of GDP.
Electricity - consumption
This entry consists of total electricity generated annually plus
imports and minus exports, expressed in kilowatt-hours. The
discrepancy between the amount of electricity generated and/or
imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is accounted for as
loss in transmission and distribution.
Electricity - exports
This entry is the total exported electricity in kilowatt-hours.
Electricity - imports
This entry is the total imported electricity in kilowatt-hours.
Electricity - production
This entry is the annual electricity generated expressed in
kilowatt-hours. The discrepancy between the amount of electricity
generated and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is
accounted for as loss in transmission and distribution.
Elevation extremes
This entry includes both the highest point and the lowest point.
Entities
Some of the independent states, dependencies, areas of special
sovereignty, and governments included in this publication are not
independent, and others are not officially recognized by the US
Government. "Independent state" refers to a people politically
organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory.
"Dependencies" and "areas of special sovereignty" refer to a broad
category of political entities that are associated in some way with
an independent state. "Country" names used in the table of contents
or for page headings are usually the short-form names as approved by
the US Board on Geographic Names and may include independent states,
dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty, or other geographic
entities. There are a total of 266 separate geographic entities in
The World Factbook that may be categorized as follows:
INDEPENDENT STATES
194 Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and
Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The
Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize,
Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil,
Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon,
Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China,
Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the
Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia,
Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana,
Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti,
Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq,
Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya,
Kiribati, North Korea, South Korea, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan,
Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia,
Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius,
Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia,
Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands,
NZ, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau,
Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland,
Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis,
Saint Lucia, 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, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland,
Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand,
Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey,
Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, UAE, UK, US, Uruguay,
Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
OTHER
2 Taiwan, European Union
DEPENDENCIES AND AREAS OF SPECIAL SOVEREIGNTY
6 Australia - Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos
(Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald
Islands, Norfolk Island
2 China - Hong Kong, Macau
2 Denmark - Faroe Islands, Greenland
9 France - Clipperton Island, French Polynesia, French Southern and
Antarctic Lands, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Saint Barthelemy, Saint
Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna
3 Netherlands - Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten
3 New Zealand - Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau
3 Norway - Bouvet Island, Jan Mayen, Svalbard
17 UK - Akrotiri, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory,
British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dhekelia, Falkland Islands,
Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn
Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands,
Turks and Caicos Islands
14 US - American Samoa, Baker Island*, Guam, Howland Island*, Jarvis
Island*, Johnston Atoll*, Kingman Reef*, Midway Islands*, Navassa
Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll*, Puerto Rico,
Virgin Islands, Wake Island (* consolidated in United States Pacific
Island Wildlife Refuges entry)
MISCELLANEOUS
6 Antarctica, Gaza Strip, Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, West
Bank, Western Sahara
OTHER ENTITIES
5 oceans - Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific
Ocean, Southern Ocean
1 World
267 total
Environment - current issues
This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental
problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout
the entry:
Acidification - the lowering of soil and water pH due to acid
precipitation and deposition usually through precipitation; this
process disrupts ecosystem nutrient flows and may kill freshwater
fish and plants dependent on more neutral or alkaline conditions
(see acid rain).
Acid rain - characterized as containing harmful levels of sulfur
dioxide or nitrogen oxide; acid rain is damaging and potentially
deadly to the earth's fragile ecosystems; acidity is measured using
the pH scale where 7 is neutral, values greater than 7 are
considered alkaline, and values below 5.6 are considered acid
precipitation; note - a pH of 2.4 (the acidity of vinegar) has been
measured in rainfall in New England.
Aerosol - a collection of airborne particles dispersed in a gas,
smoke, or fog.
Afforestation - converting a bare or agricultural space by planting
trees and plants; reforestation involves replanting trees on areas
that have been cut or destroyed by fire.
Asbestos - a naturally occurring soft fibrous mineral commonly used
in fireproofing materials and considered to be highly carcinogenic
in particulate form.
