their GDPs) generally have more difficulty raising funds to finance expenditures, than those with lower deficits.
Capital This entry gives the name of the seat of government, its geographic coordinates, the time difference relative to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and the time observed in Washington, DC, and, if applicable, information on daylight saving time (DST). Where appropriate, a special time zone note has been added to highlight those countries that have multiple time zones. Finally, etymology explains how the capital acquired its name.
Carbon dioxide emissions This field refers to a country’s amount of carbon dioxide released by burning coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Data are reported in metric tonnes of CO2.
Child marriage This entry provides data on the prevalence of child marriage in a country. Data includes the percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 15, and before age 18; and men aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 18. Most girls who marry early drop out of school and often have early, high-risk pregnancies. Child brides are also at risk of abuse, exploitation, and separation from relatives and friends.
Children under the age of 5 years underweight This entry gives the percent of children under five considered to be underweight. Underweight means weight-for-age is less than minus two standard deviations from the median of the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards among children under 5 years of age. This statistic is an indicator of the nutritional status of a community. Children who suffer from growth retardation as a result of poor diets and/or recurrent infections tend to have a greater risk of suffering illness and death.
Citizenship This entry provides information related to the acquisition and exercise of citizenship; it includes four subfields:
citizenship by birth describes the acquisition of citizenship based on place of birth, known as Jus soli, regardless of the citizenship of parents.
citizenship by descent only describes the acquisition of citizenship based on the principle of Jus sanguinis, or by descent, where at least one parent is a citizen of the state and being born within the territorial limits of the state is not required. The majority of countries adhere to this practice. In some cases, citizenship is conferred through the father or mother exclusively.
dual citizenship recognized indicates whether a state permits a citizen to simultaneously hold citizenship in another state. Many states do not permit dual citizenship and the voluntary acquisition of citizenship in another country is grounds for revocation of citizenship. Holding dual citizenship makes an individual legally obligated to more than one state and can negate the normal consular protections afforded to citizens outside their original country of citizenship.
residency requirement for naturalization lists the length of time an applicant is required to live in a state before applying for naturalization. In most countries citizenship can be acquired through the legal process of naturalization. The requirements for naturalization vary by state but generally include no criminal record, good health, economic wherewithal, and a period of authorized residency in the state. This time period can vary enormously among states and is often used to make the acquisition of citizenship difficult or impossible.
Civil aircraft registration country code prefix This entry provides the one- or two-character alphanumeric code indicating the nationality of civil aircraft. Article 20 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), signed in 1944, requires that all aircraft engaged in international air navigation bear appropriate nationality marks. The aircraft registration number consists of two parts: a prefix consisting of a one- or two-character alphanumeric code indicating nationality and a registration suffix of one to five characters for the specific aircraft. The prefix codes are based upon radio call-signs allocated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to each country. Since 1947, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has managed code standards and their allocation.
Climate This entry includes a brief description of typical weather regimes throughout the year; in the World entry only, it includes four subfields that describe climate extremes:
ten driest places on earth (average annual precipitation) describes the annual average precipitation measured in both millimeters and inches for selected countries with climate extremes.
ten wettest places on earth (average annual precipitation) describes the annual average precipitation measured in both millimeters and inches for selected countries with climate extremes.
ten coldest places on earth (lowest average monthly temperature) describes temperature measured in both degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit as well as the month of the year for selected countries with climate extremes.
ten hottest places on earth (highest average monthly temperature) describes the temperature measured both in degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit as well the month of the year for selected countries with climate extremes.
Coal This field refers to a country’s coal and metallurgical coke production, consumption, exports, imports, and proven reserves. These energy sources include anthracite, metallurgical, bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite coal and metallurgical coke. Proven reserves are those quantities of coal that have been analyzed as commercially recoverable in the future based on known reservoirs and assuming current economic conditions. Data are reported in metric tons, and one metric ton is 1,000 kilograms.
Coastline This entry gives the total length of the boundary between the land area (including islands) and the sea.
Communications This category deals with the means of exchanging information and includes entries on telephones (fixed and mobile), telecommunication systems, broadcast media, Internet users, and broadband subscriptions.
Communications - note This entry includes miscellaneous communications information of significance not included elsewhere.
Constitution This entry provides information on a country’s constitution and includes two subfields. The history subfield includes the dates of previous constitutions and the main steps and dates in formulating and implementing the latest constitution. For countries with 1-3 previous constitutions, the years are listed; for those with 4-9 previous, the entry is listed as “several previous,” and for those with 10 or more, the entry is “many previous.” The amendments subfield summarizes the process of amending a country’s constitution – from proposal through passage – and the dates of amendments, which are treated in the same manner as the constitution dates. Where appropriate, summaries are composed from English-language translations of non-English constitutions, which derive from official or non-official translations or machine translators.
The main steps in creating a constitution and amending it usually include the following steps: proposal, drafting, legislative and/or executive branch review and approval, public referendum, and entry into law. This process is lengthy in many countries. Terms commonly used to describe constitutional changes are “amended,” “revised,” or “reformed.” In countries such as South Korea and Turkmenistan, sources differ as to whether changes are stated as new constitutions or are amendments/revisions to existing ones.
A few countries including Canada, Israel, and the UK, have no single constitution document, but have various written and unwritten acts, statutes, common laws, and practices that, when taken together, describe a body of fundamental principles or established precedents as to how their countries are governed. Some special regions (Hong Kong, Macau) and countries (Oman, Saudi Arabia) use the term “basic law” instead of constitution.
A number of self-governing dependencies and territories, such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and Gibraltar (UK), Greenland and Faroe Islands (Denmark), Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten (Netherlands), and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (US), have their own constitutions.
Contraceptive prevalence rate This field gives the percent of women of reproductive age (15-49) who are married or in union and are using, or whose sexual partner is using, a method of contraception according to the date of the most recent available data. The contraceptive prevalence rate is an indicator of health services, development, and women’s empowerment. It is also useful in understanding, past, present, and future fertility trends, especially in developing countries.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) UTC is the international atomic time scale that serves as the basis of timekeeping for most of the world. The hours, minutes, and seconds expressed by UTC represent the time of day at the Prime Meridian (0° longitude) located near Greenwich, England, UK as reckoned from midnight. UTC is calculated by the Bureau International des Poids et Measures (BIPM) in Sevres, France. The BIPM averages data collected from more than 200 atomic time and frequency standards located at about 50 laboratories worldwide. UTC is the basis for all civil time, with the world divided into time zones expressed as positive or negative differences from UTC. UTC is also referred to as “Zulu time.” See the Standard Time Zones of the World map included with the Reference Maps.
Country data codes See Data codes.
Country map Most versions of the Factbook website provides a map in color for each country. The maps were produced from the best information available at the time of preparation. Names and/or boundaries may have changed subsequently.
Country name This entry includes all forms of the country’s name approved by the US Board on Geographic Names (Italy is used as an example): conventional long form (Italian Republic), conventional short form (Italy), local long form (Repubblica Italiana), local short form (Italia), former (Kingdom of Italy), as well as the abbreviation (if applicable). Additionally, an etymology entry explains how the country acquired its name. Also see the Terminology note.
Credit ratings This entry provides the current bond ratings for a country or territory from each of the three major credit bureaus (Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard & Poors). These ratings allow investors, including international finance institutions (e.g., the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, etc.) to understand how likely a government’s bond is to default. Rating factors include the following aspects: current account balance, debt payment history and timeliness, banking and financial operations, future economic outlook, and national economic strength. While in recent years other credit rating agencies have proliferated, these three credit agencies constitute more than 95% of the credit evaluation market globally and are the primary sovereign debt ratings considered by international and regional finance institutions.
Current account balance This entry records a country’s net trade in goods and services, plus net earnings from rents, interest, profits, and dividends, and net transfer payments (such as pension funds and worker remittances) to and from the rest of the world during the period specified. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
Current health expenditure Current health expenditure (CHE) describes the share of spending on health in each country relative to the size of its economy. It includes expenditures corresponding to the final consumption of health care goods and services and excludes investment, exports, and intermediate consumption. CHE shows the importance of the health sector in the economy and indicates the priority given to health in monetary terms. Note: Current health expenditure replaces the former Health Expenditures field and is calculated differently.
Currently married women This field provides the percentage of married or in-union women among women of reproductive age (15-49).
Currently married women (ages 15-49) This field provides the percentage of married or in-union women among women of reproductive age (15-49).
Data codes This information is presented in Appendix D: Country Data Codes and Appendix E: Hydrographic Data Codes. Both are available in the online edition.
Date of information In general, information available as of January in a given year is used in the preparation of the printed edition.
Daylight Saving Time (DST) This entry is included for those entities that have adopted a policy of adjusting the official local time forward, usually one hour, from Standard Time during summer months. Such policies are most common in mid-latitude regions.
Death rate This entry gives the average annual number of deaths during a year per 1,000 persons at midyear; also known as crude death rate. The death rate, while only a rough indicator of the mortality situation in a country, accurately indicates the current mortality impact on population growth. This indicator is significantly affected by age distribution, and most countries will eventually show a rise in the overall death rate, in spite of continued decline in mortality at all ages, as declining fertility and increased lifespans result in an aging population.
Debt - external This entry gives the total public and private debt owed to nonresidents repayable in internationally accepted currencies, goods, or services. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
Demographic profile This entry describes a country’s key demographic features and trends and how they vary among regional, ethnic, and socioeconomic sub-populations. Some of the topics addressed are population age structure, fertility, health, mortality, poverty, education, and migration.
Dependency ratios Dependency ratios are a measure of the age structure of a population. They relate the number of individuals that are likely to be economically “dependent” on the support of others. Dependency ratios contrast the ratio of youths (ages 0-14) and the elderly (ages 65+) to the number of those in the working-age group (ages 15-64). Changes in the dependency ratio provide an indication of potential social support requirements resulting from changes in population age structures. As fertility levels decline, the dependency ratio initially falls because the proportion of youths decreases while the proportion of the population of working age increases. As fertility levels continue to decline, dependency ratios eventually increase because the proportion of the population of working age starts to decline and the proportion of elderly persons continues to increase.
total dependency ratio - The total dependency ratio is the ratio of combined youth population (ages 0-14) and elderly population (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64). A high total dependency ratio indicates that the working-age population and the overall economy face a greater burden to support and provide social services for youth and elderly persons, who are often economically dependent.
youth dependency ratio - The youth dependency ratio is the ratio of the youth population (ages 0-14) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64). A high youth dependency ratio indicates that a greater investment needs to be made in schooling and other services for children.
elderly dependency ratio - The elderly dependency ratio is the ratio of the elderly population (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64). Increases in the elderly dependency ratio put added pressure on governments to fund pensions and healthcare.
potential support ratio - The potential support ratio is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.
Dependency status This entry describes the formal relationship between a particular nonindependent entity and an independent state.
Dependent areas This entry contains an alphabetical listing of all nonindependent entities associated in some way with a particular independent state.
Diplomatic representation The US Government has diplomatic relations with 190 independent states, including 188 of the 193 UN members (excluded UN members are Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and the US itself). In addition, the US has diplomatic relations with 2 independent states that are not in the UN, the Holy See and Kosovo, as well as with the EU.
Diplomatic representation from the US This entry includes the chief of mission, embassy address, mailing address, telephone number, FAX number, email and website addresses, branch office locations, consulate general locations, and consulate locations.
Diplomatic representation in the US This entry includes the chief of mission, chancery address, telephone, FAX, email and website addresses, consulate general locations, and consulate locations. The use of the annotated title Appointed Ambassador refers to a new ambassador who has presented his/her credentials to the secretary of state but not the US president. Such ambassadors fulfill all diplomatic functions except meeting with or appearing at functions attended by the president until such time as they formally present their credentials at a White House ceremony.
Disputes - international This entry includes a wide variety of situations that range from traditional bilateral boundary disputes to unilateral claims of one sort or another. References to other situations involving borders or frontiers may also be included, such as resource disputes, geopolitical questions, or irredentist issues; however, inclusion does not necessarily constitute official acceptance or recognition by the US Government.
Drinking water source This entry provides information about access to improved or unimproved drinking water sources available to segments of the population of a country. Improved drinking water - use of any of the following sources: piped water into dwelling, yard, or plot; public tap or standpipe; tubewell or borehole; protected dug well; protected spring; or rainwater collection. Unimproved drinking water - use of any of the following sources: unprotected dug well; unprotected spring; cart with small tank or drum; tanker truck; surface water, which includes rivers, dams, lakes, ponds, streams, canals or irrigation channels; or bottled water.
Economic overview This entry briefly describes five economic components for a given country:
* National Economy, including a brief economic history;
* Domestic Markets, including labor and wage markets, as well as brief commentary on economic sector portfolios;
* Financial Power and Public Finance, including brief discussions of financial market strengths and security, lending/exchange rates (especially if abnormalities exist), and foreign direct investments;
* Trade Power and Influence, including brief commentary on chief imports and exports; and
* Regional Strategy and Efforts, including key partners, regional economic development efforts, and any underlying economic data integrity concerns.
Economy This category includes the entries dealing with the size, development, and management of productive resources, i.e., land, labor, and capital.
Economy of the area administered by Turkish Cypriots This entry, which appears only in the Cyprus, Economy category, provides economic information about the area administered by the Turkish Cypriots.
Education expenditures This entry provides the public expenditure on education as a percent of GDP.
Electricity This field refers to a country’s installed generating capacities, consumption, exports, imports, and transmission/distribution losses.
installed generating capacity - the total capacity of a country’s currently operational electric power generation, expressed in kilowatts (kW). A kilowatt produces one hour of continuously run electricity, referred to commonly in many appliances as a kilowatt hour (kWh).
consumption - a country’s total electricity generated annually plus any imports and minus exports, expressed in kWh.
exports - a country’s total amount of exported electricity in kWh.
imports - a country’s total amount of imported electricity in kWh.
transmission/distribution losses - the combined difference between the amount of electricity generated and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported.
Electricity access This entry provides information on access to electricity. Electrification data – collected from industry reports, national surveys, and international sources – consists of four subfields. Population without electricity provides an estimate of the number of citizens that do not have access to electricity. Electrification – total population is the percent of a country’s total population with access to electricity, electrification – urban areas is the percent of a country’s urban population with access to electricity, while electrification – rural areas is the percent of a country’s rural population with access to electricity. Due to differences in definitions and methodology from different sources, data quality may vary from country to country.
Electricity generation sources This field refers a country’s energy portfolio of fossil fuels, nuclear, solar, wind, hydroelectricity, tide and wave, geothermal, and biomass and waste. Portfolios are expressed as a percentage share of a country’s total generating capacity.
Elevation This entry includes the mean elevation and elevation extremes, lowest point and highest point.
Energy This category includes entries dealing with the production, consumption, import, and export of various forms of energy, including electricity, crude oil, refined petroleum products, and natural gas.
Energy consumption per capita This entry refers to a country’s total energy consumption per capita, including the consumption of petroleum, dry natural gas, coal, net nuclear, hydroelectric, and non-hydroelectric renewable electricity. Data are reported in British thermal Units per person (Btu/person).
Entities Some of the independent states, dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and governments included in this publication are not independent, and others are not officially recognized by the US Government. “Independent state” refers to a people politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory. “Dependencies” and “areas of special sovereignty” refer to a broad category of political entities that are associated in some way with an independent state. “Country” names used in the table of contents or for page headings are usually the short-form names as approved by the US Board on Geographic Names and may include independent states, dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty, or other geographic entities. There are a total of 266 separate geographic entities in The World Factbook that may be categorized as follows:
INDEPENDENT STATES
197 Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, North Korea, South Korea, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, NZ, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, UAE, UK, US, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
OTHER
2 Taiwan, European Union
DEPENDENCIES AND AREAS OF SPECIAL SOVEREIGNTY
6 Australia - Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island
2 China - Hong Kong, Macau
2 Denmark - Faroe Islands, Greenland
8 France - Clipperton Island, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, New Caledonia, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna
3 Netherlands - Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten
1 New Zealand - Tokelau
3 Norway - Bouvet Island, Jan Mayen, Svalbard
17 UK - Akrotiri, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dhekelia, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands
14 US - American Samoa, Baker Island*, Guam, Howland Island*, Jarvis Island*, Johnston Atoll*, Kingman Reef*, Midway Islands*, Navassa Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll*, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Wake Island (* consolidated in United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges entry)
MISCELLANEOUS
5 Antarctica, Gaza Strip, Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, West Bank
OTHER ENTITIES
5 oceans - Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean
1 World
266 total
Environment - current issues This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:
Acidification - the lowering of soil and water pH due to acid precipitation and deposition usually through precipitation; this process disrupts ecosystem nutrient flows and may kill freshwater fish and plants dependent on more neutral or alkaline conditions (see acid rain).
Acid rain - characterized as containing harmful levels of sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide; acid rain is damaging and potentially deadly to the earth’s fragile ecosystems; acidity is measured using the pH scale where 7 is neutral, values greater than 7 are considered alkaline, and values below 5.6 are considered acid precipitation; note - a pH of 2.4 (the acidity of vinegar) has been measured in rainfall in New England.
Aerosol - a collection of airborne particles dispersed in a gas, smoke, or fog.
Afforestation - converting a bare or agricultural space by planting trees and plants; reforestation involves replanting trees on areas that have been cut or destroyed by fire.
Asbestos - a naturally occurring soft fibrous mineral commonly used in fireproofing materials and considered to be highly carcinogenic in particulate form.
Biodiversity - also biological diversity; the relative number of species, diverse in form and function, at the genetic, organism, community, and ecosystem level; loss of biodiversity reduces an ecosystem’s ability to recover from natural or man-induced disruption.
Bio-indicators - a plant or animal species whose presence, abundance, and health reveal the general condition of its habitat.
Biomass - the total weight or volume of living matter in a given area or volume.
Carbon cycle - the term used to describe the exchange of carbon (in various forms, e.g., as carbon dioxide) between the atmosphere, ocean, terrestrial biosphere, and geological deposits.
