World

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

10,350 (2000 est.)

Internet users

580.78 million (2002 est.)

Radio broadcast stations

AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA

Radios

NA

Telephone system

general assessment: NA domestic: NA international: NA

Telephones - main lines in use

NA

Telephones - mobile cellular

NA

Television broadcast stations

NA

Televisions

NA

Debt - external

$2 trillion for less developed countries (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient

official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion (2001 est.)

Economy - overview

Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) fell from 4.8% in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001. The causes: slowdowns in the US economy (21% of GWP) and in the 15 EU economies (20% of GWP); continued stagnation in the Japanese economy (7.3% of GWP); and spillover effects in the less developed regions of the world. China, the second largest economy in the world (12% of GWP), proved an exception, continuing its rapid annual growth, officially announced as 7.3% but estimated by many observers as perhaps two percentage points lower. Russia (2.6% of GWP), with 5.2% growth, continued to make uneven progress, its GDP per capita still only one-third that of the leading industrial nations. The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations were strong performers, in the 5% range of growth. The developing nations also varied 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 often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Indonesia, 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 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2001, see the individual country entries.)

Electricity - production by source

fossil fuel: NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA%

Exports

$6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 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

GDP

GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $47 trillion (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 4% industry: 32% services: 64% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita

purchasing power parity - $7,600 (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

2.2% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%

Imports

$6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.)

Imports - commodities

the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services

Imports - partners

in value, about 75% of imports into the developed countries

Industrial production growth rate

6% (2000 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

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2001 est.); national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries

Labor force

NA

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%

Unemployment rate

30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2001 est.)

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 16 times the size of the US

Climate

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

Coastline

356,000 km

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 (1999 est.)

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

Geography - note

the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe

Irrigated land

2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.)

Land boundaries

the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice)

Land use

arable land: 10.58% permanent crops: 1% other: 88.42% (1998 est.)

Map references

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

Maritime claims

a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims: contiguous zone - 24 NM; continental shelf - 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation, or 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin; exclusive fishing zone - 200 NM; exclusive economic zone - 200 NM; territorial sea - 12 NM; 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; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked

Natural hazards

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

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

Terrain

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

Administrative divisions

268 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries

Legal system

all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court

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).

Military expenditures - dollar figure

aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP

roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 29.2% (male 932,581,592; female 885,688,851) 15-64 years: 63.7% (male 2,009,997,089; female 1,964,938,201) 65 years and over: 7.1% (male 193,549,180; female 247,067,032) (2002 est.)

Birth rate

21.16 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate

8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

NA%

HIV/AIDS - deaths

NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

NA

Infant mortality rate

51.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Languages

Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.) note: percents are for "first language" speakers only

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 63.94 years female: 65.67 years (2002 est.) male: 62.28 years

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 77% male: 83% female: 71% (1995 est.)

Population

6,233,821,945 (July 2002 est.)

Population growth rate

1.23% (2002 est.)

Religions

Christians 32.88% (of which Roman Catholics 17.39%, Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.54%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.54%, Hindus 13.34%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.6%, non-religious 12.63%, atheists 2.47% (2000 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 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 (2002 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.7 children born/woman (2002 est.)

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

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 narrow gauge: 239,430 km standard gauge: 710,754 km