countries are derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations
rather than from conversions at official currency exchange rates. The
PPP method involves the use of standardized international dollar price
weights, which are applied to the quantities of final goods and
services produced in a given economy. The data derived from the PPP
method provide the best available starting point for comparisons of
economic strength and well-being between countries. The division of a
GDP estimate in domestic currency by the corresponding PPP estimate in
dollars gives the PPP conversion rate. Whereas PPP estimates for OECD
countries are quite reliable, PPP estimates for developing countries
are often rough approximations. Most of the GDP estimates are based on
extrapolation of PPP numbers published by the UN International
Comparison Program (UNICP) and by Professors Robert Summers and Alan
Heston of the University of Pennsylvania and their colleagues. In
contrast, the currency exchange rate method involves a variety of
international and domestic financial forces that often have little
relation to domestic output. In developing countries with weak
currencies the exchange rate estimate of GDP in dollars is typically
one-fourth to one-half the PPP estimate. Furthermore, exchange rates
may suddenly go up or down by 10% or more because of market forces or
official fiat whereas real output has remained unchanged. On 12
January 1994, for example, the 14 countries of the African Financial
Community (whose currencies are tied to the French franc) devalued
their currencies by 50%. This move, of course, did not cut the real
output of these countries by half. One important caution: the
proportion of, say, defense expenditures as a percentage of GDP in
local currency accounts may differ substantially from the proportion
when GDP accounts are expressed in PPP terms, as, for example, when an
observer tries to estimate the dollar level of Russian or Japanese
military expenditures. Note: the numbers for GDP and other economic
data can not be chained together from successive volumes of the
Factbook because of changes in the US dollar measuring rod, revisions
of data by statistical agencies, use of new or different sources of
information, and changes in national statistical methods and
practices.
GDP - composition by sector: This entry gives the percentage
contribution of agriculture, industry, and services to total GDP.
GDP - per capita: This entry shows GDP on a purchasing power parity
basis divided by population as of 1 July for the same year.
GDP - real growth rate: This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis
adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent.
Geographic coordinates: This entry includes rounded latitude and
longitude figures for the purpose of finding the approximate
geographic center of an entity and is based on the Gazetteer of
Conventional Names, Third Edition, August 1988, US Board on Geographic
Names and on other sources.
Geographic names: This information is presented in [7]Appendix H:
Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names which indicates where various
geographic names - including alternate names, former names, political
or geographical portions of larger entities, and the location of all
US Foreign Service posts - can be found in The World Factbook.
Spellings are normally, but not always, those approved by the US Board
on Geographic Names (BGN). Alternate names are included in
parentheses, while additional information is included in brackets.
Geography: This category includes the entries dealing with the natural
environment and the effects of human activity.
Geography - note: This entry includes miscellaneous geographic
information of significance not included elsewhere.
GNP: Gross national product (GNP) is the value of all final goods and
services produced within a nation in a given year, plus income earned
by its citizens abroad, minus income earned by foreigners from
domestic production. The Factbook, following current practice, uses
GDP rather than GNP to measure national production. However, the user
must realize that in certain countries net remittances from citizens
working abroad may be important to national well-being.
Government: This category includes the entries dealing with the system
for the adoption and administration of public policy.
Government type: This entry gives the basic form of government (e.g.,
republic, constitutional monarchy, federal republic, parliamentary
democracy, military dictatorship).
Government - note: This entry includes miscellaneous government
information of significance not included elsewhere.
Gross domestic product: see GDP
Gross national product: see GNP
Gross world product: see GWP
GWP: This entry gives the gross world product (GWP) or aggregate value
of all final goods and services produced worldwide in a given year.
Heliports: This entry gives the total number of established helicopter
takeoff and landing sites (which may or may not have fuel or other
services).
Highways: This entry includes the total length of the highway system
as well as the length of the paved and unpaved components.
Household income or consumption by percentage share: Data on household
income or consumption come from household surveys, the results
adjusted for household size. Nations use different standards and
procedures in collecting and adjusting the data. Surveys based on
income will normally show a more unequal distribution than surveys
based on consumption. The quality of surveys is improving with time,
yet caution is still necessary in making inter-country comparisons.
Illicit drugs: This entry gives information on the five categories of
illicit drugs - narcotics, stimulants, depressants (sedatives),
hallucinogens, and cannabis. These categories include many drugs
legally produced and prescribed by doctors as well as those illegally
produced and sold outside of medical channels.
Cannabis (Cannabis sativa) is the common hemp plant, which provides
hallucinogens with some sedative properties, and includes marijuana
(pot, Acapulco gold, grass, reefer), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC,
Marinol), hashish (hash), and hashish oil (hash oil).
