Access to THE WORLD FACTBOOK 1993 provided courtesy of The Libraries of the University of Missouri-St. Louis Match 261 DB Rec# - 56,009 Dataset-WOFACT Source :CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Source key :CI Program :WORLD FACTBOOK Program key :CI WOFACT Update sched. :Annually ID number :CI WOFACT 261 Title :WORLD Data type :TEXT End year :1994 Date of record:02/16/1994 Keywords 3 : | WORLD Text : WORLD GEOGRAPHY Map references: Standard Time Zones of the World Area: total area: 510.072 million km2 land area: 148.94 million km2 water area: 361.132 million km2 comparative area: land area about 16 times the size of the US note: 70.8% of the world is water, 29.2% is land Land boundaries: the land boundaries in the world total 250,883.64 km (not Coastline: 356,000 km contiguous zone: 24 nm claimed by most but can vary continental shelf: 200 m depth claimed by most or to the 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; 42 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe 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: highest elevation is Mt. Everest at 8,848 meters and lowest depression is the Dead Sea at 392 meters below sea level; greatest ocean depth is the Marianas Trench at 10,924 meters 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 and the former USSR) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address Land use: arable land: 10% permanent crops: 1% meadows and pastures: 24% forest and woodland: 31% other: 34% Irrigated land: NA km2 Environment: large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions), overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife resources, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion PEOPLE Population growth rate: 1.6% (1993 est.) Birth rate: 25 births/1,000 population (1993 est.) Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.) Infant mortality rate: 66 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 62 years male: 60 years female: 64 years (1993 est.) Total fertility rate: 3.2 children born/woman (1993 est.) Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.) combined: 74% male: 81% female: 67% Labor force: 2.24 billion (1992) by occupation: NA GOVERNMENT Digraph: XX Administrative divisions: 265 sovereign nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries Legal system: varies by individual country; 182 are parties to the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ or World Court) ECONOMY Overview: Real global output--gross world product (GWP)--rose one-half of 1% in 1992, with results varying widely among regions and countries. Average growth of 1.5% in the GDP of industrialized countries (62% of GWP in 1992) and average growth of 5% in the GDP of less developed countries (30% of GWP) were offset by a further 15-20% drop in the GDP of the former Soviet-East European area (now only 8% of GWP). The United States accounted for 23% of GWP in 1992; the 12-member European Community, which established a single internal market on 1 January 1993, accounted for another 23%, and Japan accounted for 10%. These are the three "economic superpowers" presumably destined to compete for mastery in international markets on into the 21st century. In general, growth in the industrialized countries was sluggish in 1992, with unemployment typically at 7-11%. As for the less developed countries, China, India, and the Four Dragons--South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore--posted good records; however, many other countries, especially in Africa, suffered bitterly from drought, rapid population growth, and civil strife. The continued plunge in production in practically all the former Warsaw Pact economies strained the political and social fabric of these newly independent nations, in particular in Russia. The addition of nearly 100 million people 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. (For the specific economic problems of each country, see the individual country entries in this volume.) National product: GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power equivalent - $25.6 trillion (1992 est.) National product real growth rate: 0.5% (1992 est.) National product per capita: $4,600 (1992 est.) developed countries: 5% (1992 est.) developing countries: 50% (1992 est.) note: these figures vary widely in individual cases Unemployment rate: developed countries typically 7-11%; developing countries, extensive unemployment and underemployment (1992) Exports: $3.64 trillion (f.o.b., 1992 est.) commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services partners: in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries Imports: $3.82 trillion (c.i.f., 1992 est.) commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services partners: in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries External debt: $1 trillion for less developed countries (1992 est.) Industrial production: growth rate -1% (1992 est.) Electricity: 2,864,000,000 kW capacity; 11,450,000 million kWh produced, 2,150 kWh per capita (1990) Industries: industry worldwide is 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, and the technological gap between the industrial nations and the less-developed countries continues to widen; the rapid development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems Agriculture: the production of major food crops has increased substantially in the last 20 years; the annual production of cereals, for instance, has risen by 50%, from about 1.2 billion metric tons to about 1.8 billion metric tons; production increases have resulted mainly from increased yields rather than increases in planted areas; while global production is sufficient for aggregate demand, about one-fifth of the world's population for food imports; conditions are especially bad in Africa where drought in recent years has intensified the consequences of overpopulation Economic aid: NA COMMUNICATIONS Railroads: 239,430 km of narrow gauge track; 710,754 km of standard gauge track; 251,153 km of broad gauge track; 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 only 4,160 km in North America; fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's SNCF TGV-Atlantique line Ports: Mina al Ahmadi (Kuwait), Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama Merchant marine: 23,943 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 397,225,000 GRT/652,025,000 DWT; includes 347 passenger-cargo, 12,581 freighters, 5,473 bulk carriers, and 5,542 tankers (January 1992) Defense forces Branches: ground, maritime, and air forces at all levels of technology Defense expenditures: $1.0 trillion, 4% of total world output; decline of 5-10% (1991 est.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section of THE WORLD FACTBOOK 1993 produced by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was derived from the US Dept. of Commerce Economics and Statistics Division's NATIONAL TRADE DATA BANK CD-ROM, July, 1994, SuDoc No. C 1.88:994/7/v.1-2 / R. 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