Catchments - assemblages used to capture and retain rainwater and runoff; an important water management technique in areas with limited freshwater resources, such as Gibraltar.
DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) - a colorless, odorless insecticide that has toxic effects on most animals; the use of DDT was banned in the US in 1972.
Defoliants - chemicals which cause plants to lose their leaves artificially; often used in agricultural practices for weed control, and may have detrimental impacts on human and ecosystem health.
Deforestation - the destruction of vast areas of forest (e.g., unsustainable forestry practices, agricultural and range land clearing, and the over exploitation of wood products for use as fuel) without planting new growth.
Desertification - the spread of desert-like conditions in arid or semi-arid areas, due to overgrazing, loss of agriculturally productive soils, or climate change.
Dredging - the practice of deepening an existing waterway; also, a technique used for collecting bottom-dwelling marine organisms (e.g., shellfish) or harvesting coral, often causing significant destruction of reef and ocean-floor ecosystems.
Drift-net fishing - done with a net, miles in extent, that is generally anchored to a boat and left to float with the tide; often results in an over harvesting and waste of large populations of non-commercial marine species (by-catch) by its effect of “sweeping the ocean clean.”
Ecosystems - ecological units comprised of complex communities of organisms and their specific environments.
Effluents - waste materials, such as smoke, sewage, or industrial waste which are released into the environment, subsequently polluting it.
Endangered species - a species that is threatened with extinction either by direct hunting or habitat destruction.
Freshwater - water with very low soluble mineral content; sources include lakes, streams, rivers, glaciers, and underground aquifers.
Greenhouse gas - a gas that “traps” infrared radiation in the lower atmosphere causing surface warming; water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, and ozone are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Groundwater - water sources found below the surface of the earth often in naturally occurring reservoirs in permeable rock strata; the source for wells and natural springs.
Highlands Water Project - a series of dams constructed jointly by Lesotho and South Africa to redirect Lesotho’s abundant water supply into a rapidly growing area in South Africa; while it is the largest infrastructure project in southern Africa, it is also the most costly and controversial; objections to the project include claims that it forces people from their homes, submerges farmlands, and squanders economic resources.
Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) - represents the roughly 150,000 Inuits of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia in international environmental issues; a General Assembly convenes every three years to determine the focus of the ICC; the most current concerns are long-range transport of pollutants, sustainable development, and climate change.
Metallurgical plants - industries which specialize in the science, technology, and processing of metals; these plants produce highly concentrated and toxic wastes which can contribute to pollution of ground water and air when not properly disposed.
Noxious substances - injurious, very harmful to living beings.
Overgrazing - the grazing of animals on plant material faster than it can naturally regrow leading to the permanent loss of plant cover, a common effect of too many animals grazing limited range land.
Ozone shield - a layer of the atmosphere composed of ozone gas (O3) that resides approximately 25 miles above the Earth’s surface and absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation that can be harmful to living organisms.
Poaching - the illegal killing of animals or fish, a great concern with respect to endangered or threatened species.
Pollution - the contamination of a healthy environment by man-made waste.
Potable water - water that is drinkable, safe to be consumed.
Salination - the process through which fresh (drinkable) water becomes salt (undrinkable) water; hence, desalination is the reverse process; also involves the accumulation of salts in topsoil caused by evaporation of excessive irrigation water, a process that can eventually render soil incapable of supporting crops.
Siltation - occurs when water channels and reservoirs become clotted with silt and mud, a side effect of deforestation and soil erosion.
Slash-and-burn agriculture - a rotating cultivation technique in which trees are cut down and burned in order to clear land for temporary agriculture; the land is used until its productivity declines at which point a new plot is selected and the process repeats; this practice is sustainable while population levels are low and time is permitted for regrowth of natural vegetation; conversely, where these conditions do not exist, the practice can have disastrous consequences for the environment.
Soil degradation - damage to the land’s productive capacity because of poor agricultural practices such as the excessive use of pesticides or fertilizers, soil compaction from heavy equipment, or erosion of topsoil, eventually resulting in reduced ability to produce agricultural products.
Soil erosion - the removal of soil by the action of water or wind, compounded by poor agricultural practices, deforestation, overgrazing, and desertification.
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation - a portion of the electromagnetic energy emitted by the sun and naturally filtered in the upper atmosphere by the ozone layer; UV radiation can be harmful to living organisms and has been linked to increasing rates of skin cancer in humans.
Waterborne diseases - those in which bacteria survive in, and are transmitted through, water; always a serious threat in areas with an untreated water supply.
Environment - international agreements This entry separates country participation in international environmental agreements into two levels - party to and signed, but not ratified. Agreements are listed in alphabetical order by the abbreviated form of the full name.
Environmental agreements This information is presented in Appendix C: Selected International Environmental Agreements, which includes the name, abbreviation, date opened for signature, date entered into force, objective, and parties by category. Consult the online edition of The World Factbook.
Ethnic groups This entry provides an ordered listing of ethnic groups starting with the largest and normally includes the percent of total population.
Exchange rates This entry provides the average annual price of a country’s monetary unit for the time period specified, expressed in units of local currency per US dollar, as determined by international market forces or by official fiat. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 4217 alphabetic currency code for the national medium of exchange is presented in parenthesis. Closing daily exchange rates are not presented in The World Factbook, but are used to convert stock values - e.g., the market value of publicly traded shares - to US dollars as of the specified date.
Executive branch This entry includes five subentries: chief of state; head of government; cabinet; elections/appointments; election results. Chief of state includes the name, title, and beginning date in office of the titular leader of the country who represents the state at official and ceremonial functions but may not be involved with the day-to-day activities of the government. Head of government includes the name, title of the top executive designated to manage the executive branch of the government, and the beginning date in office. Cabinet includes the official name of the executive branch’s high-ranking body and the method of member selection. Elections/appointments includes the process for accession to office, date of the last election, and date of the next election. Election results includes each candidate’s political affiliation, percent of direct popular vote or indirect legislative/parliamentary percent vote or vote count in the last election.
The executive branches in approximately 80% of the world’s countries have separate chiefs of state and heads of government; for the remainder, the chief of state is also the head of government, such as in Argentina, Kenya, the Philippines, the US, and Venezuela. Chiefs of state in just over 100 countries are directly elected, most by majority popular vote; those in another 55 are indirectly elected by their national legislatures, parliaments, or electoral colleges. Another 29 countries have a monarch as the chief of state. In dependencies, territories, and collectivities of sovereign countries - except those of the US - representatives are appointed to serve as chiefs of state.
Heads of government in the majority of countries are appointed either by the president or the monarch or selected by the majority party in the legislative body. Excluding countries where the chief of state is also head of government, in only a few countries is the head of government directly elected through popular vote.
Most of the world’s countries have cabinets, the majority of which are appointed by the chief of state or prime minister, many in consultation with each other or with the legislature. Cabinets in only about a dozen countries are elected solely by their legislative bodies.
Exports This entry provides the total US dollar amount of merchandise exports on an f.o.b. (free on board) basis. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
Exports - commodities This entry provides a listing of the highest-valued exported commodities.
Exports - partners This entry provides a rank ordering of trading partners starting with the most important; it sometimes includes the percent of total dollar value.
Fiscal year This entry identifies the beginning and ending months for a country’s accounting period of 12 months, which often is the calendar year but which may begin in any month. All yearly references are for the calendar year (CY) unless indicated as a noncalendar fiscal year (FY).
Flag description This entry provides a written flag description produced from actual flags or the best information available at the time the entry was written. The flags of independent states are used by their dependencies unless there is an officially recognized local flag. Some disputed and other areas do not have flags.
Flag graphic Most versions of the Factbook include a color flag at the beginning of the country profile. The flag graphics were produced from actual flags or the best information available at the time of preparation. The flags of independent states are used by their dependencies unless there is an officially recognized local flag. Some disputed and other areas do not have flags.
Food insecurity Food crises are nearly always due to a combination of factors, but it is important to establish whether the nature of food crises is predominantly related to lack of food availability, limited access to food, or severe but localized problems. Countries in crisis requiring external assistance for food are expected to lack the resources to deal with reported critical problems of food insecurity. Three levels of crises are described in this field in descending severity: countries facing an exceptional shortfall in aggregate food production/supplies as a result of crop failure, natural disasters, interruption of imports, disruption of distribution, excessive post-harvest losses, or other supply bottlenecks; countries with widespread lack of access, where a majority of the population is considered to be unable to procure food from local markets, due to very low incomes, exceptionally high food prices, or the inability to circulate within the country; countries with severe localized food insecurity due to the influx of refugees, a concentration of internally displaced persons, or areas with combinations of crop failure and deep poverty.
GDP - composition, by end use This entry shows who does the spending in an economy: consumers, businesses, government, and foreigners. The distribution gives the percentage contribution to total GDP of household consumption, government consumption, investment in fixed capital, investment in inventories, exports of goods and services, and imports of goods and services, and will total 100 percent of GDP if the data are complete.
household consumption consists of expenditures by resident households, and by nonprofit institutions that serve households, on goods and services that are consumed by individuals. This includes consumption of both domestically produced and foreign goods and services.
government consumption consists of government expenditures on goods and services. These figures exclude government transfer payments, such as interest on debt, unemployment, and social security, since such payments are not made in exchange for goods and services supplied.
investment in fixed capital consists of total business spending on fixed assets, such as factories, machinery, equipment, dwellings, and inventories of raw materials, which provide the basis for future production. It is measured gross of the depreciation of the assets, i.e., it includes investment that merely replaces worn-out or scrapped capital. Earlier editions of The World Factbook referred to this concept as Investment (gross fixed) and that data now have been moved to this new field.
investment in inventories consists of net changes to the stock of outputs that are still held by the units that produce them, awaiting further sale to an end user, such as automobiles sitting on a dealer’s lot or groceries on the store shelves. This figure may be positive or negative. If the stock of unsold output increases during the relevant time period, investment in inventories is positive, but, if the stock of unsold goods declines, it will be negative. Investment in inventories normally is an early indicator of the state of the economy. If the stock of unsold items increases unexpectedly – because people stop buying - the economy may be entering a recession; but if the stock of unsold items falls - and goods “go flying off the shelves” - businesses normally try to replace those stocks, and the economy is likely to accelerate.
exports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, gifts, or grants of goods and services from residents to nonresidents.
imports of goods and services consist of purchases, barter, or receipts of gifts, or grants of goods and services by residents from nonresidents. Exports are treated as a positive item, while imports are treated as a negative item. In a purely accounting sense, imports have no direct impact on GDP, which only measures output of the domestic economy. Imports are entered as a negative item to offset the fact that the expenditure figures for consumption, investment, government, and exports also include expenditures on imports. These imports contribute directly to foreign GDP but only indirectly to domestic GDP. Because of this negative offset for imports of goods and services, the sum of the other five items, excluding imports, will always total more than 100 percent of GDP. A surplus of exports of goods and services over imports indicates an economy is investing abroad, while a deficit indicates an economy is borrowing from abroad.
GDP - composition, by sector of origin This entry shows where production takes place in an economy. The distribution gives the percentage contribution of agriculture, industry, and services to total GDP, and will total 100 percent of GDP if the data are complete. Agriculture includes farming, fishing, and forestry. Industry includes mining, manufacturing, energy production, and construction. Services cover government activities, communications, transportation, finance, and all other private economic activities that do not produce material goods.
GDP (official exchange rate) This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A nation’s GDP at official exchange rates (OER) is the home-currency-denominated annual GDP figure divided by the bilateral average US exchange rate with that country in that year. The measure is simple to compute and gives a precise measure of the value of output. Many economists prefer this measure when gauging the economic power an economy maintains vis-à-vis its neighbors, judging that an exchange rate captures the purchasing power a nation enjoys in the international marketplace. Official exchange rates, however, can be artificially fixed and/or subject to manipulation - resulting in claims of the country having an under- or over-valued currency - and are not necessarily the equivalent of a market-determined exchange rate. Moreover, even if the official exchange rate is market-determined, market exchange rates are frequently established by a relatively small set of goods and services (the ones the country trades) and may not capture the value of the larger set of goods the country produces. Furthermore, OER-converted GDP is not well suited to comparing domestic GDP over time, since appreciation/depreciation from one year to the next will make the OER GDP value rise/fall regardless of whether home-currency-denominated GDP changed.
GDP methodology In the Economy category, GDP dollar estimates for countries are reported both on an official exchange rate (OER) and a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. Both measures contain information that is useful to the reader. The PPP method involves the use of standardized international dollar price weights, which are applied to the quantities of final goods and services produced in a given economy. The data derived from the PPP method probably provide the best available starting point for comparisons of economic strength and well-being between countries. In contrast, the currency exchange rate method involves a variety of international and domestic financial forces that may not capture the value of domestic output. Whereas PPP estimates for OECD countries are quite reliable, PPP estimates for developing countries are often rough approximations. In developing countries with weak currencies, the exchange rate estimate of GDP in dollars is typically one-fourth to one-half the PPP estimate. Most of the GDP estimates for developing countries are based on extrapolation of PPP numbers published by the UN International Comparison Program (UNICP) and by Professors Robert Summers and Alan Heston of the University of Pennsylvania and their colleagues. GDP derived using the OER method should be used for the purpose of calculating the share of items such as exports, imports, military expenditures, external debt, or the current account balance, because the dollar values presented in the Factbook for these items have been converted at official exchange rates, not at PPP. One should use the OER GDP figure to calculate the proportion of, say, Chinese defense expenditures in GDP, because that share will be the same as one calculated in local currency units. Comparison of OER GDP with PPP GDP may also indicate whether a currency is over- or under-valued. If OER GDP is smaller than PPP GDP, the official exchange rate may be undervalued, and vice versa. However, there is no strong historical evidence that market exchange rates move in the direction implied by the PPP rate, at least not in the short- or medium-term. Note: the numbers for GDP and other economic data should not be chained together from successive volumes of the Factbook because of changes in the US dollar measuring rod, revisions of data by statistical agencies, use of new or different sources of information, and changes in national statistical methods and practices.
Geographic coordinates This entry includes rounded latitude and longitude figures for the centroid or center point of a country expressed in degrees and minutes; it is based on the locations provided in the Geographic Names Server (GNS), maintained by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on behalf of the US Board on Geographic Names.
Geographic names This information is presented in Appendix F: Geographic Names in the online edition of The World Factbook. It includes a listing of various alternate names, former names, local names, and regional names referenced to one or more related Factbook entries. Spellings are normally, but not always, those approved by the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN). Alternate names and additional information are included in parentheses.
Geographic overview This entry, which appears only in the World, Geography category, provides basic geographic information about the earth’s oceans and continents. The entry also lists all of the countries that compose each continent.
Geography This category includes the entries dealing with the natural environment and the effects of human activity.
Geography - note This entry includes miscellaneous geographic information of significance not included elsewhere.
Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income This entry measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country. The index is calculated from the Lorenz curve, in which cumulative family income is plotted against the number of families arranged from the poorest to the richest. The index is the ratio of (a) the area between a country’s Lorenz curve and the 45 degree helping line to (b) the entire triangular area under the 45 degree line. The more nearly equal a country’s income distribution, the closer its Lorenz curve to the 45 degree line and the lower its Gini index, e.g., a Scandinavian country with an index of 25. The more unequal a country’s income distribution, the farther its Lorenz curve from the 45 degree line and the higher its Gini index, e.g., a Sub-Saharan country with an index of 50. If income were distributed with perfect equality, the Lorenz curve would coincide with the 45 degree line and the index would be zero; if income were distributed with perfect inequality, the Lorenz curve would coincide with the horizontal axis and the right vertical axis and the index would be 100.
GNP Gross national product (GNP) is the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year, plus income earned by its citizens abroad, minus income earned by foreigners from domestic production. The Factbook, following current practice, uses GDP rather than GNP to measure national production. However, the user must realize that in certain countries net remittances from citizens working abroad may be important to national well-being.
Government This category includes the entries dealing with the system for the adoption and administration of public policy.
Government - note This entry includes miscellaneous government information of significance not included elsewhere.
Government type This entry gives the basic form of government. Definitions of the major governmental terms are as follows. (Note that for some countries more than one definition applies.):
Absolute monarchy - a form of government where the monarch rules unhindered, i.e., without any laws, constitution, or legally organized opposition.
Anarchy - a condition of lawlessness or political disorder brought about by the absence of governmental authority.
Authoritarian - a form of government in which state authority is imposed onto many aspects of citizens’ lives.
Commonwealth - a nation, state, or other political entity founded on law and united by a compact of the people for the common good.
Communist - a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single - often authoritarian - party holds power; state controls are imposed with the elimination of private ownership of property or capital while claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people (i.e., a classless society).
Confederacy (Confederation) - a union by compact or treaty between states, provinces, or territories, that creates a central government with limited powers; the constituent entities retain supreme authority over all matters except those delegated to the central government.
Constitutional - a government by or operating under an authoritative document (constitution) that sets forth the system of fundamental laws and principles that determines the nature, functions, and limits of that government.
Constitutional democracy - a form of government in which the sovereign power of the people is spelled out in a governing constitution.
Constitutional monarchy - a system of government in which a monarch is guided by a constitution whereby his/her rights, duties, and responsibilities are spelled out in written law or by custom.
Democracy - a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but which is usually exercised indirectly through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed.
Democratic republic - a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.
Dictatorship - a form of government in which a ruler or small clique wield absolute power (not restricted by a constitution or laws).
Ecclesiastical - a government administrated by a church.
Emirate - similar to a monarchy or sultanate, but a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of an emir (the ruler of a Muslim state); the emir may be an absolute overlord or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority.
Federal (Federation) - a form of government in which sovereign power is formally divided - usually by means of a constitution - between a central authority and a number of constituent regions (states, colonies, or provinces) so that each region retains some management of its internal affairs; differs from a confederacy in that the central government exerts influence directly upon both individuals as well as upon the regional units.