Biodiversity - also biological diversity; the relative number of
species, diverse in form and function, at the genetic, organism,
community, and ecosystem level; loss of biodiversity reduces an
ecosystem's ability to recover from natural or man-induced
disruption.
Bio-indicators - a plant or animal species whose presence,
abundance, and health reveal the general condition of its habitat.
Biomass - the total weight or volume of living matter in a given
area or volume.
Carbon cycle - the term used to describe the exchange of carbon (in
various forms, e.g., as carbon dioxide) between the atmosphere,
ocean, terrestrial biosphere, and geological deposits.
Catchments - assemblages used to capture and retain rainwater and
runoff; an important water management technique in areas with
limited freshwater resources, such as Gibraltar.
DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) - a colorless, odorless
insecticide that has toxic effects on most animals; the use of DDT
was banned in the US in 1972.
Defoliants - chemicals which cause plants to lose their leaves
artificially; often used in agricultural practices for weed control,
and may have detrimental impacts on human and ecosystem health.
Deforestation - the destruction of vast areas of forest (e.g.,
unsustainable forestry practices, agricultural and range land
clearing, and the over exploitation of wood products for use as
fuel) without planting new growth.
Desertification - the spread of desert-like conditions in arid or
semi-arid areas, due to overgrazing, loss of agriculturally
productive soils, or climate change.
Dredging - the practice of deepening an existing waterway; also, a
technique used for collecting bottom-dwelling marine organisms
(e.g., shellfish) or harvesting coral, often causing significant
destruction of reef and ocean-floor ecosystems.
Drift-net fishing - done with a net, miles in extent, that is
generally anchored to a boat and left to float with the tide; often
results in an over harvesting and waste of large populations of
non-commercial marine species (by-catch) by its effect of "sweeping
the ocean clean."
Ecosystems - ecological units comprised of complex communities of
organisms and their specific environments.
Effluents - waste materials, such as smoke, sewage, or industrial
waste which are released into the environment, subsequently
polluting it.
Endangered species - a species that is threatened with extinction
either by direct hunting or habitat destruction.
Freshwater - water with very low soluble mineral content; sources
include lakes, streams, rivers, glaciers, and underground aquifers.
Greenhouse gas - a gas that "traps" infrared radiation in the lower
atmosphere causing surface warming; water vapor, carbon dioxide,
nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, and ozone are the
primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere.
Groundwater - water sources found below the surface of the earth
often in naturally occurring reservoirs in permeable rock strata;
the source for wells and natural springs.
Highlands Water Project - a series of dams constructed jointly by
Lesotho and South Africa to redirect Lesotho's abundant water supply
into a rapidly growing area in South Africa; while it is the largest
infrastructure project in southern Africa, it is also the most
costly and controversial; objections to the project include claims
that it forces people from their homes, submerges farmlands, and
squanders economic resources.
Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) - represents the roughly 150,000
Inuits of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia in international
environmental issues; a General Assembly convenes every three years
to determine the focus of the ICC; the most current concerns are
long-range transport of pollutants, sustainable development, and
climate change.
Metallurgical plants - industries which specialize in the science,
technology, and processing of metals; these plants produce highly
concentrated and toxic wastes which can contribute to pollution of
ground water and air when not properly disposed.
Noxious substances - injurious, very harmful to living beings.
Overgrazing - the grazing of animals on plant material faster than
it can naturally regrow leading to the permanent loss of plant
cover, a common effect of too many animals grazing limited range
land.
Ozone shield - a layer of the atmosphere composed of ozone gas (O3)
that resides approximately 25 miles above the Earth's surface and
absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation that can be harmful to living
organisms.
Poaching - the illegal killing of animals or fish, a great concern
with respect to endangered or threatened species.
Pollution - the contamination of a healthy environment by man-made
waste.
Potable water - water that is drinkable, safe to be consumed.
Salination - the process through which fresh (drinkable) water
becomes salt (undrinkable) water; hence, desalination is the reverse
process; also involves the accumulation of salts in topsoil caused
by evaporation of excessive irrigation water, a process that can
eventually render soil incapable of supporting crops.
