World

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Map references: World, Time Zones

Area:
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km
water: 361.132 million sq km
note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land

Area—comparative: land area about 15 times the size of the US

Land boundaries: the land boundaries in the world total 251,480.24 km (not counting shared boundaries twice)

Coastline: 356,000 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm claimed by most, but can vary
continental shelf: 200-m depth claimed by most or to depth of exploitation; others claim 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm claimed by most, but can vary
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm claimed by most, but can vary
territorial sea: 12 nm claimed by most, but can vary
note: boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Climate: two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates

Terrain: the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m
highest point: Mount Everest 8,848 m

Natural resources: the rapid using up of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address

Land use:
arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 26%
forests and woodland: 32%
other: 31% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 2,481,250 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)

Environment—current issues: large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion

Environment—international agreements: selected international environmental agreements are included under the Environment—international agreements entry for each country and in the Selected International Environmental Agreements appendix

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Population: 5,995,544,836 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 30% (male 934,816,288; female 884,097,095)
15-64 years: 63% (male 1,905,701,066; female 1,861,265,079)
65 years and over: 7% (male 179,094,601; female 230,570,707) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.3% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 22 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 56 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 63 years
male: 61 years
female: 65 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.8 children born/woman (1999 est.)

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Data code: none; there is no FIPS 10-4 country code for the World, so the Factbook uses the "W" data code from DIAM 65-18 "Geopolitical Data Elements and Related Features," Data Standard No. 3, March 1984, published by the Defense Intelligence Agency; see the Cross-Reference List of Country Data Codes appendix

Administrative divisions: 266 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries

Legal system: all members of the UN (excluding Yugoslavia) plus Nauru and Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court

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Economy—overview: Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) dropped to 2% in 1998 from 4% in 1997 because of continued recession in Japan, severe financial difficulties in other East Asian countries, and widespread dislocations in the Russian economy. The US economy continued its remarkable sustained prosperity, growing at 3.9% in 1998, and accounted for 22% of GWP. Western Europe's economies grew at roughly 2.5%, not enough to cut deeply into the region's high unemployment; these economies produced 21% of GWP. China, the second largest economy in the world, continued its rapid growth and accounted for 11% of GWP. Japan posted a decline of 2.6% in 1998 and its share in GWP dropped to 7.4%. As usual, the 15 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations experienced widely different rates of growth. Russia's national product dropped by 5% whereas the nations of central and eastern Europe grew by 3.4% on average. The developing nations varied widely in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements—typically based on ethnicity—gain momentum, e.g., in the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of more than 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems, the industrialized countries have inadequate resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. In 1998, serious financial difficulties in several high-growth East Asia countries cast a shadow over short-term global economic prospects. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999 poses serious economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 1998, see the individual country entries.)

GDP: GWP (gross world product)—purchasing power parity—$39 trillion (1998 est.)

GDP—real growth rate: 2% (1998 est.)

GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$6,600 (1998 est.)

GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): all countries 25%; developed countries 2% to 4% typically; developing countries 10% to 60% typically (1998 est.)
note: national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from stable prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World countries

Labor force: NA

Labor force—by occupation: NA

Unemployment rate: 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 5%-12% unemployment (1998 est.)

Industries: dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems

Industrial production growth rate: 5% (1997 est.)

Electricity—production: 12.3427 trillion kWh (1994)

Electricity—production by source:
fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA%
nuclear: NA%
other: NA%

Electricity—consumption: 12.3427 trillion kWh (1994)

Exports: $5 trillion (f.o.b., 1998 est.)

Exports—commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services

Exports—partners: in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries

Imports: $5 trillion (f.o.b., 1998 est.)

Imports—commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services

Imports—partners: in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries

Debt—external: $2 trillion for less developed countries (1998 est.)

Economic aid—recipient: traditional worldwide foreign aid $50 billion (1995 est.)

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Telephones: NA

Telephone system:
domestic: NA
international: NA

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

Radios: NA

Television broadcast stations: NA

Televisions: NA

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Railways:
total: 1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note—fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV)—Atlantique line
broad gauge: 251,153 km
standard gauge: 710,754 km
narrow gauge: 239,430 km

Highways:
total: NA km
paved: NA km
unpaved: NA km

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

Merchant marine:
total: 28,310 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 495,299,489 GRT/764,129,056 DWT
ships by type: barge carrier 23, bulk 5,745, cargo 8,766, chemical tanker 1,326, combination bulk 319, combination ore/oil 227, container 2,615, liquefied gas tanker 802, livestock carrier 60, multifunction large-load carrier 90, oil tanker 4,521, passenger 392, passenger-cargo 126, railcar carrier 19, refrigerated cargo 1,067, roll-on/roll-off cargo 1,117, short-sea passenger 484, specialized tanker 118, vehicle carrier 493 (1998 est.)

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

Military expenditures—dollar figure: aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1998 remained at approximately the 1997 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1998 est.)

Military expenditures—percent of GDP: roughly 2% of gross world product (1998 est.)