Federal republic - a state in which the powers of the central government are restricted and in which the component parts (states, colonies, or provinces) retain a degree of self-government; ultimate sovereign power rests with the voters who chose their governmental representatives.
Islamic republic - a particular form of government adopted by some Muslim states; although such a state is, in theory, a theocracy, it remains a republic, but its laws are required to be compatible with the laws of Islam.
Maoism - the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism developed in China by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung), which states that a continuous revolution is necessary if the leaders of a communist state are to keep in touch with the people.
Marxism - the political, economic, and social principles espoused by 19th century economist Karl Marx; he viewed the struggle of workers as a progression of historical forces that would proceed from a class struggle of the proletariat (workers) exploited by capitalists (business owners), to a socialist”dictatorship of the proletariat,” to, finally, a classless society - Communism.
Marxism-Leninism - an expanded form of communism developed by Lenin from doctrines of Karl Marx; Lenin saw imperialism as the final stage of capitalism and shifted the focus of workers’ struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries.
Monarchy - a government in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of a monarch who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right; the monarch may be either a sole absolute ruler or a sovereign - such as a king, queen, or prince - with constitutionally limited authority.
Oligarchy - a government in which control is exercised by a small group of individuals whose authority generally is based on wealth or power.
Parliamentary democracy - a political system in which the legislature (parliament) selects the government - a prime minister, premier, or chancellor along with the cabinet ministers - according to party strength as expressed in elections; by this system, the government acquires a dual responsibility: to the people as well as to the parliament.
Parliamentary government (Cabinet-Parliamentary government) - a government in which members of an executive branch (the cabinet and its leader - a prime minister, premier, or chancellor) are nominated to their positions by a legislature or parliament, and are directly responsible to it; this type of government can be dissolved at will by the parliament (legislature) by means of a no confidence vote or the leader of the cabinet may dissolve the parliament if it can no longer function.
Parliamentary monarchy - a state headed by a monarch who is not actively involved in policy formation or implementation (i.e., the exercise of sovereign powers by a monarch in a ceremonial capacity); true governmental leadership is carried out by a cabinet and its head - a prime minister, premier, or chancellor - who are drawn from a legislature (parliament).
Presidential - a system of government where the executive branch exists separately from a legislature (to which it is generally not accountable).
Republic - a representative democracy in which the people’s elected deputies (representatives), not the people themselves, vote on legislation.
Socialism - a government in which the means of planning, producing, and distributing goods is controlled by a central government that theoretically seeks a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor; in actuality, most socialist governments have ended up being no more than dictatorships over workers by a ruling elite.
Sultanate - similar to a monarchy, but a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of a sultan (the head of a Muslim state); the sultan may be an absolute ruler or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority.
Theocracy - a form of government in which a Deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, but the Deity’s laws are interpreted by ecclesiastical authorities (bishops, mullahs, etc.); a government subject to religious authority.
Totalitarian - a government that seeks to subordinate the individual to the state by controlling not only all political and economic matters, but also the attitudes, values, and beliefs of its population.
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) The mean solar time at the Greenwich Meridian, Greenwich, England, with the hours and days, since 1925, reckoned from midnight. GMT is now a historical term having been replaced by UTC on 1 January 1972. See Coordinated Universal Time.
Gross domestic product See GDP
Gross national product See GNP
Gross reproduction rate This entry presents the average number of daughters born alive that a group of women would have in their lifetime if the age-specific fertility rate were to apply to them in a given period, usually a calendar year. It is a measure of replacement fertility that indicates whether the current generation of daughters will replace the preceding generation of women. If the number is equal to one, the women will replace themselves. If the number is more than one, the next generation of women will outnumber the current one. If the number is less than one, the next generation of women will be less numerous that the current one.
Gross world product See GWP
GWP This entry gives the gross world product (GWP) or aggregate value of all final goods and services produced worldwide in a given year.
Heliports This entry gives the total number of heliports with hard-surface runways, helipads, or landing areas that support routine sustained helicopter operations exclusively and have support facilities including one or more of the following facilities: lighting, fuel, passenger handling, or maintenance. It includes former airports used exclusively for helicopter operations but excludes heliports limited to day operations and natural clearings that could support helicopter landings and takeoffs.
Hospital bed density This entry provides the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people; it serves as a general measure of inpatient service availability. Hospital beds include inpatient beds available in public, private, general, and specialized hospitals and rehabilitation centers. In most cases, beds for both acute and chronic care are included. Because the level of inpatient services required for individual countries depends on several factors - such as demographic issues and the burden of disease - there is no global target for the number of hospital beds per country. So, while 2 beds per 1,000 in one country may be sufficient, 2 beds per 1,000 in another may be woefully inadequate because of the number of people hospitalized by disease.
Household income or consumption by percentage share Data on household income or consumption come from household surveys, with the results adjusted for household size. Nations use different standards and procedures in collecting and adjusting the data. Surveys based on income will normally show a more unequal distribution than surveys based on consumption. The quality of surveys is improving with time, yet caution is still necessary in making inter-country comparisons.
Hydrographic data codes See Data codes
Icebreakers This field lists the number of operational icebreakers by country home ported in an ocean area. The ships are listed by Polar Class (PC) vessel per the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) standards. These vessels have ice strengthening to the hull and installed power (at least 10,000 horsepower) sufficient to traverse polar ice, as well as redundant systems designed for operation at extreme low temperatures. The following describes the Polar Classes as established by IACS.
PC 1 - year-round operation in all polar waters (ice thickness >3 m)
PC 2 - year-round operation in moderate multi-year ice conditions (ice thickness up to 3 m)
PC 3 - year-round operation in second-year ice which may include multi-year ice inclusions (ice thickness up to 2.5 m)
PC 4 - year-round operation in thick first-year ice which may include old ice inclusions (ice thickness up to 120 cm)
PC 5 - year-round operation in medium first-year ice which may include old ice inclusions (ice thickness up to 70-120 cm)
PC 6 - summer/autumn operation in medium first-year ice which may include old ice inclusions (ice thickness up to 30-70 cm)
Illicit drugs This entry gives information on the five categories of illicit drugs - narcotics, stimulants, depressants (sedatives), hallucinogens, and cannabis. These categories include many drugs legally produced and prescribed by doctors as well as those illegally produced and sold outside of medical channels.
Cannabis (Cannabis sativa) is the common hemp plant, which provides hallucinogens with some sedative properties, and includes marijuana (pot, Acapulco gold, grass, reefer), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, Marinol), hashish (hash), and hashish oil (hash oil).
Coca (mostly Erythroxylum coca) is a bush with leaves that contain the stimulant used to make cocaine. Coca is not to be confused with cocoa, which comes from cacao seeds and is used in making chocolate, cocoa, and cocoa butter.
Cocaine is a stimulant derived from the leaves of the coca bush.
Depressants (sedatives) are drugs that reduce tension and anxiety and include chloral hydrate, barbiturates (Amytal, Nembutal, Seconal, phenobarbital), benzodiazepines (Librium, Valium), methaqualone (Quaalude), glutethimide (Doriden), and others (Equanil, Placidyl, Valmid).
Drugs are any chemical substances that effect a physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral change in an individual.
Drug abuse is the excessive use of any licit or illicit chemical substance that results in physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral impairment in an individual.
Hallucinogens are drugs that affect sensation, thinking, self-awareness, and emotion. Hallucinogens include LSD (acid, microdot), mescaline and peyote (mexc, buttons, cactus), amphetamine variants (PMA, STP, DOB), phencyclidine (PCP, angel dust, hog), phencyclidine analogues (PCE, PCPy, TCP), and others (psilocybin, psilocyn).
Hashish is the resinous exudate of the cannabis or hemp plant (Cannabis sativa).
Heroin is a semisynthetic derivative of morphine.
Mandrax is a trade name for methaqualone, a pharmaceutical depressant.
Marijuana is the dried leaf of the cannabis or hemp plant (Cannabis sativa).
Methaqualone is a pharmaceutical depressant, referred to as mandrax in Southwest Asia and Africa.
Narcotics are drugs that relieve pain, often induce sleep, and refer to opium, opium derivatives, and synthetic substitutes. Natural narcotics include opium (paregoric, parepectolin), morphine (MS-Contin, Roxanol), codeine (Tylenol with codeine, Empirin with codeine, Robitussin AC), and thebaine. Semisynthetic narcotics include heroin (horse, smack), and hydromorphone (Dilaudid). Synthetic narcotics include meperidine or Pethidine (Demerol, Mepergan), methadone (Dolophine, Methadose), and others (Darvon, Lomotil).
Opium is the brown, gummy exudate of the incised, unripe seedpod of the opium poppy.
Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) is the source for the natural and semisynthetic narcotics.
Poppy straw is the entire cut and dried opium poppy-plant material, other than the seeds. Opium is extracted from poppy straw in commercial operations that produce the drug for medical use.
Qat (kat, khat) is a stimulant from the buds or leaves of Catha edulis that is chewed or drunk as tea.
Quaaludes is the North American slang term for methaqualone, a pharmaceutical depressant.
Stimulants are drugs that relieve mild depression, increase energy and activity, and include cocaine (coke, snow, crack), amphetamines (Desoxyn, Dexedrine), ephedrine, ecstasy (clarity, essence, doctor, Adam), phenmetrazine (Preludin), methylphenidate (Ritalin), and others (Cylert, Sanorex, Tenuate).
Imports This entry provides the total US dollar amount of merchandise imports on a c.i.f. (cost, insurance, and freight) or f.o.b. (free on board) basis. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
Imports - commodities This entry provides a listing of the highest-valued imported commodities.
Imports - partners This entry provides a rank ordering of trading partners starting with the most important; it sometimes includes the percent of total dollar value.
Independence For most countries, this entry gives the date that sovereignty was achieved and from which nation, empire, or trusteeship. For the other countries, the date given may not represent “independence” in the strict sense, but rather some significant nationhood event such as the traditional founding date or the date of unification, federation, confederation, establishment, fundamental change in the form of government, or state succession. For a number of countries, the establishment of statehood was a lengthy evolutionary process occurring over decades or even centuries. In such cases, several significant dates are cited. Dependent areas include the notation “none” followed by the nature of their dependency status. Also see the Terminology note.
Industrial production growth rate This entry gives the annual percentage increase in industrial production (includes manufacturing, mining, and construction).
Industries This entry provides a rank ordering of industries starting with the largest by value of annual output.
Infant mortality rate This entry gives the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year. Data is provided for the total per 1,000 live births, as well as the number of male and female per 1,000 live births. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.
Inflation rate (consumer prices) This entry provides the annual inflation rate, as calculated by the percent change in current consumer prices from the previous year’s consumer prices.
International disputes see Disputes - international
International law organization participation This entry includes information on a country’s acceptance of jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and of the International Criminal Court (ICCt); 61 countries have accepted ICJ jurisdiction with reservations and 12 have accepted ICJ jurisdiction without reservations; 123 countries and the Palestine Liberation Organization have accepted ICCt jurisdiction. Appendix B: International Organizations and Groups explains the differing mandates of the ICJ and ICCt. Consult the online edition of The World Factbook.
International organization participation This entry lists in alphabetical order by abbreviation those international organizations in which the subject country is a member or participates in some other way.
International organizations This information is presented in Appendix B: International Organizations and Groups which includes the name, abbreviation, date established, aim, members by category, and, when available, contact information (including address, phone, fax, email address, and website address). Consult the online edition of The World Factbook.
Internet country code This entry includes the two-letter codes maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the ISO 3166 Alpha-2 list and used by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to establish country-coded top-level domains (ccTLDs).
Internet users This entry gives the total number of individuals within a country who can access the Internet at home, via any device type (computer or mobile) and connection. The percent of population with Internet access (i.e., the penetration rate) helps gauge how widespread Internet use is within a country. Statistics vary from country to country and may include users who access the Internet at least several times a week to those who access it only once within a period of several months.
Introduction This category includes one entry, Background.
Investment (gross fixed) This entry records total business spending on fixed assets, such as factories, machinery, equipment, dwellings, and inventories of raw materials, which provide the basis for future production. It is the measured gross of the depreciation of the assets, i.e., it includes investment that merely replaces worn-out or scrapped capital.
Irrigated land This entry gives the number of square kilometers of land area that is artificially supplied with water.
Judicial branch This entry includes three subfields. The highest court(s) subfield includes the name(s) of a country’s highest level court(s), the number and titles of the judges, and the types of cases heard by the court, which commonly are based on civil, criminal, administrative, and constitutional law. A number of countries have separate constitutional courts. The judge selection and term of office subfield includes the organizations and associated officials responsible for nominating and appointing judges, and a brief description of the process. The selection process can be indicative of the independence of a country’s court system from other branches of its government. Also included in this subfield are judges’ tenures, which can range from a few years, to a specified retirement age, to lifelong appointments. The subordinate courts subfield lists the courts lower in the hierarchy of a country’s court system. A few countries with federal-style governments, such as Brazil, Canada, and the US, in addition to their federal court, have separate state- or province-level court systems, though generally the two systems interact.
Labor force This entry contains the total labor force figure.
Labor force - by occupation This entry lists the percentage distribution of the labor force by sector of occupation. Agriculture includes farming, fishing, and forestry. Industry includes mining, manufacturing, energy production, and construction. Services cover government activities, communications, transportation, finance, and all other economic activities that do not produce material goods. The distribution will total less than 100 percent if the data are incomplete and may range from 99-101 percent due to rounding.
Land boundaries This entry contains the total length of all land boundaries and the individual lengths for each of the contiguous border countries. When available, official lengths published by national statistical agencies are used. Because surveying methods may differ, country border lengths reported by contiguous countries may differ.
Land use This entry contains the percentage shares of total land area for three different types of land use: agricultural land, forest, and other; agricultural land is further divided into arable land - land cultivated for crops like wheat, maize, and rice that are replanted after each harvest, permanent crops - land cultivated for crops like citrus, coffee, and rubber that are not replanted after each harvest, and includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines, and permanent pastures and meadows – land used for at least five years or more to grow herbaceous forage, either cultivated or growing naturally; forest area is land spanning more than 0.5 hectare with trees higher than five meters and a canopy cover of more than 10% to include windbreaks, shelterbelts, and corridors of trees greater than 0.5 hectare and at least 20 m wide; land classified as other includes built-up areas, roads and other transportation features, barren land, or wasteland.
Languages This entry provides a listing of languages spoken in each country and specifies any that are official national or regional languages. When data is available, the languages spoken in each country are broken down according to the percent of the total population speaking each language as a first language, unless otherwise noted. For those countries without available data, languages are listed in rank order based on prevalence, starting with the most-spoken language.
Legal system This entry provides the description of a country’s legal system. A statement on judicial review of legislative acts is also included for a number of countries. The legal systems of nearly all countries are generally modeled upon elements of five main types: civil law (including French law, the Napoleonic Code, Roman law, Roman-Dutch law, and Spanish law); common law (including United State law); customary law; mixed or pluralistic law; and religious law (including Islamic law). An additional type of legal system - international law, which governs the conduct of independent nations in their relationships with one another - is also addressed below. The following list describes these legal systems, the countries or world regions where these systems are enforced, and a brief statement on the origins and major features of each.
Civil Law - The most widespread type of legal system in the world, applied in various forms in approximately 150 countries. Also referred to as European continental law, the civil law system is derived mainly from the Roman Corpus Juris Civilus, (Body of Civil Law), a collection of laws and legal interpretations compiled under the East Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian I between A.D. 528 and 565. The major feature of civil law systems is that the laws are organized into systematic written codes. In civil law the sources recognized as authoritative are principally legislation - especially codifications in constitutions or statutes enacted by governments - and secondarily, custom. The civil law systems in some countries are based on more than one code.
Common Law - A type of legal system, often synonymous with “English common law,” which is the system of England and Wales in the UK, and is also in force in approximately 80 countries formerly part of or influenced by the former British Empire. English common law reflects Biblical influences as well as remnants of law systems imposed by early conquerors including the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Normans. Some legal scholars attribute the formation of the English common law system to King Henry II (r.1154-1189). Until the time of his reign, laws customary among England’s various manorial and ecclesiastical (church) jurisdictions were administered locally. Henry II established the king’s court and designated that laws were “common” to the entire English realm. The foundation of English common law is “legal precedent” - referred to as stare decisis, meaning “to stand by things decided.” In the English common law system, court judges are bound in their decisions in large part by the rules and other doctrines developed - and supplemented over time - by the judges of earlier English courts.
Customary Law - A type of legal system that serves as the basis of, or has influenced, the present-day laws in approximately 40 countries - mostly in Africa, but some in the Pacific islands, Europe, and the Near East. Customary law is also referred to as “primitive law,” “unwritten law,” “indigenous law,” and “folk law.” There is no single history of customary law such as that found in Roman civil law, English common law, Islamic law, or the Napoleonic Civil Code. The earliest systems of law in human society were customary, and usually developed in small agrarian and hunter-gatherer communities. As the term implies, customary law is based upon the customs of a community. Common attributes of customary legal systems are that they are seldom written down, they embody an organized set of rules regulating social relations, and they are agreed upon by members of the community. Although such law systems include sanctions for law infractions, resolution tends to be reconciliatory rather than punitive. A number of African states practiced customary law many centuries prior to colonial influences. Following colonization, such laws were written down and incorporated to varying extents into the legal systems imposed by their colonial powers.
European Union Law - A sub-discipline of international law known as “supranational law” in which the rights of sovereign nations are limited in relation to one another. Also referred to as the Law of the European Union or Community Law, it is the unique and complex legal system that operates in tandem with the laws of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). Similar to federal states, the EU legal system ensures compliance from the member states because of the Union’s decentralized political nature. The European Court of Justice (ECJ), established in 1952 by the Treaty of Paris, has been largely responsible for the development of EU law. Fundamental principles of European Union law include: subsidiarity - the notion that issues be handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized competent authority; proportionality - the EU may only act to the extent needed to achieve its objectives; conferral - the EU is a union of member states, and all its authorities are voluntarily granted by its members; legal certainty - requires that legal rules be clear and precise; and precautionary principle - a moral and political principle stating that if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action.