Siltation - occurs when water channels and reservoirs become clotted
with silt and mud, a side effect of deforestation and soil erosion.
Slash-and-burn agriculture - a rotating cultivation technique in
which trees are cut down and burned in order to clear land for
temporary agriculture; the land is used until its productivity
declines at which point a new plot is selected and the process
repeats; this practice is sustainable while population levels are
low and time is permitted for regrowth of natural vegetation;
conversely, where these conditions do not exist, the practice can
have disastrous consequences for the environment.
Soil degradation - damage to the land's productive capacity because
of poor agricultural practices such as the excessive use of
pesticides or fertilizers, soil compaction from heavy equipment, or
erosion of topsoil, eventually resulting in reduced ability to
produce agricultural products.
Soil erosion - the removal of soil by the action of water or wind,
compounded by poor agricultural practices, deforestation,
overgrazing, and desertification.
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation - a portion of the electromagnetic energy
emitted by the sun and naturally filtered in the upper atmosphere by
the ozone layer; UV radiation can be harmful to living organisms and
has been linked to increasing rates of skin cancer in humans.
Waterborne diseases - those in which bacteria survive in, and are
transmitted through, water; always a serious threat in areas with an
untreated water supply.
Environment - international agreements
This entry separates country participation in international
environmental agreements into two levels - party to and signed, but
not ratified. Agreements are listed in alphabetical order by the
abbreviated form of the full name.
Environmental agreements
This information is presented in This information is presented in <a
href = "../appendix/appendix-c.html"Appendix C: Selected
International Environmental Agreements, which includes the name,
abbreviation, date opened for signature, date entered into force,
objective, and parties by category.
Ethnic groups
This entry provides an ordered listing of ethnic groups starting
with the largest and normally includes the percent of total
population.
Exchange rates
This entry provides the official value of a country's monetary unit
at a given date or over a given period of time, as expressed in
units of local currency per US dollar and as determined by
international market forces or official fiat. The International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) 4217 alphabetic currency code
for the national medium of exchange is presented in parenthesis.
Executive branch
This entry includes several subfields. Chief of state includes the
name and title of the titular leader of the country who represents
the state at official and ceremonial functions but may not be
involved with the day-to-day activities of the government. Head of
government includes the name and title of the top administrative
leader who is designated to manage the day-to-day activities of the
government. For example, in the UK, the monarch is the chief of
state, and the prime minister is the head of government. In the US,
the president is both the chief of state and the head of government.
Cabinet includes the official name for this body of high-ranking
advisers and the method for selection of members. 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 for each candidate in the last election.
Exports
This entry provides the total US dollar amount of merchandise
exports on an f.o.b. (free on board) basis. These figures are
calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power
parity (PPP) terms.
Exports - commodities
This entry provides a listing of the highest-valued exported
products; it sometimes includes the percent of total dollar value.
Exports - partners
This entry provides a rank ordering of trading partners starting
with the most important; it sometimes includes the percent of total
dollar value.
F
Flag description
This entry provides a written flag description produced from actual
flags or the best information available at the time the entry was
written. The flags of independent states are used by their
dependencies unless there is an officially recognized local flag.
Some disputed and other areas do not have flags.
Flag graphic
Most versions of the Factbook include a color flag at the beginning
of the country profile. The flag graphics were produced from actual
flags or the best information available at the time of preparation.
The flags of independent states are used by their dependencies
unless there is an officially recognized local flag. Some disputed
and other areas do not have flags.
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)
This entry provides the annual quantity of water in cubic kilometers
removed from available sources for use in any purpose. Water
drawn-off is not necessarily entirely consumed and some portion may
be returned for further use downstream. Domestic sector use refers
to water supplied by public distribution systems. Note that some of
this total may be used for small industrial and/or limited
agricultural purposes. Industrial sector use is the quantity of
water used by self-supplied industries not connected to a public
distribution system. Agricultural sector use includes water used for
irrigation and livestock watering, and does not account for
agriculture directly dependent on rainfall. Included are figures for
total annual water withdrawal and per capita water withdrawal.