Coca (mostly Erythroxylum coca) is a bush with leaves that contain the
stimulant used to make cocaine. Coca is not to be confused with cocoa,
which comes from cacao seeds and is used in making chocolate, cocoa,
and cocoa butter.
Cocaine is a stimulant derived from the leaves of the coca bush.
Depressants (sedatives) are drugs that reduce tension and anxiety and
include chloral hydrate, barbiturates (Amytal, Nembutal, Seconal,
phenobarbital), benzodiazepines (Librium, Valium), methaqualone
(Quaalude), glutethimide (Doriden), and others (Equanil, Placidyl,
Valmid).
Drugs are any chemical substances that effect a physical, mental,
emotional, or behavioral change in an individual.
Drug abuse is the use of any licit or illicit chemical substance that
results in physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral impairment in an
individual.
Hallucinogens are drugs that affect sensation, thinking,
self-awareness, and emotion. Hallucinogens include LSD (acid,
microdot), mescaline and peyote (mexc, buttons, cactus), amphetamine
variants (PMA, STP, DOB), phencyclidine (PCP, angel dust, hog),
phencyclidine analogues (PCE, PCPy, TCP), and others (psilocybin,
psilocyn).
Hashish is the resinous exudate of the cannabis or hemp plant
(Cannabis sativa).
Heroin is a semisynthetic derivative of morphine.
Mandrax is a trade name for methaqualone, a pharmaceutical depressant.
Marijuana is the dried leaves of the cannabis or hemp plant (Cannabis
sativa).
Methaqualone is a pharmaceutical depressant, referred to as mandrax in
Southwest Asia.
Narcotics are drugs that relieve pain, often induce sleep, and refer
to opium, opium derivatives, and synthetic substitutes. Natural
narcotics include opium (paregoric, parepectolin), morphine
(MS-Contin, Roxanol), codeine (Tylenol with codeine, Empirin with
codeine, Robitussan AC), and thebaine. Semisynthetic narcotics include
heroin (horse, smack), and hydromorphone (Dilaudid). Synthetic
narcotics include meperidine or Pethidine (Demerol, Mepergan),
methadone (Dolophine, Methadose), and others (Darvon, Lomotil).
Opium is the brown, gummy exudate of the incised, unripe seedpod of
the opium poppy.
Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) is the source for the natural and
semisynthetic narcotics.
Poppy straw concentrate is the alkaloid derived from the mature, dried
opium poppy.
Qat (kat, khat) is a stimulant from the buds or leaves of Catha edulis
that is chewed or drunk as tea.
Quaaludes is the North American slang term for methaqualone, a
pharmaceutical depressant.
Stimulants are drugs that relieve mild depression, increase energy and
activity, and include cocaine (coke, snow, crack), amphetamines
(Desoxyn, Dexedrine), ephedrine, ecstasy (clarity, essence, doctor,
Adam), phenmetrazine (Preludin), methylphenidate (Ritalin), and others
(Cylert, Sanorex, Tenuate).
Imports: This entry provides the total US dollar amount of imports on
a c.i.f. (cost, insurance, and freight) or f.o.b. (free on board)
basis.
Imports - commodities: This entry provides a rank ordering of imported
products starting with the most important; it sometimes includes the
percent of total dollar value.
Imports - partners: This entry provides a rank ordering of trading
partners starting with the most important; it sometimes includes the
percent of total dollar value.
Independence: For most countries, this entry gives the date that
sovereignty was achieved and from which nation, empire, or
trusteeship. For the other countries, the date given may not represent
"independence" in the strict sense, but rather some significant
nationhood event such as the traditional founding date or the date of
unification, federation, confederation, establishment, fundamental
change in the form of government, or state succession. Dependent areas
include the notation "none" followed by the nature of their dependency
status. Also see the Terminology note.
Industrial production growth rate: This entry gives the annual
percentage increase in industrial production (includes manufacturing,
mining, and construction).
Industries: This entry provides a rank ordering of industries starting
with the largest by value of annual output.
Infant mortality rate: This entry gives the number of deaths of
infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in
the same year. This rate is often used an indicator of the level of
health in a country.
Inflation rate (consumer prices): This entry furnishes the annual
percent change in consumer prices compared with the previous year's
consumer prices.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): This entry supplies the number of
Internet Service Providers within a country. An ISP is defined as a
company that provides access to the Internet.
International disputes: see Disputes - international
International organization participation: This entry lists in
alphabetical order by abbreviation those international organizations
in which the subject country is a member or participates in some other
way.
International organizations: This information is presented in
[8]Appendix C: International Organizations and Groups which includes
the name, abbreviation, address, telephone, FAX, date established,
aim, and members by category.
Introduction: This category includes one entry, Background.
