Introduction

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

Map references: |  |
`Political Map of the World , Physical 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
top fifteen World Factbook entities ranked by size: Pacific Ocean 155.557 million sq km; Atlantic Ocean 76.762 million sq km; Indian Ocean 68.556 million sq km; Southern Ocean 20.327 million sq km; Russia 17,098,242 sq km; Arctic Ocean 14.056 million sq km; Antarctica 14 million sq km; Canada 9,984,670 sq km; United States 9,826,675 sq km; China 9,596,961 sq km; Brazil 8,514,877 sq km; Australia 7,741,220 sq km; European Union 4,324,782 sq km; India 3,287,263 sq km; Argentina 2,780,400 sq km
top ten largest islands: Greenland 2,166,086 sq km; New Guinea (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea) 785,753 sq km; Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia) 751,929 sq km; Madagascar 587,713 sq km; Baffin Island (Canada) 507,451 sq km; Sumatra (Indonesia) 472,784 sq km; Honshu (Japan) 227,963 sq km; Victoria Island (Canada) 217,291 sq km; Great Britain (United Kingdom) 209,331 sq km; Ellesmere Island (Canada) 196,236 sq km
`

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: 95 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, Curacao, 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, 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, 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, Sint Maarten, 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 (Antarctica) -2,555 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
top ten highest mountains (measured from sea level): Mount Everest (China-Nepal) 8,850 m; K2 (Pakistan) 8,611 m; Kanchenjunga (India-Nepal) 8,598 m; Lhotse (Nepal) 8,516 m; Makalu (China-Nepal) 8,463 m; Cho Oyu (China-Nepal) 8,201 m; Dhaulagiri (Nepal) 8,167 m; Manaslu (Nepal) 8,163 m; Nanga Parbat (Pakistan) 8,125 m; Anapurna (Nepal) 8,091 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 some countries of 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: 10.57% permanent crops: 1.04% other: 88.39% (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)
volcanism: the world is home to more than 1,500 potentially active volcanoes, with over 500 of these having erupted in historical times; an estimated 500 million people live near these volcanoes; associated dangers include lava flows, lahars (mudflows), pyroclastic flows, ash clouds, ash fall, ballistic projectiles, gas emissions, landslides, earthquakes, and tsunamis; in the 1990s, the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, created a list of 16 volcanoes worthy of special study because of their great potential for destruction: Avachinsky-Koryaksky (Russia), Colima (Mexico), Etna (Italy), Galeras (Colombia), Mauna Loa (United States), Merapi (Indonesia), Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Rainier (United States), Sakurajima (Japan), Santa Maria (Guatemala), Santorini (Greece), Taal (Philippines), Teide (Spain), Ulawun (Papua New Guinea), Unzen (Japan), Vesuvius (Italy)
`

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

Population: |  |
`6,928,198,253 (July 2011 est.)`
Age structure: |  |
`0-14 years: 26.3% (male 944,987,919/female 884,268,378) 15-64 years: 65.9% (male 2,234,860,865/female 2,187,838,153) 65 years and over: 7.9% (male 227,164,176/female 289,048,221) (2011 est.)`
Median age: |  |
`total: 28.4 years male: 27.7 years female: 29 years (2009 est.)`
Population growth rate: |  |
`1.092% (2011 est.)`
Birth rate: |  |
`19.15 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)`
Death rate: |  |
`8.12 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)`
Urbanization: |  |