French Law - A type of civil law that is the legal system of France. The French system also serves as the basis for, or is mixed with, other legal systems in approximately 50 countries, notably in North Africa, the Near East, and the French territories and dependencies. French law is primarily codified or systematic written civil law. Prior to the French Revolution (1789-1799), France had no single national legal system. Laws in the northern areas of present-day France were mostly local customs based on privileges and exemptions granted by kings and feudal lords, while in the southern areas Roman law predominated. The introduction of the Napoleonic Civil Code during the reign of Napoleon I in the first decade of the 19th century brought major reforms to the French legal system, many of which remain part of France’s current legal structure, though all have been extensively amended or redrafted to address a modern nation. French law distinguishes between “public law” and “private law.” Public law relates to government, the French Constitution, public administration, and criminal law. Private law covers issues between private citizens or corporations. The most recent changes to the French legal system - introduced in the 1980s - were the decentralization laws, which transferred authority from centrally appointed government representatives to locally elected representatives of the people.
International Law - The law of the international community, or the body of customary rules and treaty rules accepted as legally binding by states in their relations with each other. International law differs from other legal systems in that it primarily concerns sovereign political entities. There are three separate disciplines of international law: public international law, which governs the relationship between provinces and international entities and includes treaty law, law of the sea, international criminal law, and international humanitarian law; private international law, which addresses legal jurisdiction; and supranational law - a legal framework wherein countries are bound by regional agreements in which the laws of the member countries are held inapplicable when in conflict with supranational laws. At present the European Union is the only entity under a supranational legal system. The term “international law” was coined by Jeremy Bentham in 1780 in his Principles of Morals and Legislation, though laws governing relations between states have been recognized from very early times (many centuries B.C.). Modern international law developed alongside the emergence and growth of the European nation-states beginning in the early 16th century. Other factors that influenced the development of international law included the revival of legal studies, the growth of international trade, and the practice of exchanging emissaries and establishing legations. The sources of International law are set out in Article 38-1 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice within the UN Charter.
Islamic Law - The most widespread type of religious law, it is the legal system enforced in over 30 countries, particularly in the Near East, but also in Central and South Asia, Africa, and Indonesia. In many countries Islamic law operates in tandem with a civil law system. Islamic law is embodied in the sharia, an Arabic word meaning “the right path.” Sharia covers all aspects of public and private life and organizes them into five categories: obligatory, recommended, permitted, disliked, and forbidden. The primary sources of sharia law are the Qur’an, believed by Muslims to be the word of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel, and the Sunnah, the teachings of the Prophet and his works. In addition to these two primary sources, traditional Sunni Muslims recognize the consensus of Muhammad’s companions and Islamic jurists on certain issues, called ijmas, and various forms of reasoning, including analogy by legal scholars, referred to as qiyas. Shia Muslims reject ijmas and qiyas as sources of sharia law.
Mixed Law - Also referred to as pluralistic law, mixed law consists of elements of some or all of the other main types of legal systems - civil, common, customary, and religious. The mixed legal systems of a number of countries came about when colonial powers overlaid their own legal systems upon colonized regions but retained elements of the colonies’ existing legal systems.
Napoleonic Civil Code - A type of civil law, referred to as the Civil Code or Code Civil des Francais, forms part of the legal system of France, and underpins the legal systems of Bolivia, Egypt, Lebanon, Poland, and the US state of Louisiana. The Civil Code was established under Napoleon I, enacted in 1804, and officially designated the Code Napoleon in 1807. This legal system combined the Teutonic civil law tradition of the northern provinces of France with the Roman law tradition of the southern and eastern regions of the country. The Civil Code bears similarities in its arrangement to the Roman Body of Civil Law (see Civil Law above). As enacted in 1804, the Code addressed personal status, property, and the acquisition of property. Codes added over the following six years included civil procedures, commercial law, criminal law and procedures, and a penal code.
Religious Law - A legal system which stems from the sacred texts of religious traditions and in most cases professes to cover all aspects of life as a seamless part of devotional obligations to a transcendent, imminent, or deep philosophical reality. Implied as the basis of religious law is the concept of unalterability, because the word of God cannot be amended or legislated against by judges or governments. However, a detailed legal system generally requires human elaboration. The main types of religious law are sharia in Islam, halakha in Judaism, and canon law in some Christian groups. Sharia is the most widespread religious legal system (see Islamic Law), and is the sole system of law for countries including Iran, the Maldives, and Saudi Arabia. No country is fully governed by halakha, but Jewish people may decide to settle disputes through Jewish courts and be bound by their rulings. Canon law is not a divine law as such because it is not found in revelation. It is viewed instead as human law inspired by the word of God and applying the demands of that revelation to the actual situation of the church. Canon law regulates the internal ordering of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion.
Roman Law - A type of civil law developed in ancient Rome and practiced from the time of the city’s founding (traditionally 753 B.C.) until the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century A.D. Roman law remained the legal system of the Byzantine (Eastern Empire) until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Preserved fragments of the first legal text, known as the Law of the Twelve Tables, dating from the 5th century B.C., contained specific provisions designed to change the prevailing customary law. Early Roman law was drawn from custom and statutes; later, during the time of the empire, emperors asserted their authority as the ultimate source of law. The basis for Roman laws was the idea that the exact form - not the intention - of words or of actions produced legal consequences. It was only in the late 6th century A.D. that a comprehensive Roman code of laws was published (see Civil Law above). Roman law served as the basis of law systems developed in a number of continental European countries.
Roman-Dutch Law - A type of civil law based on Roman law as applied in the Netherlands. Roman-Dutch law serves as the basis for legal systems in seven African countries, as well as Guyana, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. This law system, which originated in the province of Holland and expanded throughout the Netherlands (to be replaced by the French Civil Code in 1809), was instituted in a number of sub-Saharan African countries during the Dutch colonial period. The Dutch jurist/philosopher Hugo Grotius was the first to attempt to reduce Roman-Dutch civil law into a system in his Jurisprudence of Holland (written 1619-20, commentary published 1621). The Dutch historian/lawyer Simon van Leeuwen coined the term “Roman-Dutch law” in 1652.
Spanish Law - A type of civil law, often referred to as the Spanish Civil Code, it is the present legal system of Spain and is the basis of legal systems in 12 countries mostly in Central and South America, but also in southwestern Europe, northern and western Africa, and southeastern Asia. The Spanish Civil Code reflects a complex mixture of customary, Roman, Napoleonic, local, and modern codified law. The laws of the Visigoth invaders of Spain in the 5th to 7th centuries had the earliest major influence on Spanish legal system development. The Christian Reconquest of Spain in the 11th through 15th centuries witnessed the development of customary law, which combined canon (religious) and Roman law. During several centuries of Hapsburg and Bourbon rule, systematic recompilations of the existing national legal system were attempted, but these often conflicted with local and regional customary civil laws. Legal system development for most of the 19th century concentrated on formulating a national civil law system, which was finally enacted in 1889 as the Spanish Civil Code. Several sections of the code have been revised, the most recent of which are the penal code in 1989 and the judiciary code in 2001. The Spanish Civil Code separates public and private law. Public law includes constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law, process law, financial and tax law, and international public law. Private law includes civil law, commercial law, labor law, and international private law.
United States Law - A type of common law, which is the basis of the legal system of the United States and that of its island possessions in the Caribbean and the Pacific. This legal system has several layers, more possibly than in most other countries, and is due in part to the division between federal and state law. The United States was founded not as one nation but as a union of 13 colonies, each claiming independence from the British Crown. The US Constitution, implemented in 1789, began shifting power away from the states and toward the federal government, though the states today retain substantial legal authority. US law draws its authority from four sources: constitutional law, statutory law, administrative regulations, and case law. Constitutional law is based on the US Constitution and serves as the supreme federal law. Taken together with those of the state constitutions, these documents outline the general structure of the federal and state governments and provide the rules and limits of power. US statutory law is legislation enacted by the US Congress and is codified in the United States Code. The 50 state legislatures have similar authority to enact state statutes. Administrative law is the authority delegated to federal and state executive agencies. Case law, also referred to as common law, covers areas where constitutional or statutory law is lacking. Case law is a collection of judicial decisions, customs, and general principles that began in England centuries ago, that were adopted in America at the time of the Revolution, and that continue to develop today.
Legislative branch This entry has three subfields. The description subfield provides the legislative structure (unicameral – single house; bicameral – an upper and a lower house); formal name(s); number of member seats; types of constituencies or voting districts (single seat, multi-seat, nationwide); electoral voting system(s); and member term of office. The elections subfield includes the dates of the last election and next election. The election results subfield lists percent of vote by party/coalition and number of seats by party/coalition in the last election (in bicameral legislatures, upper house results are listed first). In general, parties with less than four seats and less than 4 percent of the vote are aggregated and listed as “other,” and non-party-affiliated seats are listed as “independent.” Also, the entries for some countries include two sets of percent of vote by party and seats by party; the former reflects results following a formal election announcement, and the latter – following a mid-term or byelection – reflects changes in a legislature’s political party composition.
Of the approximately 240 countries with legislative bodies, approximately two-thirds are unicameral, and the remainder, bicameral. The selection of legislative members is typically governed by a country’s constitution and/or its electoral laws. In general, members are either directly elected by a country’s eligible voters using a defined electoral system; indirectly elected or selected by its province, state, or department legislatures; or appointed by the country’s executive body. Legislative members in many countries are selected both directly and indirectly, and the electoral laws of some countries reserve seats for women and various ethnic and minority groups.
Worldwide, the two predominant direct voting systems are plurality/majority and proportional representation. The most common of the several plurality/majority systems is simple majority vote, or first-past-the-post, in which the candidate receiving the most votes is elected. Countries’ legislatures such as Bangladesh’s Parliament, Malaysia’s House of Representatives, and the United Kingdom’s House of Commons use this system. Another common plurality/majority system – absolute majority or two-round – requires that candidates win at least 50 percent of the votes to be elected. If none of the candidates meets that vote threshold in the initial election, a second poll or”runoff” is held soon after for the two top vote getters, and the candidate receiving a simple vote majority is declared the winner. Examples of the two-round system are Haiti’s Chamber of Deputies, Mali’s National Assembly, and Uzbekistan’s Legislative Chamber. Other plurality/majority voting systems, referred to as preferential voting and generally used in multi-seat constituencies, are block vote and single non-transferable vote, in which voters cast their ballots by ranking their candidate preferences from highest to lowest.
Proportional representation electoral systems – in contrast to plurality/majority systems – generally award legislative seats to political parties in approximate proportion to the number of votes each receives. For example, in a 100-member legislature, if Party A receives 50 percent of the total vote, Party B, 30 percent, and Party C, 20 percent, then Party A would be awarded 50 seats, Party B 30 seats, and Party C 20 seats. There are various forms of proportional representation and the degree of reaching proportionality varies. Some forms of proportional representation are focused solely on achieving the proportional representation of different political parties and voters cast ballots only for political parties, whereas in other forms, voters cast ballots for individual candidates within a political party.
Many countries - both unicameral and bicameral - use a mix of electoral methods, in which a portion of legislative seats are awarded using one system, such as plurality/majority, while the remaining seats are awarded by another system, such as proportional representation. Many countries with bicameral legislatures use different voting systems for the two chambers.
Life expectancy at birth This entry contains the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year, if mortality at each age remains constant in the future. Life expectancy at birth is also a measure of overall quality of life in a country and summarizes the mortality at all ages. It can also be thought of as indicating the potential return on investment in human capital and is necessary for the calculation of various actuarial measures.
Literacy This entry includes a definition of literacy and UNESCO’s percentage estimates for populations aged 15 years and over, including total population, males, and females. There are no universal definitions and standards of literacy. Unless otherwise specified, all rates are based on the most common definition - the ability to read and write at a specified age. Detailing the standards that individual countries use to assess the ability to read and write is beyond the scope of the Factbook. Information on literacy, while not a perfect measure of educational results, is probably the most easily available and valid for international comparisons. Low levels of literacy, and education in general, can impede the economic development of a country in the current rapidly changing, technology-driven world.
Location This entry identifies the country’s regional location, neighboring countries, and adjacent bodies of water.
Major aquifers This entry lists the major (mega) aquifer system(s) that underlie a country, keeping in mind that many of these mega aquifers are so large that they extend under multiple countries. More than 30% of freshwater is held in underground aquifers. There is great variation in the size of such aquifers, but a limited number of very large aquifer systems contain a majority of the World’s groundwater volume in storage.
Major infectious diseases This entry lists major infectious diseases likely to be encountered in countries where the risk of such diseases is assessed to be very high as compared to the United States. These infectious diseases represent risks to US Government personnel traveling to the specified country for a period of less than three years. The degree of risk is assessed by considering the foreign nature of these infectious diseases, their severity, and the probability of being affected by the diseases present. The diseases listed do not necessarily represent the total disease burden experienced by the local population.
The risk to an individual traveler varies considerably by the specific location, visit duration, type of activities, type of accommodations, time of year, and other factors. Consultation with a travel medicine physician is needed to evaluate individual risk and recommend appropriate preventive measures such as vaccines.
Diseases are organized into the following six exposure categories shown in italics and listed in typical descending order of risk. Note: The sequence of exposure categories listed in individual country entries may vary according to local conditions.
food or waterborne diseases acquired through eating or drinking:
Hepatitis A - viral disease that interferes with the functioning of the liver; spread through consumption of food or water contaminated with fecal matter, principally in areas of poor sanitation; victims exhibit fever, jaundice, and diarrhea; 15% of victims will experience prolonged symptoms over 6-9 months; vaccine available.
Hepatitis E - water-borne viral disease that interferes with the functioning of the liver; most commonly spread through fecal contamination of drinking water; victims exhibit jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, and dark colored urine.
Typhoid fever - bacterial disease spread through contact with food or water contaminated by fecal matter or sewage; victims exhibit sustained high fevers; left untreated, mortality rates can reach 20%.
vector-borne diseases acquired through the bite of an infected arthropod:
Malaria - caused by single-cell parasitic protozoa Plasmodium; transmitted to humans via the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito; parasites multiply in the liver attacking red blood cells resulting in cycles of fever, chills, and sweats accompanied by anemia; death due to damage to vital organs and interruption of blood supply to the brain; endemic in 85, mostly tropical, countries with 95% of cases and the majority of 0.4-0.6 million estimated annual deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa (six countries – Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Mozambique, Angola and Burkina Faso – accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2020).
Dengue fever - mosquito-borne (Aedes aegypti) viral disease associated with urban environments; manifests as sudden onset of fever and severe headache; occasionally produces shock and hemorrhage leading to death in 5% of cases.
Yellow fever - mosquito-borne (in urban areas Aedes aegypti) viral disease associated with urban environments; severity ranges from influenza-like symptoms to severe hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever; occurs only in tropical South America and sub-Saharan Africa, where most cases are reported; fatality rate is less than 20%.
Japanese Encephalitis - mosquito-borne (Culex tritaeniorhynchus) viral disease associated with rural areas in Asia; acute encephalitis can progress to paralysis, coma, and death; fatality rates 30%.
African Trypanosomiasis - caused by the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma; transmitted to humans via the bite of bloodsucking tsetse flies; infection leads to malaise and irregular fevers and, in advanced cases when the parasites invade the central nervous system, coma and death; endemic in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa; cattle and wild animals act as reservoir hosts for the parasites.
Cutaneous Leishmaniasis - caused by the parasitic protozoa leishmania; transmitted to humans via the bite of sandflies; results in skin lesions that may become chronic; endemic in 88 countries; 90% of cases occur in Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Peru; wild and domesticated animals as well as humans can act as reservoirs of infection.
Plague - bacterial disease transmitted by fleas normally associated with rats; person-to-person airborne transmission also possible; recent plague epidemics occurred in areas of Asia, Africa, and South America associated with rural areas or small towns and villages; manifests as fever, headache, and painfully swollen lymph nodes; disease progresses rapidly and without antibiotic treatment leads to pneumonic form with a death rate in excess of 50%.
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever - tick-borne viral disease; infection may also result from exposure to infected animal blood or tissue; geographic distribution includes Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe; sudden onset of fever, headache, and muscle aches followed by hemorrhaging in the bowels, urine, nose, and gums; mortality rate is approximately 30%.
Rift Valley fever - viral disease affecting domesticated animals and humans; transmission is by mosquito and other biting insects; infection may also occur through handling of infected meat or contact with blood; geographic distribution includes eastern and southern Africa where cattle and sheep are raised; symptoms are generally mild with fever and some liver abnormalities, but the disease may progress to hemorrhagic fever, encephalitis, or ocular disease; fatality rates are low at about 1% of cases.
Chikungunya - mosquito-borne (Aedes aegypti) viral disease associated with urban environments, similar to Dengue Fever; characterized by sudden onset of fever, rash, and severe joint pain usually lasting 3-7 days, some cases result in persistent arthritis.