Irrigated land: This entry gives the number of square kilometers of
land area that is artificially supplied with water.
Judicial branch: This entry contains the name(s) of the highest
court(s) and a brief description of the selection process for members.
Labor force: This entry contains the total labor force figure.
Labor force - by occupation: This entry contains a rank ordering of
component parts of the labor force by occupation.
Land boundaries: This entry contains the total length of all land
boundaries and the individual lengths for each of the contiguous
border countries.
Land use: This entry contains the percentage shares of total land area
for five different types of land use: arable land - land cultivated
for crops that are replanted after each harvest like wheat, maize, and
rice; permanent crops - land cultivated for crops that are not
replanted after each harvest like citrus, coffee, and rubber;
permanent pastures - land permanently used for herbaceous forage
crops; forests and woodland - land under dense or open stands of
trees; other - any land type not specifically mentioned above, such as
urban areas, roads, desert, etc.
Languages: This entry provides a rank ordering of languages starting
with the largest and sometimes includes the percent of total
population speaking that language.
Legal system: This entry contains a brief description of the legal
system's historical roots, role in government, and acceptance of
International Court of Justice (ICJ) jurisdiction.
Legislative branch: This entry contains information on the structure
(unicameral, bicameral, tricameral), formal name, number of seats, and
term of office. Elections includes the nature of election process or
accession to power, date of the last election, and date of the next
election. Election results includes the percent of vote and/or number
of seats held by each party in the last election.
Life expectancy at birth: This entry contains the average number of
years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year, if
mortality at each age remains constant in the future. The entry
includes total population as well as the male and female components.
Life expectancy at birth is also a measure of overall quality of life
in a country and summarizes the mortality at all ages. It can also be
thought of as indicating the potential return on investment in human
capital and is necessary for the calculation of various actuarial
measures.
Literacy: This entry includes a definition of literacy and Census
Bureau percentages for the total population, males, and females. There
are no universal definitions and standards of literacy. Unless
otherwise specified, all rates are based on the most common definition
- the ability to read and write at a specified age. Detailing the
standards that individual countries use to assess the ability to read
and write is beyond the scope of the Factbook. Information on
literacy, while not a perfect measure of educational results, is
probably the most easily available and valid for international
comparisons. Low levels of literacy, and education in general, can
impede the economic development of a country in the current rapidly
changing, technology-driven world.
Location: This entry identifies the country's regional location,
neighboring countries, and adjacent bodies of water.
Map references: This entry includes the name of the Factbook reference
map on which a country may be found. The entry on Geographic
coordinates may be helpful in finding some smaller countries.
Maritime claims: This entry includes the following claims: contiguous
zone, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone, exclusive fishing
zone, extended fishing zone, none (usually for a landlocked country),
other (unique maritime claims like Libya's Gulf of Sidra Closing Line
or North Korea's Military Boundary Line), and territorial sea. The
proximity of neighboring states may prevent some national claims from
being extended the full distance.
Merchant marine: Merchant marine may be defined as all ships engaged
in the carriage of goods; or all commercial vessels (as opposed to all
nonmilitary ships), which excludes tugs, fishing vessels, offshore oil
rigs, etc.; or a grouping of merchant ships by nationality or
register. This entry contains information in two subfields - total and
ships by type. Total includes the total number of ships (1,000 GRT or
over), total DWT for those ships, and total GRT for those ships. Ships
by type includes a listing of barge carriers, bulk cargo ships, cargo
ships, combination bulk carriers, combination ore/oil carriers,
container ships, intermodal ships, liquefied gas tankers, livestock
carriers, multifunction large-load carriers, oil tankers, passenger
ships, passenger-cargo ships, railcar carriers, refrigerated cargo
ships, roll-on/roll-off cargo ships, short-sea passenger ships,
specialized tankers, tanker tug-barges, and vehicle carriers.
A captive register is a register of ships maintained by a territory,
possession, or colony primarily or exclusively for the use of ships
owned in the parent country; it is also referred to as an offshore
register, the offshore equivalent of an internal register. Ships on a
captive register will fly the same flag as the parent country, or a
local variant of it, but will be subject to the maritime laws and
taxation rules of the offshore territory. Although the nature of a
captive register makes it especially desirable for ships owned in the
parent country, just as in the internal register, the ships may also
be owned abroad. The captive register then acts as a flag of
convenience register, except that it is not the register of an
independent state.
A flag of convenience register is a national register offering
registration to a merchant ship not owned in the flag state. The major
flags of convenience (FOC) attract ships to their registers by virtue
of low fees, low or nonexistent taxation of profits, and liberal
manning requirements. True FOC registers are characterized by having
relatively few of the registered ships actually owned in the flag
state. Thus, while virtually any flag can be used for ships under a
given set of circumstances, an FOC register is one where the majority
of the merchant fleet is owned abroad. It is also referred to as an
open register.