`
urban population: 50.5% of total population (2010)
rate of urbanization: 1.85% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
ten largest urban agglomerations: Tokyo (Japan) - 36,669,000; Delhi (India) - 22,157,000; Sao Paulo (Brazil) - 20,262,000; Mumbai (India) - 20,041,000; Mexico City (Mexico) - 19,460,000; New York-Newark (US) - 19,425,000; Shanghai (China) - 16,575,000; Kolkata (India) - 15,552,000; Dhaka (Bangladesh) - 14,648,000; Karachi (Pakistan) - 13,125,000 (2009)
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Sex ratio: |  |
`at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2011 est.)`
Infant mortality rate: |  |
`total: 41.61 deaths/1,000 live births male: 43.52 deaths/1,000 live births female: 39.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2011 est.)`
Life expectancy at birth: |  |
`total population: 67.07 years male: 65.21 years female: 69.05 years (2011 est.)`
Total fertility rate: |  |
`2.46 children born/woman (2011 est.)`
HIV / AIDS - adult prevalence rate: |  |
`0.8% (2009 est.)`
HIV / AIDS - people living with HIV / AIDS: |  |
`33.3 million (2009 est.)`
HIV / AIDS - deaths: |  |
`1.8 million (2009 est.)`
Drinking water source: |  |
`improved: urban: 96% of population rural: 78% of population total: 87% of population unimproved: urban: 4% of population rural: 22% of population total: 13% of population (2008)`
Sanitation facility access: |  |
`improved: urban: 76% of population rural: 45% of population total: 61% of population unimproved: urban: 24% of population rural: 55% of population total: 39% of population (2008)`
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 12.65%, Spanish 4.93%, English 4.91%, Arabic 3.31%, Hindi 2.73%, Bengali 2.71%, Portuguese 2.67%, Russian 2.16%, Japanese 1.83%, Standard German 1.35%, Javanese 1.27% (2008 est.) note: percents are for "first language" speakers only`
Literacy: |  |

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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 82%
male: 87%
female: 77%
note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, the Arab states, South and West Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.)
`

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education): |  |
`total: 11 years male: 11 years female: 11 years (2008)`
Education expenditures: |  |
`4.4% of GDP (2007)`

Government

Administrative divisions: |  |
`266 countries, dependent areas, and other entities`
Legal system: |  |

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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 - governs the conduct of independent nations in their relationships with one another
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International law organization participation: |  |

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all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court; 55 countries have accepted jurisdiction of the ICJ with reservations and 11 countries have accepted ICJ jurisdiction without reservations; states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICCt) are those countries that have ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the Court; a total of 114 countries have accepted jurisdiction of the ICCt
`