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) - a tick-borne viral (phlebovirus) hemorrhagic fever; infection can spread through contact with infected wild and domesticated animals, including household pets; human-to-human transmission is also possible through direct contact with infected blood or bodily secretions; disease is characterized by rapid-onset of acute fever, vomiting, diarrhea, thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), low white cell count, bleeding tendency, and multiple organ failure; mortality rate is between 10-40%; there is no vaccine or treatment for the disease
Bartonellosis (Oroya fever) – a parasitic bacterial (Bartonella bacilliformis) infection transmitted by bites from infected sand flies (genus Lutzomyia); also known as Carrion’s disease; the bacteria is limited to the Andes Mountains of western South America at an elevation of 915-3,050 m (3,000 to 10,000 ft.) and chiefly in Peru (where most cases are reported), Colombia, and Ecuador; Oroya fever is the acute phase of the disease and characterized by fever, headache, muscle aches, abdominal pain, and severe anemia may occur; complications can occur in up to 70% of patients with Oroya fever, including secondary infections and cardiopulmonary complications such as heart failure, pericardial effusion, pulmonary edema, and cardiogenic shock; infection with B. bacilliformis requires antibiotic treatment
Hantaviral hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), also known as Korean hemorrhagic fever - hantaviruses are carried and transmitted by rodents through exposure to aerosolized urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents or after exposure to dust from their nests; transmission may also occur when infected urine or other materials are directly introduced into broken skin or onto the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, or mouth; human-to-human transmission is rare; the most serious disease is caused by the Hantaan or Seoul viruses; symptoms of HFRS usually develop within 1 to 2 weeks after exposure to infectious material but, in rare cases, may take up to 8 weeks to develop; initial symptoms begin suddenly and include intense headaches, back and abdominal pain, fever, chills, nausea, and blurred vision; later symptoms can include low blood pressure, acute shock, vascular leakage, and acute kidney failure, which can cause severe fluid overload; fatality ranges from 5-15% for the most serious cases of HFRS caused by Hantaan virus; there is no cure for HFRS, treatment involves supportive therapy including renal dialysis; vaccines are available
water-contact diseases acquired through swimming or wading in freshwater lakes, streams, and rivers:
Leptospirosis - bacterial disease that affects animals and humans; infection occurs through contact with water, food, or soil contaminated by animal urine; symptoms include high fever, severe headache, vomiting, jaundice, and diarrhea; untreated, the disease can result in kidney damage, liver failure, meningitis, or respiratory distress; fatality rates are low but left untreated recovery can take months.
Schistosomiasis - caused by parasitic trematode flatworm Schistosoma; fresh water snails act as intermediate host and release larval form of parasite that penetrates the skin of people exposed to contaminated water; worms mature and reproduce in the blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and intestines releasing eggs, which become trapped in tissues triggering an immune response; may manifest as either urinary or intestinal disease resulting in decreased work or learning capacity; mortality, while generally low, may occur in advanced cases usually due to bladder cancer; endemic in 74 developing countries with 80% of infected people living in sub-Saharan Africa; humans act as the reservoir for this parasite.
aerosolized dust or soil-contact disease acquired through inhalation of aerosols contaminated with rodent urine:
Lassa fever - viral disease carried by rats of the genus Mastomys; endemic in portions of West Africa; infection occurs through direct contact with or consumption of food contaminated by rodent urine or fecal matter containing virus particles; fatality rate can reach 50% in epidemic outbreaks.
respiratory disease acquired through close contact with an infectious person:
Meningococcal meningitis - bacterial disease causing an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord; one of the most important bacterial pathogens is Neisseria meningitidis because of its potential to cause epidemics; symptoms include stiff neck, high fever, headaches, and vomiting; bacteria are transmitted from person to person by respiratory droplets and facilitated by close and prolonged contact resulting from crowded living conditions, often with a seasonal distribution; death occurs in 5-15% of cases, typically within 24-48 hours of onset of symptoms; highest burden of meningococcal disease occurs in the hyperendemic region of sub-Saharan Africa known as the “Meningitis Belt” which stretches from Senegal east to Ethiopia.
animal-contact disease acquired through direct contact with local animals:
Rabies - viral disease of mammals usually transmitted through the bite of an infected animal, most commonly dogs; virus affects the central nervous system causing brain alteration and death; symptoms initially are non-specific fever and headache progressing to neurological symptoms; death occurs within days of the onset of symptoms.
Major lakes (area sq km) This entry describes one of the two major surface hydrological features of a country: large localized water bodies termed lakes (the other feature is rivers). The entry contains a list of major natural lakes, defined as having an area of 500 sq km or greater. Taken together with major rivers, these features constitute the primary sources of surface freshwater.
Major ocean currents This field describes the major ocean currents found in the ocean basins. Oceanic currents describe the movement of water from one location to another. Currents are generally measured in meters per second or in knots (1 knot = 1.85 kilometers per hour or 1.15 miles per hour). Oceanic currents are driven by three main factors:
1. The rise and fall of the tides. Tides create ocean currents, which are strongest near the shore, but also extend into bays and estuaries along the coast. These are called “tidal currents.” Tidal currents change in a very regular pattern and can be predicted for future dates. In some locations, strong tidal currents can travel at speeds of eight knots or more.
2. Wind. Winds drive currents that are at or near the ocean’s surface. Near coastal areas winds tend to drive currents on a localized scale and can result in phenomena like coastal upwelling. On a more global scale, in the open ocean, winds drive currents that circulate water for thousands of miles throughout the ocean basins.
3. Thermohaline circulation. This is a circulatory process driven by density differences in water due to temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline) variations in different parts of the ocean. Currents driven by thermohaline circulation occur at both deep and shallow ocean levels and move much more slowly than tidal or surface currents.
Currents affect the Earth’s climate by driving warm water from the Equator and cold water from the poles around the Earth.
Major rivers (by length in km) This entry describes one of the two major surface hydrological features of a country: large flowing bodies of water termed rivers (the other feature is lakes). The entry includes a list of major rivers, defined as having a length of 1,000 km or greater. These rivers constitute major drainage basins or watersheds that capture the flow of the majority of surface water flow. Taken together with major lakes, these features constitute the primary sources of surface freshwater.
In instances where a river flows through more than one country, a note has been added to the field to indicate the country where the river starts and the country where a river ends. [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth.
Major urban areas - population This entry provides the population of the capital and up to six major cities defined as urban agglomerations with populations of at least 750,000 people. An urban agglomeration is defined as comprising the city or town proper and also the suburban fringe or thickly settled territory lying outside of, but adjacent to, the boundaries of the city. For smaller countries, lacking urban centers of 750,000 or more, only the population of the capital is presented.
Major watersheds (area sq km) This entry lists the major watersheds or catchment areas of major rivers in a country in terms of their area in sq km. Most of the watersheds listed have an area of at least 500,000 sq km, although some smaller but significant watersheds are also included. The watersheds are listed by the ocean into which they drain. When that drainage occurs other than into the ocean proper, italics are used to identify the constituent part of an ocean (e.g., Black Sea). However, some watersheds, known as endorheic basins, drain internally with no external flow to the ocean. An example of an endorheic basin is the Caspian Sea, the World’s largest lake. Given the size of the largest watersheds, they frequently occur across more than one country.
Map references This entry includes the name of the Factbook reference map on which a country may be found. Note that boundary representations on these maps are not necessarily authoritative. The entry on Geographic coordinates may be helpful in finding some smaller countries.
Marine fisheries This entry describes the major fisheries in the world’s oceans in terms of the area covered, their ranking in terms of the global catch, the main producing countries, and the principal species caught. The information is provided by the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Maritime claims This entry includes the following claims, the definitions of which are excerpted from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which alone contains the full and definitive descriptions:
territorial sea - the sovereignty of a coastal state extends beyond its land territory and internal waters to an adjacent belt of sea, described as the territorial sea in the UNCLOS (Part II); this sovereignty extends to the air space over the territorial sea as well as its underlying seabed and subsoil; every state has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles; the normal baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is the mean low-water line along the coast as marked on large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal state; where the coasts of two states are opposite or adjacent to each other, neither state is entitled to extend its territorial sea beyond the median line, every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points on the baseline from which the territorial seas of both states are measured; the UNCLOS describes specific rules for archipelagic states.
contiguous zone - according to the UNCLOS (Article 33), this is a zone contiguous to a coastal state’s territorial sea, over which it may exercise the control necessary to: prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration, or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea; punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea; the contiguous zone may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured (e.g., the US has claimed a 12-nautical mile contiguous zone in addition to its 12-nautical mile territorial sea); where the coasts of two states are opposite or adjacent to each other, neither state is entitled to extend its contiguous zone beyond the median line, every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points on the baseline from which the contiguous zone of both states are measured.
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) - the UNCLOS (Part V) defines the EEZ as a zone beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which a coastal state has: sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, of the waters superjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its subsoil, and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents, and winds; jurisdiction with regard to the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations, and structures; marine scientific research; the protection and preservation of the marine environment; the outer limit of the exclusive economic zone shall not exceed 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
continental shelf - the UNCLOS (Article 76) defines the continental shelf of a coastal state as comprising the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance; the continental margin comprises the submerged prolongation of the landmass of the coastal state, and consists of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise; wherever the continental margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baseline, coastal states may extend their claim to a distance not to exceed 350 nautical miles from the baseline or 100 nautical miles from the 2,500-meter isobath, which is a line connecting points of 2,500 meters in depth; it does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridges or the subsoil thereof.
exclusive fishing zone - while this term is not used in the UNCLOS, some states (e.g., the United Kingdom) have chosen not to claim an EEZ but rather to claim jurisdiction over the living resources off their coast; in such cases, the term exclusive fishing zone is often used; the breadth of this zone is normally the same as the EEZ or 200 nautical miles.
Maritime threats This entry describes the threat of piracy, as defined in Article 101, UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), or armed robbery against ships, as defined in Resolution A. 1025 (26) adopted on 2 December 2009 at the 26th Assembly Session of the International Maritime Organization. The entry includes the number of ships on the high seas or in territorial waters that were boarded or attacked by pirates, and the number of crewmen abducted or killed, as compiled by the International Maritime Bureau. Information is also supplied on the geographical range of attacks.
Maternal mortality ratio The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). The MMR includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, for a specified year.
Median age This entry is the age that divides a population into two numerically equal groups; that is, half the people are younger than this age and half are older. It is a single index that summarizes the age distribution of a population. Currently, the median age ranges from a low of about 15 in Niger and Uganda to 40 or more in several European countries and Japan. See the entry for “Age structure” for the importance of a young versus an older age structure and, by implication, a low versus a higher median age.
Member states This entry, which appears only in the European Union, Government category, provides a listing of all of the European Union member countries, as well as their associated overseas countries and territories.
Merchant marine This entry provides the total and the number of each type of privately or publicly owned commercial ship for each country; military ships are not included; the five ships by type include: bulk carrier - for cargo such as coal, grain, cement, ores, and gravel; container ship - for loads in truck-size containers, a transportation system called containerization; general cargo - also referred to as break-bulk containers - for a wide variety of packaged merchandise, such as textiles, furniture and machinery; oil tanker - for crude oil and petroleum products; other - includes chemical carriers, dredgers, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, refrigerated cargo ships called reefers, tugboats, passenger vessels (cruise and ferry), and offshore supply ships
Military This category includes the entries dealing with a country’s military structure, manpower, and expenditures.
Military - note This entry includes miscellaneous military information of significance not included elsewhere.
Military and security forces This entry lists the military and security forces subordinate to defense ministries or the equivalent (typically ground, naval, air, and marine forces), as well as those belonging to interior ministries or the equivalent (typically gendarmeries, border/coast guards, paramilitary police, and other internal security forces).
Military and security service personnel strengths This entry provides estimates of military and security services personnel strengths. The numbers are based on a wide-range of publicly available information. Unless otherwise noted, military estimates focus on the major services (army, navy, air force, and where applicable, gendarmeries) and do not account for activated reservists or delineate military service members assigned to joint staffs or defense ministries.
Military deployments This entry lists military forces deployed to other countries or territories abroad. The World Factbook defines deployed as a permanently stationed force or a temporary deployment of greater than six months. Deployments smaller than 100 personnel or paramilitaries, police, contractors, mercenaries, or proxy forces are not included. Numbers provided are estimates only and should be considered paper strengths, not necessarily the current number of troops on the ground. In addition, some estimates, such as those by the US military, are significantly influenced by deployment policies, contingencies, or world events and may change suddenly. Where available, the organization or mission that at least some of the forces are deployed under is listed. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:
AMISOM - Africa Union (AU) Mission in Somalia; UN-supported, AU-operated peacekeeping mission
BATUS - British Army Training Unit Suffield, Canada
BATUK - British Army Training Unit, Kenya
CSTO - Collective Security Treaty Organization
ECOMIG - ECOWUS Mission in The Gambia; Africa Union-European Union peacekeeping, stabilization, and training mission in Gambia
EUTM - European Union Training Mission
EUFOR - European Union Force Bosnia and Herzegovina (also known as Operation Althea)
EuroCorps - European multi-national corps headquartered in Strasbourg, France, consisting of troops from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Spain; Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania and Turkey are Associated Nations of EuroCorps
G5 Joint Force - G5 Sahel Cross-Border Joint Force comprised of troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger
KFOR - the Kosovo Force; a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo
MFO - Multinational Force & Observers Sinai, headquartered in Rome
MINUSCA - United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic
MINUSMA - United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali
MNJTF - Multinational Joint Task Force Against Boko Haram comprised of troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria with the mission of fighting Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin
MONUSCO - United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
NATO - North American Treaty Organization, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium
Operation Barkhane - French-led counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism mission in the Sahel alongside the G5 Joint Force; headquartered in N’Djamena, Chad and supported by Canada, Denmark, Estonia, the European Union, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the US
Operation Inherent Resolve - US-led coalition to counter the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and provide assistance and training to Iraqi security forces
UNAFIL - United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
UNAMID - African Union - United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, Sudan
UNDOF - United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, Golan (Israel-Syria border)
UNFICYP - United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
UNISFA - United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (Sudan-South Sudan border)
UNMISS - United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan
UNSOM - United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions This entry provides basic information on each country’s military equipment inventories, as well as how they acquire their equipment; it is intended to show broad trends in major military equipment holdings, such as tanks and other armored vehicles, air defense systems, artillery, naval ships, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft. Arms acquisition information is an overview of major arms suppliers over a specific period of time, including second-hand arms delivered as aid, with a focus on major weapons systems. It is based on the type and number of weapon systems ordered and delivered and the financial value of the deal. For some countries, general information on domestic defense industry capabilities is provided.
Military expenditures This entry gives estimates on spending on defense programs for the most recent year available as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP). For countries with no military forces, this figure can include expenditures on public security and police.
Military service age and obligation This entry gives the required ages for voluntary or conscript military service and the length of service obligation.
Money figures All money figures are expressed in contemporaneous US dollars unless otherwise indicated.
Mother’s mean age at first birth This entry provides the mean (average) age of mothers at the birth of their first child. It is a useful indicator for gauging the success of family planning programs aiming to reduce maternal mortality, increase contraceptive use – particularly among married and unmarried adolescents – delay age at first marriage, and improve the health of newborns.
National air transport system This entry includes four subfields describing the air transport system of a given country in terms of both structure and performance. The first subfield, number of registered air carriers, indicates the total number of air carriers registered with the country’s national aviation authority and issued an air operator certificate as required by the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The second subfield, inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers, lists the total number of aircraft operated by all registered air carriers in the country. The last two subfields measure the performance of the air transport system in terms of both passengers and freight. The subfield, annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers, includes the total number of passengers carried by air carriers registered in the country, including both domestic and international passengers, in a given year. The last subfield, annual freight traffic on registered air carriers, includes the volume of freight, express, and diplomatic bags carried by registered air carriers and measured in metric tons times kilometers traveled. Freight ton-kilometers equal the sum of the products obtained by multiplying the number of tons of freight, express, and diplomatic bags carried on each flight stage by the stage distance (operation of an aircraft from takeoff to its next landing). For statistical purposes, freight includes express and diplomatic bags but not passenger baggage.
National anthem A generally patriotic musical composition - usually in the form of a song or hymn of praise - that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions, or struggles of a nation or its people. National anthems can be officially recognized as a national song by a country’s constitution or by an enacted law, or simply by tradition. Although most anthems contain lyrics, some do not.
National heritage World Heritage Sites are designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which seeks to encourage the identification, protection, and preservation of cultural, historic, scientific, and natural heritage sites around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This entry includes two subfields: total World Heritage Sites and selected World Heritage Site locales. The former consists of natural sites (n); cultural sites (c); and mixed (m; natural and cultural) sites in a country; the latter presents a representative sample of the sites found within a country.
National holiday This entry gives the primary national day of celebration - usually independence day.
National symbol(s) A national symbol is a faunal, floral, or other abstract representation - or some distinctive object - that over time has come to be closely identified with a country or entity. Not all countries have national symbols; a few countries have more than one.
Nationality This entry provides the identifying terms for citizens - noun and adjective.
Natural gas This field refers to a country’s natural gas production, consumption, exports, imports, and proven reserves. Proven reserves are those quantities of natural gas that have been analyzed as commercially recoverable in the future based on known reservoirs and assuming current economic conditions. All data reflect only dry natural gas and exclude non-hydrocarbon gases, as well as vented, flared, and reinjected natural gas. Data are reported using cubic meters.
Natural hazards This entry lists potential natural disasters. For countries where volcanic activity is common, a volcanism subfield highlights historically active volcanoes.
Natural resources This entry lists a country’s mineral, petroleum, hydropower, and other resources of commercial importance, such as rare earth elements (REEs). In general, products appear only if they make a significant contribution to the economy, or are likely to do so in the future.
Net migration rate This entry includes the figure for the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during the year per 1,000 persons (based on midyear population). An excess of persons entering the country is referred to as net immigration (e.g., 3.56 migrants/1,000 population); an excess of persons leaving the country as net emigration (e.g., -9.26 migrants/1,000 population). The net migration rate indicates the contribution of migration to the overall level of population change. The net migration rate does not distinguish between economic migrants, refugees, and other types of migrants nor does it distinguish between lawful migrants and undocumented migrants.
Nuclear energy This field describes nuclear energy used for production of electricity. The information covers all countries with operational nuclear reactors used to produce electricity; the information does not include research reactors. Subfields include the current number of operational nuclear reactors, the number of nuclear reactors under construction, the net capacity of operational nuclear reactors expressed in gigawatts (GW), the percent of total electricity production from nuclear energy, the percent of total energy produced from nuclear energy, and the number of nuclear reactors permanently shut down. Watts are a measure of power, describing the rate at which electricity is being used at a specific moment. A gigawatt is 1 billion watts.