G
GDP (official exchange rate)
This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all
final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A
nation's GDP at official exchange rates (OER) is the
home-currency-denominated annual GDP figure divided by the bilateral
average US exchange rate with that country in that year. The measure
is simple to compute and gives a precise measure of the value of
output. Many economists prefer this measure when gauging the
economic power an economy maintains vis-a-vis its neighbors, judging
that an exchange rate captures the purchasing power a nation enjoys
in the international marketplace. Official exchange rates, however,
can be artificially fixed and/or subject to manipulation - resulting
in claims of the country having an under- or over-valued currency -
and are not necessarily the equivalent of a market-determined
exchange rate. Moreover, even if the official exchange rate is
market-determined, market exchange rates are frequently established
by a relatively small set of goods and services (the ones the
country trades) and may not capture the value of the larger set of
goods the country produces. Furthermore, OER-converted GDP is not
well suited to comparing domestic GDP over time, since
appreciation/depreciation from one year to the next will make the
OER GDP value rise/fall regardless of whether
home-currency-denominated GDP changed.
GDP (purchasing power parity)
This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all
final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A
nation's GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the
sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued
at prices prevailing in the United States. This is the measure most
economists prefer when looking at per-capita welfare and when
comparing living conditions or use of resources across countries.
The measure is difficult to compute, as a US dollar value has to be
assigned to all goods and services in the country regardless of
whether these goods and services have a direct equivalent in the
United States (for example, the value of an ox-cart or non-US
military equipment); as a result, PPP estimates for some countries
are based on a small and sometimes different set of goods and
services. In addition, many countries do not formally participate in
the World Bank's PPP project that calculates these measures, so the
resulting GDP estimates for these countries may lack precision. For
many developing countries, PPP-based GDP measures are multiples of
the official exchange rate (OER) measure. The differences between
the OER- and PPP-denominated GDP values for most of the wealthy
industrialized countries are generally much smaller.
GDP - composition by sector
This entry gives the percentage contribution of agriculture,
industry, and services to total GDP. The distribution will total
less than 100 percent if the data are incomplete.
GDP - per capita (PPP)
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.
GDP methodology
In the Economy category, GDP dollar estimates for countries are
reported both on an official exchange rate (OER) and a purchasing
power parity (PPP) basis. Both measures contain information that is
useful to the reader. 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 probably provide the
best available starting point for comparisons of economic strength
and well-being between countries. In contrast, the currency exchange
rate method involves a variety of international and domestic
financial forces that may not capture the value of domestic output.
Whereas PPP estimates for OECD countries are quite reliable, PPP
estimates for developing countries are often rough approximations.
In developing countries with weak currencies, the exchange rate
estimate of GDP in dollars is typically one-fourth to one-half the
PPP estimate. Most of the GDP estimates for developing countries 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. GDP derived using the OER method should be used for the
purpose of calculating the share of items such as exports, imports,
military expenditures, external debt, or the current account
balance, because the dollar values presented in the Factbook for
these items have been converted at official exchange rates, not at
PPP. One should use the OER GDP figure to calculate the proportion
of, say, Chinese defense expenditures in GDP, because that share
will be the same as one calculated in local currency units.
Comparison of OER GDP with PPP GDP may also indicate whether a
currency is over- or under-valued. If OER GDP is smaller than PPP
GDP, the official exchange rate may be undervalued, and vice versa.
However, there is no strong historical evidence that market exchange
rates move in the direction implied by the PPP rate, at least not in
the short- or medium-term. Note: the numbers for GDP and other
economic data should 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.
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 locations provided in the Geographic Names
Server (GNS), maintained by the National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency on behalf of the US Board on Geographic Names.
Geographic names