Economy

Economy - overview: |  |

`
In 2010, world output - and per capita income - began to recover from the 2008-09 recession, the first global downturn since 1946. Gross World Product (GWP) grew 4.9%, largely on the strength of rebounding exports, which rose about 20% from the level of 2009. Growth was not evenly distributed across countries, however. Lower income countries - those with per capita incomes below $30,000 per year - averaged 6.6% growth, while higher income countries - with per capita incomes above $30,000 - averaged just 2.9% growth. And countries with current account surpluses averaged 6.3% growth, while those with current account deficits averaged just 3.4% growth. Among large economies, Taiwan (+10.8%), India (+10.4%), China (+10.3%), Brazil (+7.5%), and South Korea (+6.1%) recorded the biggest GDP gains - China also became the world's largest exporter. Continuing uncertainties in mortgage and financial markets resulted in slower growth in Japan (+3.9%), the US (+2.8%), and the European Union (+1.8%). In 2010, global unemployment continued to creep upwards, reaching 8.8% - underemployment, especially in the developing world, remained much higher. Global gross fixed investment stabilized at about 23% of GWP, after a significant drop in 2009. World trade appears to be returning to pre-2009 patterns, with current account surpluses or deficits rising for a majority of countries. World external debt, however, dropped again in 2010 - about 5% from the 2009 level, as many countries reduced borrowing. Many, if not most, countries pursued expansionary monetary and fiscal policies. The global money supply, both narrowly and broadly defined, increased roughly 10%, as countries tried to keep interest rates low; the global budget deficit stabilized at roughly $3.5 trillion, as countries tried to rein in spending and slow the rise of public debt.
The international financial crisis of 2008-09 presents the world economy with a major new challenge, together with several long-standing ones. The fiscal stimulus packages put in place in 2009-10 required most countries to run budget deficits - government balances have deteriorated for 14 out of every 15 countries. Treasuries issued new public debt - totaling $5.5 trillion since 2008 - to pay for the additional expenditures. To keep interest rates low, many central banks monetized that debt, injecting large sums of money into the economies. As economic activity picks up, central banks will face the difficult task of containing inflation without raising interest rates so high they snuff out further growth. At the same time, governments will face the difficult task of spurring current growth and employment without saddling their economies with so much debt that they sacrifice long-term growth and financial stability.
Long-standing challenges the world faces are several. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of underemployment, pollution, waste-disposal, epidemics, water-shortages, famine, over-fishing of oceans, deforestation, desertification, and depletion of non-renewable resources. The nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, central governments often find their 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 Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, central governments are losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, most notably the EU. 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 the participating nations are culturally and politically diverse and have varying levels and rates of growth of income, and hence, differing needs for monetary and fiscal policies. 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. 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 an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan added new uncertainties to global economic prospects.
Despite these challenges, the world economy also shows great promise. Technology has made possible further advances in all fields, from agriculture, to medicine, alternative energy, metallurgy, and transportation. Improved global communications have greatly reduced the costs of international trade, helping the world gain from the international division of labor, raise living standards, and reduce income disparities among nations. Much of the resilience of the world economy in the aftermath of the financial crisis resulted from government leaders around the globe working in concert to stem the financial onslaught, knowing well the lessons of past economic failures.
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GDP (purchasing power parity): |  |
`$74.54 trillion (2010) $71.05 trillion (2009) $71.61 trillion (2008) note: data are in 2010 US dollars`
GDP (official exchange rate): |  |
`GWP (gross world product): $63.17 trillion (2010)`
GDP - real growth rate: |  |
`4.9% (2010) -0.8% (2009 est.) 2.7% (2008 est.)`
GDP - per capita (PPP): |  |
`$11,200 (2010) $10,800 (2009) $11,000 (2008) note: data are in 2010 US dollars`
GDP - composition by sector: |  |
`agriculture: 5.7% industry: 30.7% services: 63.6% (2010 est.)`
Labor force: |  |
`3.191 billion (2010 est.)`
Labor force - by occupation: |  |
`agriculture: 36.6% industry: 21.5% services: 41.9% (2006)`
Unemployment rate: |  |
`8.8% (2010 est.) 8.3% (2009 est.) note: 30% (2007 est.) combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment`
Household income or consumption by percentage share: |  |
`lowest 10%: 2.6% highest 10%: 28% (2005 est.)`
Investment (gross fixed): |  |
`23.4% of GDP (2010 est.) 23.1% of GDP (2009 est.) (2010 est.)`
Public debt: |  |
`59.3% of GDP (2010 est.) 56.8% of GDP (2009 est.)`
Inflation rate (consumer prices): |  |

`
developed countries 2.5%
developing countries 5.6%
note: developed countries 0% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 10% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases; inflation rates have declined for most countries for the last several years, held in check by increasing international competition from several low wage countries, and by soft demand as a result of the world financial crisis (2010 est.)
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Stock of narrow money: |  |
`$22.65 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) $20.97 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)`
Stock of broad money: |  |
`$74.13 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) $69.53 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)`
Stock of domestic credit: |  |
`$104.2 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) $94.68 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)`
Market value of publicly traded shares: |  |
`$50.35 trillion (31 December 2009 est.) $38.28 trillion (31 December 2008) $62.55 trillion (31 December 2007 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: |  |
`4.6% (2010 est.)`
Electricity - production: |  |
`19.12 trillion kWh (2007 est.)`
Electricity - consumption: |  |
`17.78 trillion kWh (2007 est.)`
Electricity - exports: |  |
`618.4 billion kWh (2008 est.)`
Electricity - imports: |  |
`615.1 billion kWh (2008 est.)`
Oil - production: |  |
`84.81 million bbl/day (2009 est.)`
Oil - consumption: |  |
`82.78 million bbl/day (2009 est.)`
Oil - exports: |  |
`62.1 million bbl/day (2007 est.)`
Oil - imports: |  |
`62.43 million bbl/day (2007 est.)`
Oil - proved reserves: |  |
`1.388 trillion bbl (1 January 2010 est.)`
Natural gas - production: |  |
`3.148 trillion cu m (2008 est.)`
Natural gas - consumption: |  |
`3.085 trillion cu m (2008 est.)`
Natural gas - exports: |  |
`885.5 billion cu m (2008 est.)`
Natural gas - imports: |  |
`903.1 billion cu m (2008 est.)`
Natural gas - proved reserves: |  |
`188 trillion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)`
Exports: |  |
`$14.95 trillion (2010 est.) $12.43 trillion (2009)`
Exports - commodities: |  |