A flag state is the nation in which a ship is registered and which
holds legal jurisdiction over operation of the ship, whether at home
or abroad. Maritime legislation of the flag state determines how a
ship is crewed and taxed and whether a foreign-owned ship may be
placed on the register.
An internal register is a register of ships maintained as a subset of
a national register. Ships on the internal register fly the national
flag and have that nationality but are subject to a separate set of
maritime rules from those on the main national register. These
differences usually include lower taxation of profits, use of foreign
nationals as crew members, and, usually, ownership outside the flag
state (when it functions as an FOC register). The Norwegian
International Ship Register and Danish International Ship Register are
the most notable examples of an internal register. Both have been
instrumental in stemming flight from the national flag to flags of
convenience and in attracting foreign-owned ships to the Norwegian and
Danish flags.
A merchant ship is a vessel that carries goods against payment of
freight; it is commonly used to denote any nonmilitary ship but
accurately restricted to commercial vessels only.
A register is the record of a ship's ownership and nationality as
listed with the maritime authorities of a country; also, it is the
compendium of such individual ships' registrations. Registration of a
ship provides it with a nationality and makes it subject to the laws
of the country in which registered (the flag state) regardless of the
nationality of the ship's ultimate owner.
Military: This category includes the entries dealing with a country's
military structure, manpower, and expenditures.
Military branches: This entry lists the names of the ground, naval,
air, marine, and other defense or security forces.
Military expenditures - dollar figure: This entry gives current
military expenditures in US dollars; the figure is calculated by
multiplying the estimated defense spending in percentage terms by the
gross domestic product (GDP) calculated on an exchange rate basis not
purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. However, in the case of Russia,
estimates of military expenditures have been made using PPP. Dollar
figures for military expenditures should be treated with caution
because of different price patterns and accounting methods among
nations, as well as wide variations in the strength of their
currencies.
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: This entry gives current
military expenditures as an estimated percent of gross domestic
product (GDP).
Military manpower - availability: This entry gives the total numbers
of males and females age 15-49 and assumes that every individual is
fit to serve.
Military manpower - fit for military service: This entry gives the
number of males and females age 15-49 fit for military service. This
is a more refined measure of potential military manpower availability
which tries to correct for the health situation in the country and
reduces the maximum potential number to a more realistic estimate of
the actual number fit to serve.
Military manpower - military age: This entry gives the minimum age at
which an individual may volunteer for military service or be subject
to conscription.
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: This entry gives
the number of draft-age males and females entering the military
manpower pool in any given year and is a measure of the availability
of draft-age young adults.
Military - note: This entry includes miscellaneous military
information of significance not included elsewhere.
Money figures: All money figures are expressed in contemporaneous US
dollars unless otherwise indicated.
National holiday: This entry gives the primary national day of
celebration - usually independence day.
Nationality: This entry provides the identifying terms for citizens -
noun and adjective.
Natural hazards: This entry lists potential natural disasters.
Natural resources: This entry lists a country's mineral, petroleum,
hydropower, and other resources of commercial importance.
Net migration rate: This entry includes the figure for the difference
between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during
the year per 1,000 persons (based on midyear population). An excess of
persons entering the country is referred to as net immigration (e.g.,
3.56 migrants/1,000 population); an excess of persons leaving the
country as net emigration (e.g., -9.26 migrants/1,000 population). The
net migration rate indicates the contribution of migration to the
overall level of population change. High levels of migration can cause
problems such as increasing unemployment and potential ethnic strife
(if people are coming in) or a reduction in the labor force, perhaps
in certain key sectors (if people are leaving).
People: This category includes the entries dealing with the
characteristics of the people and their society.
People - note: This entry includes miscellaneous demographic
information of significance not included elsewhere.
Personal Names - Capitalization: The Factbook capitalizes the surname
or family name of individuals for the convenience of our users who are
faced with a world of different cultures and naming conventions. An
example would be President SADDAM Husayn of Iraq. Saddam is his name
and Husayn is his father's name. He may be referred to as President
SADDAM Husayn or President SADDAM, but not President Husayn. The need
for capitalization, bold type, underlining, italics, or some other
indicator of the individual's surname is apparent in the following
examples: MAO Zedong, Fidel CASTRO Ruz, William Jefferson CLINTON, and
TUNKU SALAHUDDIN Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Hisammuddin
Alam Shah. By knowing the surname, a short form without all capital
letters can be used with confidence as in President Saddam, President
Castro, Chairman Mao, President Clinton, or Sultan Tunku Salahuddin.
The same system of capitalization is extended to the names of leaders
with surnames that are not commonly used such as Queen ELIZABETH II.