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The World Factbook

Country Listing

World

A

Afghanistan

Akrotiri

Albania

Algeria

American Samoa

Andorra

Angola

Anguilla

Antarctica

Antigua and Barbuda

Arctic Ocean

Argentina

Armenia

Aruba

Ashmore and Cartier Islands

Atlantic Ocean

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

B

Bahamas, The

Bahrain

Baker Island description under United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bermuda

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Bouvet Island

Brazil

British Indian Ocean Territory

British Virgin Islands

Brunei

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burma

Burundi

C

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Cape Verde

Cayman Islands

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

China

Christmas Island

Clipperton Island

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Colombia

Comoros

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Congo, Republic of the

Cook Islands

Coral Sea Islands

Costa Rica

Cote d'Ivoire

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

Czech Republic

D

Denmark

Dhekelia

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

E

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Ethiopia

European Union entry follows Taiwan

F

Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)

Faroe Islands

Fiji

Finland

France

French Polynesia

French Southern and Antarctic Lands

G

Gabon

Gambia, The

Gaza Strip

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Gibraltar

Greece

Greenland

Grenada

Guam

Guatemala

Guernsey

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

H

Haiti

Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Holy See (Vatican City)

Honduras

Hong Kong

Howland Island description under United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

Hungary

I

Iceland

India

Indian Ocean

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Isle of Man

Israel

Italy

J

Jamaica

Jan Mayen

Japan

Jarvis Island description under United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

Jersey

Johnston Atoll description under United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

Jordan

K

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kingman Reef description underUnited States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

Kiribati

Korea, North

Korea, South

Kosovo

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

L

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

M

Macau

Macedonia

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mayotte

Mexico

Micronesia, Federated States of

Midway Islands description under United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Montserrat

Morocco

Mozambique

N

Namibia

Nauru

Navassa Island

Nepal

Netherlands

Netherlands Antilles

New Caledonia

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

Niue

Norfolk Island

Northern Mariana Islands

Norway

O

Oman

P

Pacific Ocean

Pakistan

Palau

Palmyra Atoll description under United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paracel Islands

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Pitcairn Islands

Poland

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Q

Qatar

R

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

S

Saint Helena

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Pierre and Miquelon

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 Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Southern Ocean

Spain

Spratly Islands

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Svalbard

Swaziland

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria

T

Taiwan entry follows Zimbabwe

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Timor-Leste

Togo

Tokelau

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Turks and Caicos Islands

Tuvalu

U

Uganda

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

V

Vanuatu

Venezuela

Vietnam

Virgin Islands

W

Wake Island

Wallis and Futuna

West Bank

Western Sahara

Y

Yemen

Z

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Taiwan

European Union

The World Factbook

World

Introduction World

Background:

Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war).

Geography World

Geographic overview:

The surface of the earth is approximately 70.9% water and 29.1% land. The former portion is divided into large water bodies termed oceans. The World Factbook recognizes and describes five oceans, which are in decreasing order of size: the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean.

The land portion is generally divided into several, large, discrete landmasses termed continents. Depending on the convention used, the number of continents can vary from five to seven. The most common classification recognizes seven, which are (from largest to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Asia and Europe are sometimes lumped together into a Eurasian continent resulting in six continents. Alternatively, North and South America are sometimes grouped as simply the Americas, resulting in a continent total of six (or five, if the Eurasia designation is used).

North America is commonly understood to include the island of Greenland, the isles of the Caribbean, and to extend south all the way to the Isthmus of Panama. The easternmost extent of Europe is generally defined as being the Ural Mountains and the Ural River; on the southeast the Caspian Sea; and on the south the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean. Africa's northeast extremity is frequently delimited at the Isthmus of Suez, but for geopolitical purposes, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula is often included as part Africa. Asia usually incorporates all the islands of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The islands of the Pacific are often lumped with Australia into a "land mass" termed Oceania or Australasia.

Although the above groupings are the most common, different continental dispositions are recognized or taught in certain parts of the world, with some arrangements more heavily based on cultural spheres rather than physical geographic considerations.

Map references:

Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area:

total: 510.072 million sq km

land: 148.94 million sq km

water: 361.132 million sq km

note: 70.9% of the world's surface is water, 29.1% is land

Area - comparative:

land area about 16 times the size of the US

Land boundaries:

the land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries

note: 45 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked

Coastline:

356,000 km

note: 94 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan

Maritime claims:

a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24 nm, and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm

Climate:

a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates - bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones - that separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates

Terrain:

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

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m

note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean

highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m

Natural resources:

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

Land use:

arable land: 13.31%

permanent crops: 4.71%

other: 81.98% (2005)

Irrigated land:

2,770,980 sq km (2003)

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; global warming becoming a greater concern

Geography - note:

the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the universe

People World

Population:

6,677,563,921 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 27% (male 933,716,943/female 877,734,429)

15-64 years: 65% (male 2,205,342,972/female 2,153,959,605)

65 years and over: 8% (male 222,346,221/female 284,463,751) (2008 est.)

Median age:

total:

male: 27.4 years

female: 28.7 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:

1.159% (2008 est.)

Birth rate:

19.97 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:

8.32 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female

total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 42.64 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 45.42 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 39.67 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 66.12 years

male: 64.18 years

female: 68.2 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate:

2.58 children born/woman (2008 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:

NA

Religions:

Christians 33.32% (of which Roman Catholics 16.99%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.53%, Anglicans 1.25%), Muslims 21.01%, Hindus 13.26%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.35%, Jews 0.23%, Baha'is 0.12%, other religions 11.78%, non-religious 11.77%, atheists 2.32% (2007 est.)

Languages:

Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic 3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%, Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, Wu Chinese 1.17% (2005 est.)