`
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
top ten - share of world trade: electrical machinery, including computers 14.8%; mineral fuels, including oil, coal, gas, and refined products 14.4%; nuclear reactors, boilers, and parts 14.2%; cars, trucks, and buses 8.9%; scientific and precision instruments 3.5%; plastics 3.4%; iron and steel 2.7%; organic chemicals 2.6%; pharmaceutical products 2.6%; diamonds, pearls, and precious stones 1.9%
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Exports - partners: |  |
`US 12.7%, Germany 7.2%, China 6.4%, France 4.5%, Japan 4.3%, UK 4.2% (2008 est.)`
Imports: |  |
`$14.73 trillion (2010) $12.21 trillion (2009)`
Imports - commodities: |  |
`the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services top ten - share of world trade: see listing for exports`
Imports - partners: |  |
`China 10.3%, Germany 8.7%, US 8%, Japan 5% (2008 est.)`
Debt - external: |  |
`$60.28 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) $61.95 trillion (31 December 2009 est.) note: this figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt, both public and private`
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: |  |
`$17.55 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) $16.48 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)`
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: |  |
`$18.2 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) $17.23 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)`

Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: |  |
`1.268 billion (2008)`
Telephones - mobile cellular: |  |
`5.3 billion (2010)`
Telephone system: |  |
`general assessment: NA domestic: NA international: NA`
Internet users: |  |
`2.1 billion (2010)`

Transportation

Airports: |  |

`
total airports - 43,982 (2010)
top ten by passengers: Atlanta (ATL) - 88,032,086; London (LHR) - 66,037,578; Beijing (PEK) - 65,372,012; Chicago (ORD) - 64,158,343; Tokyo (HND) - 61,903,656; Paris (CDG) - 57,906,866; Los Angeles (LAX) - 56,520,843; Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - 56,030,457; Frankfurt (FRA) - 50,932,840; Denver (DEN) - 50,167,485 (2009)
top ten by cargo (metric tons): Memphis (MEM) - 3,697,054; Hong Kong (HKG) - 3,385,313; Shanghai (PVG) - 2,543,394; Inch'on (ICN) - 2,313,001; Paris (CDG) - 2,054,515; Anchorage (ANC) - 1,994,629; Louisville (SDF) - 1,949,528; Dubai (DXB) - 1,927,520; Frankfurt (FRA) - 1,887,686; Tokyo (NRT) - 1,851,972 (2009)
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Heliports: |  |
`3,825 (2010)`
Railways: |  |
`total: 1,138,632 km (2008)`
Roadways: |  |
`total: 102,260,304 km (2008)`
Waterways: |  |
`671,886 km (2004) top ten longest rivers: Nile (Africa) 6,693 km; Amazon (South America) 6,436 km; Mississippi-Missouri (North America) 6,238 km; Yenisey-Angara (Asia) 5,981 km; Ob-Irtysh (Asia) 5,569 km; Yangtze (Asia) 5,525 km; Yellow (Asia) 4,671 km; Amur (Asia) 4,352 km; Lena (Asia) 4,345 km; Congo (Africa) 4,344 km note: if measured by volume, the Amazon is the largest river in the world`
Ports and terminals: |  |