Obesity - adult prevalence rate This entry gives the percent of a country’s population considered to be obese. Obesity is defined as an adult having a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater to or equal to 30.0. BMI is calculated by taking a person’s weight in kg and dividing it by the person’s squared height in meters.
Ocean currents This entry provides information on ocean currents, which are the continuous, predictable, and directional movements of seawater driven by a number of forces acting upon the water including gravity, wind (Coriolis Effect), and water density (temperature and salinity differences). Depth contours, shoreline configurations, and interactions with other currents can all influence a current’s direction and strength. Ocean currents move primarily in a horizontal direction.
Ocean volume This entry provides the estimated volume of each of the oceans in millions of cubic kilometers and the percent of the World Ocean total volume.
People - note This entry includes miscellaneous demographic information of significance not included elsewhere.
People and Society This category includes entries dealing with national identity (including ethnicities, languages, and religions), demography (a variety of population statistics) and societal characteristics (health and education indicators).
Personal Names - Capitalization The Factbook capitalizes the surname or family name of individuals for the convenience of our users who are faced with a world of different cultures and naming conventions. The need for capitalization, bold type, underlining, italics, or some other indicator of the individual’s surname is apparent in the following examples: MAO Zedong, Fidel CASTRO Ruz, George W. BUSH, and TUNKU SALAHUDDIN Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Hisammuddin Alam Shah. By knowing the surname, a short form without all capital letters can be used with confidence as in President Castro, Chairman Mao, President Bush, or Sultan Tunku Salahuddin. The same system of capitalization is extended to the names of leaders with surnames that are not commonly used such as King CHARLES III. For Vietnamese names, the given name is capitalized because officials are referred to by their given name rather than by their surname. For example, the president of Vietnam is Nguyen Xuan PHUC. His surname is Nguyen, but he is referred to by his given name - President PHUC.
Personal Names - Spelling The romanization of personal names in the Factbook normally follows the same transliteration system used by the US Board on Geographic Names for spelling place names. At times, however, a foreign leader expressly indicates a preference for, or the media or official documents regularly use, a romanized spelling that differs from the transliteration derived from the US Government standard. In such cases, the Factbook uses the alternative spelling.
Personal Names - Titles The Factbook capitalizes any valid title (or short form of it) immediately preceding a person’s name. A title standing alone is not capitalized. Examples: President PUTIN and President BIDEN are chiefs of state. In Russia, the president is chief of state and the premier is the head of the government, while in the US, the president is both chief of state and head of government.
Petroleum This field refers a country’s crude oil production, refined petroleum consumption, crude oil exports, crude oil imports, and crude oil proven reserves.
Crude oil data represent crude oil (including lease condensate), oil sands liquids, natural gas plant liquids, and other liquids. Other liquids include biodiesel, ethanol, liquids produced from coal, gas, and oil shale, Orimulsion, blending components, and other hydrocarbons. Refined petroleum data represent asphalt, petroleum coke, aviation gasoline, lubricants, ethane, naphtha, paraffin wax, petrochemical feedstocks, unfinished oils, white spirits, and direct use of crude oil.
Crude oil production, refined petroleum consumption, crude oil exports, and crude oil imports data are reported in barrels per day (bbl/day), and one barrel of crude oil roughly equates to 42 gallons (roughly 159 liters). Crude oil proven reserves data are reported in barrels (bbl) and are those quantities of crude oil that have been analyzed as commercially recoverable in the future based on known reservoirs and assuming current economic conditions.
Petroleum See entries under Refined petroleum products.
Petroleum products See entries under Refined petroleum products.
Physicians density This entry gives the number of medical doctors (physicians), including generalist and specialist medical practitioners, per 1,000 of the population. Medical doctors are defined as doctors that study, diagnose, treat, and prevent illness, disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans through the application of modern medicine. They also plan, supervise, and evaluate care and treatment plans by other health care providers. The World Health Organization estimates that fewer than 2.3 health workers (physicians, nurses, and midwives only) per 1,000 would be insufficient to achieve coverage of primary healthcare needs.
Pipelines This entry gives the lengths and types of pipelines for transporting products like natural gas, crude oil, or petroleum products.
Piracy Piracy is defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as any illegal act of violence, detention, or depredation directed against a ship, aircraft, persons, or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State. Such criminal acts committed in the territorial waters of a littoral state are generally considered to be armed robbery against ships. Information on piracy may be found, where applicable, under Maritime threats.
Political parties and leaders This entry includes a listing of significant political parties, coalitions, and electoral lists as of each country’s last legislative election, unless otherwise noted. kParties that do not win a seat in national elections are usually not included.
Political structure This entry, which appears only in the European Union, Government category, provides a definition for the entity that is the European Union.
Population This entry gives an estimate from the US Bureau of the Census based on statistics from population censuses, vital statistics registration systems, or sample surveys pertaining to the recent past and on assumptions about future trends. The total population presents one overall measure of the potential impact of the country on the world and within its region. Note: Starting with the 1993 Factbook, demographic estimates for some countries (mostly African) have explicitly taken into account the effects of the growing impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These countries are currently: The Bahamas, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Population below poverty line National estimates of the percentage of the population falling below the poverty line are based on surveys of sub-groups, with the results weighted by the number of people in each group. Definitions of poverty vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations.
Population distribution This entry provides a summary description of the population dispersion within a country. While it may suggest population density, it does not provide density figures.
Population growth rate The average annual percent change in the population, resulting from a surplus (or deficit) of births over deaths and the balance of migrants entering and leaving a country. The rate may be positive or negative. The growth rate is a factor in determining how great a burden would be imposed on a country by the changing needs of its people for infrastructure (e.g., schools, hospitals, housing, roads), resources (e.g., food, water, electricity), and jobs. Rapid population growth can be seen as threatening by neighboring countries.
Population pyramid A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country’s population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.
Some distinctive types of population pyramids are:
• A youthful distribution has a broad base and narrow peak and is characterized by a high proportion of children and low proportion of the elderly. This population distribution results from high fertility, high mortality, low life expectancy, and high population growth. It is typical of developing countries where female education and contraceptive use are low and health care and sanitation are poor.
• A transitional distribution is caused by declining fertility and mortality rates, increasing life expectancy, and slowing population growth. The population has a larger proportion of working-age people relative to children and the elderly and produces a barrel-shaped pyramid, where the mid-section bulges and the base and top are narrower. The large proportion of working-age people can create a “demographic bonus” if it is educated and productively employed.
• A mature distribution has fairly balanced proportions of the population in the child, working-age, and elderly age groups and will gradually form an inverted triangle population pyramid as population growth continues to fall or ceases and the proportion of older people increases. Low fertility, low mortality, and high life expectancy - made possible by the availability of advanced healthcare, family planning, sanitation, and education - lead to aging populations in industrialized countries.
Ports and terminals This entry lists major ports and terminals primarily on the basis of the amount of cargo tonnage shipped through the facilities on an annual basis. In some instances, the number of containers handled or ship visits were also considered. Most ports service multiple classes of vessels including bulk carriers (dry and liquid), break bulk cargoes (goods loaded individually in bags, boxes, crates, or drums; sometimes palletized), containers, roll-on/roll-off, and passenger ships. The listing leads off with major seaports handling all types of cargo. Inland river/lake ports are listed separately along with the river or lake name. Ports configured specifically to handle bulk cargoes are designated as oil terminals or dry bulk cargo ports. LNG terminals handle liquefied natural gas (LNG) and are differentiated as either export, where the gas is chilled to a liquid state to reduce its volume for transport on specialized gas carriers, or import, where the off-loaded LNG undergoes a regasification process before entering pipelines for distribution. As break bulk cargoes are largely transported by containers today, the entry also includes a listing of major container ports with the corresponding throughput measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) referring to a standard container size. Some ports are significant for handling passenger traffic and are listed as cruise/ferry ports. In addition to commercial traffic, many seaports also provide important military infrastructure such as naval bases or dockyards.
Preliminary statement This entry, which appears only in the European Union, Introduction category, provides an explanation and justification for the inclusion of a separate European Union geographic entity.
Principality A sovereign state ruled by a monarch with the title of prince; principalities were common in the past, but today only three remain: Liechtenstein, Monaco, and the co-principality of Andorra.
Public debt This entry records the cumulative total of all government borrowings less repayments that are denominated in a country’s home currency. Public debt should not be confused with external debt, which reflects the foreign currency liabilities of both the private and public sector and must be financed out of foreign exchange earnings.
Railways This entry states the total route length of the railway network and of its component parts by gauge, which is the measure of the distance between the inner sides of the load-bearing rails. The four typical types of gauges are: broad, standard, narrow, and dual. Other gauges are listed in a note. Some 60% of the world’s railways use the standard gauge of 1.4 m (4.7 ft). Gauges vary by country and sometimes within countries. The choice of gauge during initial construction was mainly in response to local conditions and the intent of the builder. Narrow-gauge railways were cheaper to build and could negotiate sharper curves, broad-gauge railways gave greater stability and permitted higher speeds. Standard-gauge railways were a compromise between narrow and broad gauges.
Rare earth elements Rare earth elements or REEs are 17 chemical elements that are critical in many of today’s high-tech industries. They include lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium. Typical applications for REEs include batteries in hybrid cars, fiber optic cables, flat panel displays, and permanent magnets, as well as some defense and medical products.
Real GDP (purchasing power parity) This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A nation’s GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States in the year noted. This is the measure most economists prefer when looking at per-capita welfare and when comparing living conditions or use of resources across countries. The measure is difficult to compute, as a US dollar value has to be assigned to all goods and services in the country regardless of whether these goods and services have a direct equivalent in the United States (for example, the value of an ox-cart or non-US military equipment); as a result, PPP estimates for some countries are based on a small and sometimes different set of goods and services. In addition, many countries do not formally participate in the World Bank’s PPP project that calculates these measures, so the resulting GDP estimates for these countries may lack precision. For many developing countries, PPP-based GDP measures are multiples of the official exchange rate (OER) measure. The differences between the OER- and PPP-denominated GDP values for most of the wealthy industrialized countries are generally much smaller.
Real GDP growth rate This entry gives a country’s real GDP annual growth rate, adjusted for seasonal unemployment and inflation. A country’s growth rate is year-over-year, and not compounded.
Real GDP per capita This entry shows real GDP, divided by population as of 1 July for the same year.
Reference maps This section includes world and regional maps.
Refined petroleum products - exports This entry is the country’s total exports of refined petroleum products, in barrels per day (bbl/day).
Refined petroleum products - imports This entry is the country’s total imports of refined petroleum products, in barrels per day (bbl/day).
Refined petroleum products - production This entry is the country’s total output of refined petroleum products, in barrels per day (bbl/day). The discrepancy between the amount of refined petroleum products produced and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is due to the omission of stock changes, refinery gains, and other complicating factors.
Refugees and internally displaced persons This entry includes those persons residing in a country as refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), or stateless persons. Each country’s refugee entry includes only countries of origin that are the source of refugee populations of 5,000 or more. The definition of a refugee according to a UN Convention is “a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution.” The UN established the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1950 to handle refugee matters worldwide. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has a different operational definition for a Palestinian refugee: “a person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” The term internally displaced person is not specifically covered in the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees; it is used to describe people who have fled their homes for reasons similar to refugees, but who remain within their own national territory and are subject to the laws of that state. A stateless person is defined as someone who is not considered a national by any state under the operation of its law, according to the 1954 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.
Religions This entry is an ordered listing of religions by adherents starting with the largest group and sometimes includes the percent of total population. The core characteristics and beliefs of the world’s major religions are described below.
Baha’i - Founded by Mirza Husayn-Ali (known as Baha’u’llah) in Iran in 1852, Baha’i faith emphasizes monotheism and believes in one eternal transcendent God. Its guiding focus is to encourage the unity of all peoples on the earth so that justice and peace may be achieved on earth. Baha’i revelation contends the prophets of major world religions reflect some truth or element of the divine, believes all were manifestations of God given to specific communities in specific times, and that Baha’u’llah is an additional prophet meant to call all humankind. Bahais are an open community, located worldwide, with the greatest concentration of believers in South Asia.
Buddhism - Religion or philosophy inspired by the 5th century B.C. teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (also known as Gautama Buddha “the enlightened one”). Buddhism focuses on the goal of spiritual enlightenment centered on an understanding of Gautama Buddha’s Four Noble Truths on the nature of suffering, and on the Eightfold Path of spiritual and moral practice, to break the cycle of suffering of which we are a part. Buddhism ascribes to a karmic system of rebirth. Several schools and sects of Buddhism exist, differing often on the nature of the Buddha, the extent to which enlightenment can be achieved (for one or for all) and by whom (religious orders or laity).
Basic Groupings
Theravada Buddhism: The oldest Buddhist school, Theravada is practiced mostly in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and Thailand, with minority representation elsewhere in Asia and the West. Theravadans follow the Pali Canon of Buddha’s teachings, and believe that one may escape the cycle of rebirth, worldly attachment, and suffering for oneself; this process may take one or several lifetimes.
Mahayana Buddhism, including subsets Zen and Tibetan (Lamaistic) Buddhism: Forms of Mahayana Buddhism are common in East Asia and Tibet, and parts of the West. Mahayanas have additional scriptures beyond the Pali Canon and believe the Buddha is eternal and still teaching. Unlike Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana schools maintain the Buddha-nature is present in all beings and all will ultimately achieve enlightenment.
Hoa Hao: a minority tradition of Buddhism practiced in Vietnam that stresses lay participation, primarily by peasant farmers; it eschews expensive ceremonies and temples and relocates the primary practices into the home.
Christianity - Descending from Judaism, Christianity’s central belief maintains Jesus of Nazareth is the promised messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures, and that his life, death, and resurrection are salvific for the world. Christianity is one of the three monotheistic Abrahamic faiths, along with Islam and Judaism, which traces its spiritual lineage to Abraham of the Hebrew Scriptures. Its sacred texts include the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament (or the Christian Gospels).
Basic Groupings
Catholicism (or Roman Catholicism): This is the oldest established western Christian church and the world’s largest single religious body. It is supranational, and recognizes a hierarchical structure with the Pope, or Bishop of Rome, as its head, located at the Vatican. Catholics believe the Pope is the divinely ordered head of the Church from a direct spiritual legacy of Jesus’ apostle Peter. Catholicism is comprised of 23 particular Churches, or Rites - one Western (Roman or Latin-Rite) and 22 Eastern. The Latin Rite is by far the largest, making up about 98% of Catholic membership. Eastern-Rite Churches, such as the Maronite Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church, are in communion with Rome although they preserve their own worship traditions and their immediate hierarchy consists of clergy within their own rite. The Catholic Church has a comprehensive theological and moral doctrine specified for believers in its catechism, which makes it unique among most forms of Christianity.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: The Church was organized in 1830 and teaches that it is the restoration of Jesus Christ’s original church. It embraces salvation through Christ, personal revelation, and has an open canon, including the King James Bible and the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Christ’s divinity. The Book of Mormon maintains there was an appearance of Jesus in the New World following the Christian account of his resurrection, and that the Americas are uniquely blessed continents. The Church has a centralized doctrine and leadership structure, but has volunteer, lay clergy who oversee local congregations in 176 countries and territories.
Jehovah’s Witnesses structure their faith on the Christian Bible, but their rejection of the Trinity is distinct from mainstream Christianity. They believe that a Kingdom of God, the Theocracy, will emerge following Armageddon and usher in a new earthly society. Adherents are required to evangelize and to follow a strict moral code.
Orthodox Christianity: The oldest established eastern form of Christianity, the Holy Orthodox Church, has a ceremonial head in the Bishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), also known as a Patriarch, but its various regional forms (e.g., Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox) are autocephalous (independent of Constantinople’s authority, and have their own Patriarchs). Orthodox churches are highly nationalist and ethnic. The Orthodox Christian faith shares many theological tenets with the Roman Catholic Church, but diverges on some key premises and does not recognize the governing authority of the Pope.
Protestant Christianity: Protestant Christianity originated in the 16th century as an attempt to reform Roman Catholicism’s practices, dogma, and theology. It encompasses several forms or denominations which are extremely varied in structure, beliefs, relationship to national governments, clergy, and governance. Many protestant theologies emphasize the primary role of scripture in their faith, advocating individual interpretation of Christian texts without the mediation of a final religious authority such as the Roman Pope. The oldest Protestant denominations include Lutheranism, Calvinism (Presbyterianism), and Anglican Christianity (Episcopalianism), which have established liturgies, governing structure, and formal clergy. Other variants on Protestant Christianity, including Pentecostal movements and independent churches, may lack one or more of these elements, and their leadership and beliefs are individualized and dynamic.
Hinduism - Originating in the Vedic civilization of India (second and first millennium B.C.), Hinduism is an extremely diverse set of beliefs and practices with no single founder or religious authority. Hinduism has many scriptures; the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita are among some of the most important. Hindus may worship one or many deities, usually with prayer rituals within their own home. The most common figures of devotion are the gods Vishnu, Shiva, and a mother goddess, Devi. Most Hindus believe the soul, or atman, is eternal, and goes through a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara) determined by one’s positive or negative karma, or the consequences of one’s actions. The goal of religious life is to learn to act so as to finally achieve liberation (moksha) of one’s soul, escaping the rebirth cycle.
Islam - One of the three monotheistic Abrahamic faiths, Islam originated with the teachings of Muhammad in the 7th century. Muslims believe Muhammad is the final of all religious prophets (beginning with Abraham) and that the Qu’ran, which is the Islamic scripture, was revealed to him by God. Islam derives from the word submission, and obedience to God is a primary theme in this religion. In order to live an Islamic life, believers must follow the five pillars, or tenets, of Islam, which are the testimony of faith (shahada), daily prayer (salah), giving alms (zakah), fasting during Ramadan (sawm), and the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).