`
top ten container ports as measured by Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) throughput: Singapore (Singapore) - 25,866,400; Shanghai (China) - 25,002,000; Hong Kong (China) - 20,983,000; Shenzhen (China) - 18,250,100; Pusan (South Korea) - 11,954,861; Guangzhou (China) - 11,190,000; Dubai (UAE) - 11,124,082; Ningbo (China) - 10,502,800; Qingdao (China) - 10,260,000; - Rotterdam (Netherlands)- 9,743,290 (2009)
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Transportation - note: |  |

`
the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reports that 2010 saw a continued increase in global pirate activities with more people taken hostage at sea than in any year since IMB has kept records; pirate attacks against shipping have risen every year for the last four years with a 10% increase in 2010 over 2009; pirates attacked a total of 445 ships world-wide including hijacking 53 ships, capturing 1,081 seafarers, and killing eight; while the Horn of Africa remains the most dangerous area for maritime shipping, accounting for more than 50% of all attacks in 2010, a significant number of attacks also occurred in the coastal waters of Indonesia, the South China Sea, Bangladesh, and Nigeria; indications are that the pace of attacks in 2011 will exceed that of 2010; as of May 2011, there have been 211 attacks worldwide with 24 hijackings; the Horn of Africa remains the most dangerous region in 2011 with 139 attacks, 21 hijackings, 362 hostages seized, and seven seafarers killed
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Military

Military expenditures: |  |
`roughly 2% of GDP of gross world product (2005 est.)`

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: |  |

`
stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 322 international land boundaries separate 194 independent states and 71 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; most maritime states have claimed limits that include territorial seas and exclusive economic zones; overlapping limits due to adjacent or opposite coasts create the potential for 430 bilateral maritime boundaries of which 209 have agreements that include contiguous and non-contiguous segments; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries tend to encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic and cultural clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation and internal displacement of the estimated 6.6 million people and cross-border displacements of 8.6 million refugees around the world as of early 2006; just over one million refugees were repatriated in the same period; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially hydrocarbon) resources, fisheries, and arable land; armed conflict prevails not so much between the uniformed armed forces of independent states as between stateless armed entities that detract from the sustenance and welfare of local populations, leaving the community of nations to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, and environmental degradation
`

Refugees and internally displaced persons: |  |
`the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that in December 2006 there was a global population of 8.8 million registered refugees and as many as 24.5 million IDPs in more than 50 countries; the actual global population of refugees is probably closer to 10 million given the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees displaced throughout the Middle East (2007)`
Trafficking in persons: |  |

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current situation: approximately 800,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked annually across national borders, not including millions trafficked within their own countries; at least 80% of the victims are female and up to 50% are minors; 75% of all victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation; almost two-thirds of the global victims are trafficked intra-regionally within East Asia and the Pacific (260,000 to 280,000 people) and Europe and Eurasia (170,000 to 210,000 people)
Tier 2 Watch List: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, India, Iraq, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Mali, Moldova, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen
Tier 3: Burma, Chad, Cuba, Eritrea, Fiji, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritania, Niger, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Zimbabwe (2009)
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Illicit drugs: |  |

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cocaine: worldwide coca leaf cultivation in 2007 amounted to 232,500 hectares; Colombia produced slightly more than two-thirds of the worldwide crop, followed by Peru and Bolivia; potential pure cocaine production decreased 7% to 865 metric tons in 2007; Colombia conducts an aggressive coca eradication campaign, but both Peruvian and Bolivian Governments are hesitant to eradicate coca in key growing areas; 551 metric tons of export-quality cocaine (85% pure) is documented to have been seized or destroyed in 2005; US consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been in excess of 380 metric tons
opiates: worldwide illicit opium poppy cultivation continued to increase in 2007, with a potential opium production of 8,400 metric tons, reaching the highest levels recorded since estimates began in mid-1980s; Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer, accounting for 95% of the global supply; Southeast Asia - responsible for 9% of global opium - saw marginal increases in production; Latin America produced 1% of global opium, but most was refined into heroin destined for the US market; if all potential opium was processed into pure heroin, the potential global production would be 1,000 metric tons of heroin in 2007
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PAGE LAST UPDATED ON MAY 26, 2011