Basic Groupings
The two primary branches of Islam are Sunni and Shia, which split from each other over a religio-political leadership dispute about the rightful successor to Muhammad. The Shia believe Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, was the only divinely ordained Imam (religious leader), while the Sunni maintain the first three caliphs after Muhammad were also legitimate authorities. In modern Islam, Sunnis and Shia continue to have different views of acceptable schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and who is a proper Islamic religious authority. Islam also has an active mystical branch, Sufism, with various Sunni and Shia subsets.
Sunni Islam accounts for over 87-90% of the world’s Muslim population. It recognizes the Abu Bakr as the first caliph after Muhammad. Sunni has four schools of Islamic doctrine and law - Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali - which uniquely interpret the Hadith, or recorded oral traditions of Muhammad. A Sunni Muslim may elect to follow any one of these schools, as all are considered equally valid.
Shia Islam represents 10-13% of Muslims worldwide, and its distinguishing feature is its reverence for Ali as an infallible, divinely inspired leader, and as the first Imam of the Muslim community after Muhammad. A majority of Shia are known as “Twelvers,” because they believe that the 11 familial successor imams after Muhammad culminate in a 12th Imam (al-Mahdi) who is hidden in the world and will reappear at its end to redeem the righteous.
Variants
Ismaili faith: A sect of Shia Islam, its adherents are also known as “Seveners,” because they believe that the rightful seventh Imam in Islamic leadership was Isma’il, the elder son of Imam Jafar al-Sadiq. Ismaili tradition awaits the return of the seventh Imam as the Mahdi, or Islamic messianic figure. Ismailis are located in various parts of the world, particularly South Asia and the Levant.
Alawi faith: Another Shia sect of Islam, the name reflects followers’ devotion to the religious authority of Ali. Alawites are a closed, secretive religious group who assert they are Shia Muslims, although outside scholars speculate their beliefs may have a syncretic mix with other faiths originating in the Middle East. Alawis live mostly in Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey.
Druze faith: A highly secretive tradition and a closed community that derives from the Ismaili sect of Islam; its core beliefs are thought to emphasize a combination of Gnostic principles believing that the Fatimid caliph, al-Hakin, is the one who embodies the key aspects of goodness of the universe, which are, the intellect, the word, the soul, the preceder, and the follower. The Druze have a key presence in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.
Jainism - Originating in India, Jain spiritual philosophy believes in an eternal human soul, the eternal universe, and a principle of “the own nature of things.” It emphasizes compassion for all living things, seeks liberation of the human soul from reincarnation through enlightenment, and values personal responsibility due to the belief in the immediate consequences of one’s behavior. Jain philosophy teaches non-violence and prescribes vegetarianism for monks and laity alike; its adherents are a highly influential religious minority in Indian society.
Judaism - One of the first known monotheistic religions, likely dating to between 2000-1500 B.C., Judaism is the native faith of the Jewish people, based upon the belief in a covenant of responsibility between a sole omnipotent creator God and Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism’s Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh. Divine revelation of principles and prohibitions in the Hebrew Scriptures form the basis of Jewish law, or halakhah, which is a key component of the faith. While there are extensive traditions of Jewish halakhic and theological discourse, there is no final dogmatic authority in the tradition. Local communities have their own religious leadership. Modern Judaism has three basic categories of faith: Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform/Liberal. These differ in their views and observance of Jewish law, with the Orthodox representing the most traditional practice, and Reform/Liberal communities the most accommodating of individualized interpretations of Jewish identity and faith.
Shintoism - A native animist tradition of Japan, Shinto practice is based upon the premise that every being and object has its own spirit or kami. Shinto practitioners worship several particular kamis, including the kamis of nature, and families often have shrines to their ancestors’ kamis. Shintoism has no fixed tradition of prayers or prescribed dogma, but is characterized by individual ritual. Respect for the kamis in nature is a key Shinto value. Prior to the end of World War II, Shinto was the state religion of Japan, and bolstered the cult of the Japanese emperor.
Sikhism - Founded by the Guru Nanak (born 1469), Sikhism believes in a non-anthropomorphic, supreme, eternal, creator God; centering one’s devotion to God is seen as a means of escaping the cycle of rebirth. Sikhs follow the teachings of Nanak and nine subsequent gurus. Their scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib - also known as the Adi Granth - is considered the living Guru, or final authority of Sikh faith and theology. Sikhism emphasizes equality of humankind and disavows caste, class, or gender discrimination.
Taoism - Chinese philosophy or religion based upon Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, which centers on belief in the Tao, or the way, as the flow of the universe and the nature of things. Taoism encourages a principle of non-force, or wu-wei, as the means to live harmoniously with the Tao. Taoists believe the esoteric world is made up of a perfect harmonious balance and nature, while in the manifest world - particularly in the body - balance is distorted. The Three Jewels of the Tao - compassion, simplicity, and humility - serve as the basis for Taoist ethics.
Zoroastrianism - Originating from the teachings of Zoroaster in about the 9th or 10th century B.C., Zoroastrianism may be the oldest continuing creedal religion. Its key beliefs center on a transcendent creator God, Ahura Mazda, and the concept of free will. The key ethical tenets of Zoroastrianism expressed in its scripture, the Avesta, are based on a dualistic worldview where one may prevent chaos if one chooses to serve God and exercises good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. Zoroastrianism is generally a closed religion and members are almost always born to Zoroastrian parents. Prior to the spread of Islam, Zoroastrianism dominated greater Iran. Today, though a minority, Zoroastrians remain primarily in Iran, India (where they are known as Parsi), and Pakistan.
Traditional beliefs
Animism: the belief that non-human entities contain souls or spirits.
Badimo: a form of ancestor worship of the Tswana people of Botswana.
Confucianism: an ideology that humans are perfectible through self-cultivation and self-creation; developed from teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Confucianism has strongly influenced the culture and beliefs of East Asian countries, including China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Inuit beliefs: a form of shamanism (see below) based on the animistic principles of the Inuit or Eskimo peoples.
Kirant: the belief system of the Kirat, a people who live mainly in the Himalayas of Nepal. It is primarily a form of polytheistic shamanism, but includes elements of animism and ancestor worship.
Pagan is a blanket term used to describe many unconnected belief practices throughout history, usually in reference to religions outside of the Abrahamic category (monotheistic faiths including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).
Shamanism: beliefs and practices promoting communication with the spiritual world. Shamanistic beliefs are organized around a shaman or medicine man who - as an intermediary between the human and spirit world - is believed to be able to heal the sick (by healing their souls), communicate with the spirit world, and help souls into the afterlife through the practice of entering a trance. In shaman-based religions, the shaman is also responsible for leading sacred rites.
Spiritualism: the belief that souls and spirits communicate with the living usually through intermediaries called mediums.
Syncretic (fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices)
Cao Dai: a nationalistic Vietnamese sect, officially established in 1926, that draws practices and precepts from Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Catholicism.
Chondogyo: or the religion of the Heavenly Way, is based on Korean shamanism, Buddhism, and Korean folk traditions, with some elements drawn from Christianity. Formulated in the 1860s, it holds that God lives in all of us and strives to convert society into a paradise on earth, populated by believers transformed into intelligent moral beings with a high social conscience.
Kimbanguism: a puritan form of the Baptist denomination founded by Simon Kimbangu in the 1920s in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Adherents believe that salvation comes through Jesus’ death and resurrection, like Christianity, but additionally that living a spiritually pure life following strict codes of conduct is required for salvation.
Modekngei: a hybrid of Christianity and ancient Palauan culture and oral traditions founded around 1915 on the island of Babeldaob. Adherents simultaneously worship Jesus Christ and Palauan goddesses.
Rastafarianism: an afro-centrist ideology and movement based on Christianity that arose in Jamaica in the 1930s; it believes that Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930-74, was the incarnation of the second coming of Jesus.
Santeria: practiced in Cuba, the merging of the Yoruba religion of Nigeria with Roman Catholicism and native Indian traditions. Its practitioners believe that each person has a destiny and eventually transcends to merge with the divine creator and source of all energy, Olorun.
Voodoo/Vodun: a form of spirit and ancestor worship combined with some Christian faiths, especially Catholicism. Haitian and Louisiana Voodoo, which have included more Catholic practices, are separate from West African Vodun, which has retained a focus on spirit worship.
Non-religious
Agnosticism: the belief that most things are unknowable. In regard to religion, it is usually characterized as neither a belief nor non-belief in a deity.
Atheism: the belief that there are no deities of any kind.
Remittances Personal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities.
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold This entry gives the dollar value for the stock of all financial assets that are available to the central monetary authority for use in meeting a country’s balance of payments needs as of the end-date of the period specified. This category includes not only foreign currency and gold, but also a country’s holdings of Special Drawing Rights in the International Monetary Fund, and its reserve position in the Fund.
Revenue from coal This entry refers to the economic profits, expressed as a percentage of a country’s GDP, from the extraction of coal. These profits equal coal gross revenues minus cost(s) to extract the coal. Other sources may refer to this field as coal rents.
Revenue from forest resources This entry refers to the economic profits, expressed as a percentage of a country’s GDP, from the harvesting of forests (e.g., lumber and timber industries). These profits equal forest gross revenues minus costs to harvest the forest. Other sources may refer to this field as forest rents.
Roadways This entry gives the total length of the road network and includes the length of the paved and unpaved portions.
Sanitation facility access This entry provides information about access to improved or unimproved sanitation facilities available to segments of the population of a country. Improved sanitation - use of any of the following facilities: flush or pour-flush to a piped sewer system, septic tank or pit latrine; ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrine; pit latrine with slab; or a composting toilet. Unimproved sanitation - use of any of the following facilities: flush or pour-flush not piped to a sewer system, septic tank or pit latrine; pit latrine without a slab or open pit; bucket; hanging toilet or hanging latrine; shared facilities of any type; no facilities; or bush or field.
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) School life expectancy (SLE) is the total number of years of schooling (primary to tertiary) that a child can expect to receive, assuming that the probability of his or her being enrolled in school at any particular future age is equal to the current enrollment ratio at that age. Caution must be maintained when utilizing this indicator in international comparisons. For example, a year or grade completed in one country is not necessarily the same in terms of educational content or quality as a year or grade completed in another country. SLE represents the expected number of years of schooling that will be completed, including years spent repeating one or more grades.
Sex ratio This entry includes the number of males for each female in five age groups - at birth, under 15 years, 15-64 years, 65 years and over, and for the total population. Sex ratio at birth has recently emerged as an indicator of certain kinds of sex discrimination in some countries. For instance, high sex ratios at birth in some Asian countries are now attributed to sex-selective abortion and infanticide due to a strong preference for sons. This will affect future marriage patterns and fertility patterns. Eventually, it could cause unrest among young adult males who are unable to find partners.
Smart City A smart city uses communication and information technology, a wide range of sensors, and data analysis, to improve operational activities, share information, and optimize the quality of life for its citizens. Everyday enhancements may include more effective linkups of urban services, increased safety and security, more efficient resource consumption (and a concomitant reduction in costs), environmental initiatives, and better disaster preparation and response. The vast amount of data collected does present concerns over intrusiveness and can be used to monitor the everyday lives of citizens.
Space agency/agencies This field provides the names of national space agencies for more than 90 countries, plus the EU. The list may also include countries with national level space activities represented by an office within a ministry or another government-affiliated entity, as well as instances where a country has announced that it will establish a space agency.
Space launch site(s) This field provides the names and locations of identified commercial and government space launch sites.
Space program overview This field provides a general survey of a country’s space program, including areas of expertise and focus, national goals, international cooperation, and commercial space sector activities if applicable.
Stateless person Statelessness is the condition whereby an individual is not considered a national by any country. Stateless people are denied basic rights, such as access to employment, housing, education, healthcare, and pensions, and they may be unable to vote, own property, open a bank account, or legally register a marriage or birth. They may also be vulnerable to arbitrary treatment and human trafficking. In at least 30 states, women cannot pass their nationality on to their children. In these countries, if a child’s father is foreign, stateless, or absent, the child usually becomes stateless. Estimates of the number of stateless people are inherently imprecise because few countries have procedures to identify them; the UN approximates that there are at least 10 million stateless people worldwide. Stateless people are counted in a country’s overall population figure if they have lived there for a year.
Suffrage This entry gives the age at enfranchisement and whether the right to vote is universal or restricted.
Taxes and other revenues This entry records total taxes and other revenues received by the national government during the time period indicated, expressed as a percent of GDP. Taxes include personal and corporate income taxes, value added taxes, excise taxes, and tariffs. Other revenues include social contributions - such as payments for social security and hospital insurance - grants, and net revenues from public enterprises. Normalizing the data, by dividing total revenues by GDP, enables easy comparisons across countries, and provides an average rate at which all income (GDP) is paid to the national level government for the supply of public goods and services.
Telecommunication systems This entry includes a brief general assessment of a country’s telecommunications system with details on the domestic and international components. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:
2G - is short for second-generation cellular network. After 2G was launched, the previous mobile wireless network systems were retroactively dubbed 1G. While radio signals on 1G networks are analog, radio signals on 2G networks are digital. Both systems use digital signaling to connect the radio towers (which listen to the devices) to the rest of the mobile system. 2G introduced cellular services like SMS, multimedia messaging, and digitally encrypted voice conversations. 2G is still useful because the FM modulation travels a long distance.
3G -is the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology. It is the upgrade for 2.5G and 2.5G GPRS networks, for faster data transfer and better voice quality. This increased speed is based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications use services and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications by the International Telecommunication Union. 3G finds application in wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls, and mobile TV.
4G - is the fourth generation of broadband cellular network technology, succeeding 3G. The first-release Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard was commercially deployed in Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm, Sweden in 2009, and has since been deployed throughout most parts of the world. Applications, include enhanced mobile web access, IP telephony, high-definition mobile TV, and video conferencing.
5G - is the fifth generation technology standard for cellular networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019; it is the planned successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most current cellphones. Like its predecessors, 5G networks are cellular networks, in which the service area is divided into small geographical areas called cells. All 5G wireless devices in a cell are connected to the Internet and telephone network by radio waves through a local antenna in the cell. The main advantage of the new networks is that they will have greater bandwidth, allowing higher download speeds, eventually up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbit/s). Due to the increased bandwidth, the expectation is that the new networks will not just serve cellphones like existing cellular networks, but also be used as general Internet service providers for laptops and desktop computers, competing with existing ISPs such as cable Internet. Existing 4G cellphones will not be able to use the new networks, which will require new 5G-enabled wireless devices.
6G - is the sixth-generation wireless and the successor to 5G cellular technology. 6G networks will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency. One of the goals of the 6G internet is to support one microsecond latency communications. This is 1,000 times faster – or 1/1000th the latency – than one millisecond throughput. It is important to note that 6G is still being developed. Some vendors are investing in the next-generation wireless standard, industry specifications for 6G-enabled network products remain years away.
7G - is the seventh-generation wireless and is the inevitable intelligent cellular technology. 7G networks will be able to use higher frequencies and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency in communications. 7G is still in development.
ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) that allows faster data transmission via copper service phone lines to a home or business. ADSL provides an “always on” connection and higher speeds than dial-up Internet can provide. In ADSL, bandwidth and bit rate (i.e., speed) are asymmetric, meaning greater toward the customer (downstream) than the reverse (upstream).
AngoSat 2 - geostationary communications satellite for ground communication and broadcasting infrastructure in Angola, operated by Angosat and built by the Russian company ISS Reshetnev.
Arabsat - Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).
Cellular telephone system - the telephones in this system are radio transceivers, with each instrument having its own private radio frequency and sufficient radiated power to reach the booster station in its area (cell), from which the telephone signal is fed to a telephone exchange.
Central American Microwave System - a trunk microwave radio relay system that links the countries of Central America and Mexico with each other.
Coaxial cable - a multichannel communication cable consisting of a central conducting wire, surrounded by and insulated from a cylindrical conducting shell; a large number of telephone channels can be made available within the insulated space by the use of a large number of carrier frequencies.
DSL - Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines.
e-services - Electronic services rely on information and communication technologies (ICT); the three main components of e-services are the service provider, service receiver (or customer), and the channel for delivery, generally the Internet. E-services have expanded to e-health, e-commerce, e-fleet, and e-government, among other services. E-services are also linked to the development of IoT and smart city technology.
ECOWAS telecommunications - Economic Community of West African States regional telecommunications development program, focused on broadband infrastructure, landing of submarine cables, and the establishment of a single liberalized telecoms market.
Eutelsat - European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Paris).
Fiber-optic cable - a multichannel communications cable using a thread of optical glass fibers as a transmission medium in which the signal (voice, video, etc.) is in the form of a coded pulse of light.
FTTX - Fiber to the x (FTTX) is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic cables are able to carry much more data than copper cables, especially over long distances, copper telephone networks built in the 20th century are being replaced by fiber. FTTX is a general term for several configurations of fiber deployment, broadly organized into two groups: FTTN and FTTP /H/B. Fiber to the node (FTTN), also referred to as Fiber to the neighborhood, delivers fiber to within 300m (1,000 ft) of a customer’s premises. Fiber to the premises (FTTP) can be further categorized as fiber to the home (FTTH) or fiber to the building/business (FTTB). FTTN (and FTTC, fiber to the curb (to less than 300m (1,000 ft of a customer’s premises)) are seen as interim steps toward full FTTP.
Galileo - Chartered in 2016, Galileo is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) created by the European Union through the European Space Agency (ESA), and operated by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). Headquartered in Prague, Czechia, it has two ground operations centers: one in Fucino, Italy, and the other in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. The project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei and aims to provide an independent high-precision positioning system. Galileo provides a global search and rescue (SAR) function as part of the MEOSAR system.
GPON - stands for Gigabyte Passive Optical Networks, which are networks that rely on optical cables to deliver information from a single feeding fiber from a provider - to multiple destinations - via the use of splitters. GPONs are currently the leading form of Passive Optical Networks (PON) and offer up to a 1:64 ratio on a single fiber. As opposed to a standard copper wire in most networks, GPONs are 95% more energy efficient.
GSM - a global system for mobile (cellular) communications devised by the Groupe Special Mobile of the pan-European standardization organization, Conference Europeanne des Posts et Telecommunications (CEPT) in 1982.
HF - high frequency; any radio frequency in the 3,000- to 30,000-kHz range.
HSPA - High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunication networks using the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) protocols. A further improved 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard, Evolved High Speed Packet Access (also known as HSPA+), was released late in 2008 with subsequent worldwide adoption beginning in 2010. The newer standard allows bit-rates to reach as high as 337 Mbit/s in the downlink and 34 Mbit/s in the uplink. However, these speeds are rarely achieved in practice.
ICT - Information and communications technology (ICT) encompasses the capture, storage, retrieval, processing, display, representation, presentation, organization, management, security, transfer, and interchange of data and information; includes all categories of ubiquitous technology used for the gathering, storing, transmitting, retrieving, or processing of information.
Inmarsat - International Maritime Satellite Organization is a British satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals that communicate with ground stations through 13 geostationary telecommunications satellites. Inmarsat’s network provides communications services to a range of governments, aid agencies, media outlets, and businesses (especially in the shipping, airline, and mining industries) with a need to communicate in remote regions or where there is no reliable terrestrial network.
Intelsat - Intelsat Corporation (formerly International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT) is a communications satellite services provider.
Intersputnik - International Organization of Space Communications (Moscow); first established in the former Soviet Union and the East European countries, it is now marketing its services worldwide with earth stations in North America, Africa, and East Asia.
IP - Internet Protocol (IP) is a communications protocol for computers connected to a network, especially the Internet, specifying the format for addresses and units of transmitted data; data traversing the Internet is divided into smaller pieces, called packets.
IoT - the Internet of Things is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical, and digital machines provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
Iridium - the Iridium satellite constellation provides L band (long wavelength band) voice and data information coverage to satellite phones, pagers, and integrated transceivers over the entire surface of the earth. Iridium Communications owns and operates the constellation, additionally selling equipment and access to its services.
ITU - the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a United Nations specialized agency that is responsible for issues that concern information and communication technologies. Founded in 1865, the ITU is the oldest global international organization. The ITU coordinates the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promotes international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, works to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world, and assists in the development and coordination of worldwide technical standards. The ITU is also active in the areas of broadband Internet, latest-generation wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, satellite-based meteorology, convergence in fixed-mobile phone, Internet access, data, voice, TV broadcasting, and next-generation networks.
IXP - an Internet exchange point (IXP) is a physical location through which Internet infrastructure companies such as Internet service providers (ISPs) and content delivery networks (CDNs) connect with each other.
Kacific 1 - Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific) is a satellite operator providing high-speed broadband Internet service for the South East Asia and Pacific Islands regions. Its first Ka-band HTS satellite, Kacific1, was designed and built by Boeing and launched into geostationary orbit in December 2019.
Landline - communication wire or cable of any sort that is installed on poles or buried in the ground.
LTE - Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals Based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA technologies, it increases communication capacity and speed using a different radio interface together with core network improvements.
LTE Advanced - (aka LTE A) is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was submitted as a candidate 4G in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of the IMT-Advanced standard, and was standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in March 2011 as 3GPP Release 10.
LTE-TDD & LTE-FDD - There are two major differences between LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD: how data is uploaded and downloaded, and what frequency spectra the networks are deployed in. While LTE-FDD uses paired frequencies to upload and download data, LTE-TDD uses a single frequency, alternating between uploading and downloading data through time. The ratio between uploads and downloads on a LTE-TDD network can be changed dynamically, depending on whether more data needs to be sent or received. LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD also operate on different frequency bands, with LTE-TDD working better at higher frequencies, and LTE-FDD working better at lower frequencies.
M-commerce - short for mobile commerce, m-commerce is the use of wireless handheld devices like cellphones and tablets to conduct commercial transactions online, including the purchase and sale of products, online banking, and paying bills.
MNO - a mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell and deliver services to an end user including radio spectrum allocation, wireless network infrastructure, back haul infrastructure, billing, customer care, provisioning computer systems, and marketing and repair organizations.
MNP - mobile number portability
MVNO - a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. A MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile network operator (MNO) to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently.
Medarabtel - the Middle East Telecommunications Project of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) providing a modern telecommunications network, primarily by microwave radio relay, linking Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen; it was initially started in Morocco in 1970 by the Arab Telecommunications Union (ATU) and was known at that time as the Middle East Mediterranean Telecommunications Network.
Microwave radio relay - transmission of long distance telephone calls and television programs by highly directional radio microwaves that are received and sent on from one booster station to another on an optical path.
NB-IoT - narrowband Internet of Things is a low-power, wide-area network (LPWAN) radio technology. NB-IoT improves the power consumption of user devices, system capacity, and spectrum efficiency.
NGN - The next-generation network is the evolution and migration of fixed and mobile network infrastructures from distinct, proprietary networks to converged networks on an IP. One network transports all information and services (voice, data, and media) by encapsulating these into IP packets, similar to those used on the Internet. The result is unrestricted, consistent and ubiquitous access for users to different service providers.
NMT - Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) is a first generation (1G) mobile cellular phone system based on analog technology that was developed jointly by the national telecommunications authorities of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). NMT-450 analog networks have been replaced with digital networks using the same cellular frequencies.
Orbita - a Russian television service; also the trade name of a packet-switched digital telephone network.
PanAmSat - PanAmSat Corporation (Greenwich, CT) was a satellite service provider.
Radio telephone communications - the two-way transmission and reception of sounds by broadcast radio on authorized frequencies using telephone handsets.
Satellite communication system - a communication system consisting of two or more earth stations and at least one satellite that provide long distance transmission of voice, data, and television; the system usually serves as a trunk connection between telephone exchanges; if the earth stations are in the same country, it is a domestic system.
Satellite earth station - a communications facility with a microwave radio transmitting and receiving antenna, and receiving and transmitting equipment required for communicating with satellites.
Satellite link - a radio connection between a satellite and an earth station permitting communication between them, either one-way (down link from satellite to earth station - television receive-only transmission) or two-way (telephone channels).
SHF - super high frequency; any radio frequency in the 3,000- to 30,000-MHz range.
Shortwave - radio frequencies (from 1.605 to 30 MHz) that fall above the commercial broadcast band and are used for communication over long distances.
SIM card - subscriber identity/identification module card, is a small, removable integrated circuit used in a mobile phone to store data unique to the user, such as an identification number, passwords, phone numbers, and messages.
Solidaridad - geosynchronous satellites in Mexico’s system of international telecommunications in the Western Hemisphere.
Spectrum - spectrum management is the allocation and regulation of the electromagnetic spectrum into radio frequency (RF) bands, a procedure normally carried out by governments in most countries. Because radio propagation does not stop at national boundaries, governments have sought to harmonise the allocation of RF bands and their standardization. A spectrum auction is a process whereby a government uses an auction system to sell the rights to transmit signals over specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum and to assign scarce spectrum resources.
Submarine cable - a cable designed for service under water.
TE North - A submarine cable linking Egypt with France, with a branching unit to Cyprus, developed by Alcatel-Lucent.
Telecommunication (telecom) - is the exchange of signs, signals, messages, words, images and sounds, or information of any nature by wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems (i.e., via the use of technology). Telecommunication occurs through a transmission medium, such as over physical media, for example, over electrical cable, or via electromagnetic radiation through space such as radio or light.
Teledensity (telephone density) - is the number of telephone connections for every hundred individuals living within an area. It varies widely between nations and also between urban and rural areas within a country. Telephone density correlates closely with the per capita GDP of an area and is also used as an indicator of the purchasing power of the middle class of a country or specific region.
Telefax - facsimile service between subscriber stations via the public switched telephone network or the international Datel network.
Telegraph - a telecommunications system designed for unmodulated electric impulse transmission.
Telephony - is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.
Telex - a communication service involving teletypewriters connected by wire through automatic exchanges.
Trans-Caspian cable - Trans-Caspian Fiber Optic (TCFO) submarine cable; a project between AzerTelecom in Azerbaijan, KazTransCom of Kazakhstan, and Turkmentelekom in Turkmenistan for the construction of a fiber-optic cable in the Caspian Sea.
Tropospheric scatter - a form of microwave radio transmission in which the troposphere is used to scatter and reflect a fraction of the incident radio waves back to earth. Powerful, highly directional antennas are used to transmit and receive the microwave signals. Reliable over-the-horizon communications are realized for distances up to 600 miles in a single hop; additional hops can extend the range of this system for very long distances.
Trunk network - a network of switching centers, connected by multichannel trunk lines.
UHF - ultra high frequency; any radio frequency in the 300- to 3,000-MHz range.
VHF - very high frequency; any radio frequency in the 30- to 300-MHz range.
VNO - A virtual network operator (VNO) is a management services provider and a network services reseller of other telecommunication service providers. VNOs do not possess a telecom network infrastructure; however, they provide telecom services by acquiring the required capacity from other telecom carriers. These network providers are classified as virtual because they offer network services to clients without possessing the actual network. VNOs usually lease bandwidth at agreed wholesale rates from different telecom providers and then offer solutions to their direct customers.
VOD - video on demand (VOD) is a video media distribution system that allows users to access video entertainment without a traditional video entertainment device and without the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule.
VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, refers to the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the provisioning of communications services (voice, fax, text-messaging, voice-messaging) over the public Internet, rather than via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), also known as plain old telephone service (POTS).
VSAT - a VSAT (very-small-aperture terminal) is a two-way satellite ground station with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Data rates, generally, range from 4 kbit/s up to 16 Mbit/s.
WACS - the West Africa Cable System is a submarine communications cable linking South Africa with the UK along the west coast of Africa and Europe; constructed by Alcatel-Lucent. The cable consists of four fiber pairs and is 14,530 Km in length with 14 landing points – 12 along the western coast of Africa and 2 in Europe – with termination in London, UK.
WiMAX - stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access; it is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide multiple physical layer (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) options.
Telephone numbers All telephone numbers in The World Factbook consist of the country code in brackets, the city or area code (where required) in parentheses, and the local number. The one component that is not presented is the international access code, which varies from country to country. For example, an international direct dial telephone call placed from the US to Madrid, Spain, would be as follows: 011 [34] (1) 577-xxxx, where 011 is the international access code for station-to-station calls; 01 is for calls other than station-to-station calls, [34] is the country code for Spain, (1) is the city code for Madrid, 577 is the local exchange, and xxxx is the local telephone number. An international direct dial telephone call placed from another country to the US would be as follows: international access code + [1] (202) 939-xxxx, where [1] is the country code for the US, (202) is the area code for Washington, DC, 939 is the local exchange, and xxxx is the local telephone number.
Telephones - fixed lines This entry gives the total number of fixed telephone lines in use, as well as the number of subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
Telephones - mobile cellular This entry gives the total number of mobile cellular telephone subscribers, as well as the number of subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Note that because of the ubiquity of mobile phone use in developed countries, the number of subscriptions per 100 inhabitants can exceed 100.
Terminology Due to the highly structured nature of the Factbook database, some collective generic terms have to be used. For example, the word Country in the Country name entry refers to a wide variety of dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, uninhabited islands, and other entities in addition to the traditional countries or independent states. Military is also used as an umbrella term for various civil defense, security, and defense activities in many entries. The Independence entry includes the usual colonial independence dates and former ruling states as well as other significant nationhood dates such as the traditional founding date or the date of unification, federation, confederation, establishment, or state succession that are not strictly independence dates. Dependent areas have the nature of their dependency status noted in this same entry.
Terrain This entry contains a brief description of the topography of a country.
Terrorist group(s) This entry provides a list of US State Department-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) that are assessed to maintain a presence in each country. This includes cases where sympathizers, supporters, or associates of designated FTOs have carried out attacks or been arrested by security forces for terrorist-type activities in the country. See Appendix T: Terrorist Organizations for details on each FTO.
Time difference This entry is expressed in The World Factbook in two ways. First, it is stated as the difference in hours between the capital of an entity and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) during Standard Time. Additionally, the difference in time between the capital of an entity and that observed in Washington, D.C. is also provided. Note that the time difference assumes both locations are simultaneously observing Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time.
Time zones Ten countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, and the United States) and the island of Greenland observe more than one official time depending on the number of designated time zones within their boundaries. An illustration of time zones throughout the world and within countries can be seen in the Standard Time Zones of the World map included in the Reference Maps section of The World Factbook.
Tobacco use This entry measures the age standardized prevalence of tobacco use, whether smoked or smokeless or both, among persons 15 years and older for the total population, and separately for the male and female populations.
Total fertility rate This entry gives a figure for the average number of children that would be born per woman if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years and bore children according to a given fertility rate at each age. The total fertility rate (TFR) is a more direct measure of the level of fertility than the crude birth rate, since it refers to births per woman. This indicator shows the potential for population change in the country. A rate of two children per woman is considered the replacement rate for a population, resulting in relative stability in terms of total numbers. Rates above two children indicate populations growing in size and whose median age is declining. Higher rates may also indicate difficulties for families, in some situations, to feed and educate their children and for women to enter the labor force. Rates below two children indicate populations decreasing in size and growing older. Global fertility rates are in general decline and this trend is most pronounced in industrialized countries, especially Western Europe, where populations are projected to decline dramatically over the next 50 years.
Total renewable water resources This entry provides the long-term average water availability for a country measured in cubic meters per year of precipitation, recharged ground water, and surface inflows from surrounding countries. Total renewable water resources provides the water total available to a country but does not include water resource totals that have been reserved for upstream or downstream countries through international agreements. Note that these values are averages and do not accurately reflect the total available in any given year. Annual available resources can vary greatly due to short-term and long-term climatic and weather variations.
Total water withdrawal This entry provides the annual quantity of water in cubic meters withdrawn for municipal, industrial, and agricultural purposes. Municipal sector use refers to the annual quantity of water withdrawn primarily for direct use by the population through the public distribution network. Industrial sector use refers to the annual quantity of self-supplied water withdrawn for industrial purposes. Agricultural sector use refers to the annual quantity of self-supplied water withdrawn for irrigation, livestock, and aquaculture purposes.
Trafficking in persons Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded, or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. The International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues, estimated in 2022 that 27.6 million people worldwide were victims of forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude. Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat, depriving people of their human rights and freedoms, risking global health, promoting social breakdown, inhibiting development by depriving countries of their human capital, and helping fuel the growth of organized crime. In 2000, the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), reauthorized several times (the latest in 2022 became law in January 2023), which provides tools for the US to combat trafficking in persons, both domestically and abroad. One of the law’s key components is the creation of the US Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which assesses the government response in some 185 countries with a significant number of victims trafficked across their borders who are recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Countries in the annual report are rated in three tiers, based on government efforts to combat trafficking. The countries identified in this entry are those listed in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report as ‘Tier 2 Watch List’ or ‘Tier 3’ based on the following tier rating definitions:
Tier 2 Watch List countries do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but are making significant efforts to do so, and for which:
– the estimated number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing and the country is not taking proportional concrete actions; or,
– there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials
Tier 3 countries do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.
Transnational issues This category includes four entries - Disputes - international, Refugees and internally displaced persons, Trafficking in persons, and Illicit drugs - that deal with current issues going beyond national boundaries.
Transportation This category includes the entries dealing with the means for movement of people and goods.
Transportation - note This entry includes miscellaneous transportation information of significance not included elsewhere.
Under-5 mortality rate This entry indicates the probability a newborn would die before reaching exactly 5 years of age, expressed per 1,000 live births. Data is provided for the total number of children under 5 per 1,000 live births, as well as for the number of male and female children under 5 years of age per 1,000 live births. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.
Unemployment rate This entry contains the percent of the labor force that is without jobs. Substantial underemployment might be noted.
Union name This entry, which appears only in the European Union, Government category, provides the full name and abbreviation for the European Union.
Urbanization This entry provides two measures of the degree of urbanization of a population. The first, urban population, describes the percentage of the total population living in urban areas, as defined by the country. The second, rate of urbanization, describes the projected average rate of change of the size of the urban population over the given period of time. It is possible for a country with a 100% urban population to still display a change in the rate of urbanization (up or down). For example, a population of 100,000 that is 100% urban can change in size to 110,000 or 90,000 but remain 100% urban.
Additionally, the World entry includes a list of the ten largest urban agglomerations. An urban agglomeration is defined as comprising the city or town proper and also the suburban fringe or thickly settled territory lying outside of, but adjacent to, the boundaries of the city.
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) See entry for Coordinated Universal Time.
Waste and recycling This entry provides the amount of municipal solid waste a country produces annually and the amount of that waste that is recycled. Municipal solid waste consists of everyday items that are used and thrown away, including product packaging, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, grass clippings, appliances, paint, and batteries. Municipal solid waste - often referred to as trash or garbage - comes from homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses. Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling benefits both communities and the environment.
This entry includes three subfields: annual amount of municipal solid waste generated (tons), annual amount of municipal solid waste recycled (tons), and percent of municipal solid waste recycled.
Waterways This entry gives the total length of navigable rivers, canals, and other inland bodies of water.
Weights and Measures This information is presented in Appendix G: Weights and Measures and includes mathematical notations (mathematical powers and names), metric interrelationships (prefix; symbol; length, weight, or capacity; area; volume), and standard conversion factors. Consult the online edition of The World Factbook.
World biomes A biome is a biogeographical designation describing a biological community of plants and animals that has formed in response to a physical environment and a shared regional climate. Biomes can extend over more than one continent. Different classification systems define different numbers of biomes. The World Factbook recognizes the following seven biomes used by NASA: Tundra, Coniferous Forest, Temperate Deciduous Forest, Rainforest, Grassland, Shrubland, and Desert.
Years All year references are for the calendar year (CY) unless indicated as fiscal year (FY). The calendar year is an accounting period of 12 months from 1 January to 31 December. The fiscal year is an accounting period of 12 months other than 1 January to 31 December.
Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24) This entry gives the percent of the total labor force ages 15-24 unemployed during a specified year.