system of currents) in the southern Indian Ocean; unique reversal of
surface currents in the northern Indian Ocean; low atmospheric pressure
over southwest Asia from hot, rising, summer air results in the southwest
monsoon and southwest-to-northeast winds and currents, while high pressure
over northern Asia from cold, falling, winter air results in the northeast
monsoon and northeast-to-southwest winds and currents; ocean floor is
dominated by the Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge and subdivided by the Southeast
Indian Ocean Ridge, Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge, and Ninetyeast Ridge
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Java Trench -7,258 m highest point:
sea level 0 m
Natural resources: oil and gas fields, fish, shrimp, sand and gravel
aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules
Natural hazards: occasional icebergs pose navigational hazard in
southern reaches
Environment - current issues: endangered marine species include the
dugong, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in the Arabian Sea,
Persian Gulf, and Red Sea
Geography - note: major chokepoints include Bab el Mandeb, Strait of
Hormuz, Strait of Malacca, southern access to the Suez Canal, and the
Lombok Strait
People Indian Ocean
Population growth rate: NA%
Economy Indian Ocean
Economy - overview: The Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting
the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. It
carries a particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products
from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. Its fish are of
great and growing importance to the bordering countries for domestic
consumption and export. Fishing fleets from Russia, Japan, South
Korea, and Taiwan also exploit the Indian Ocean, mainly for shrimp
and tuna. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the
offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and western Australia.
An estimated 40% of the world's offshore oil production comes from the
Indian Ocean. Beach sands rich in heavy minerals and offshore placer
deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly
India, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
Transportation Indian Ocean
Ports and harbors: Chennai (Madras; India), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Durban
(South Africa), Jakarta (Indonesia), Kolkata (Calcutta; India) Melbourne
(Australia), Mumbai (Bombay; India), Richards Bay (South Africa)
Transnational Issues Indian Ocean
Disputes - international: some maritime disputes (see littoral states)
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
========================================================================
Arctic Ocean
Introduction
Arctic Ocean
Background: The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world's five oceans
(after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the recently
delimited Southern Ocean). The Northwest Passage (US and Canada) and
Northern Sea Route (Norway and Russia) are two important seasonal
waterways. A sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes
circumscribes the Arctic Ocean.
Geography Arctic Ocean
Location: body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly
north of the Arctic Circle
Geographic coordinates: 90 00 N, 0 00 E
Map references: Arctic Region
Area: total: 14.056 million sq km note: includes Baffin Bay, Barents
Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea,
Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, Northwest Passage,
and other tributary water bodies
Area - comparative: slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US
Coastline: 45,389 km
Climate: polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively
narrow annual temperature ranges; winters characterized by continuous
darkness, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers
characterized by continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak
cyclones with rain or snow
Terrain: central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack
that averages about 3 meters in thickness, although pressure ridges may
be three times that size; clockwise drift pattern in the Beaufort Gyral
Stream, but nearly straight-line movement from the New Siberian Islands
(Russia) to Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland); the icepack is
surrounded by open seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size
during the winter and extends to the encircling landmasses; the ocean
floor is about 50% continental shelf (highest percentage of any ocean)
with the remainder a central basin interrupted by three submarine ridges
(Alpha Cordillera, Nansen Cordillera, and Lomonosov Ridge)
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Fram Basin -4,665 m highest point:
sea level 0 m
Natural resources: sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits,
polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals
and whales)
Natural hazards: ice islands occasionally break away from northern
Ellesmere Island; icebergs calved from glaciers in western Greenland
and extreme northeastern Canada; permafrost in islands; virtually ice
locked from October to June; ships subject to superstructure icing from
October to May
Environment - current issues: endangered marine species include walruses
and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from
disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack
Geography - note: major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern
access to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); strategic location
between North America and Russia; shortest marine link between the
extremes of eastern and western Russia; floating research stations
operated by the US and Russia; maximum snow cover in March or April
about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen ocean; snow cover lasts about
10 months
People Arctic Ocean
Population growth rate: NA%
Economy Arctic Ocean
Economy - overview: Economic activity is limited to the exploitation
of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals.
Transportation Arctic Ocean
Ports and harbors: Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay
(US)
Transportation - note: sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land
routes; the Northwest Passage (North America) and Northern Sea Route
(Eurasia) are important seasonal waterways
Transnational Issues Arctic Ocean
Disputes - international: some maritime disputes (see littoral states);
Russia is the first state to submit data to the UN Commission on the
Limits of the Continental Shelf to extend its continental shelf by
claiming two undersea ridges in the Arctic Ocean
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
========================================================================
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
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: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2%
is land
Area - comparative: land area about 16 times the size of the US
Land boundaries: the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km
(not counting shared boundaries twice)
Coastline: 356,000 km
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
Climate: two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather
narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to
subtropical 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: 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: 11% permanent crops: 1% other: 88% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.)
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
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
People World
Population: 6,233,821,945 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 29.2% (male 932,581,592; female 885,688,851) 15-64 years:
(male 193,549,180; female 247,067,032) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.23% (2002 est.)
Birth rate: 21.16 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate: 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2002 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.)
Infant mortality rate: 51.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: 65.67 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 2.7 children born/woman (2002 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: NA%
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA
HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA
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.)
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
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total
population: 77% male: 83% female: 71% (1995 est.)
Government World
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
Economy World
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.)
GDP: GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $47 trillion
(2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 2.2% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $7,600 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 4% industry: 32% services: 64%
(2001 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
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.)
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: 6% (2000 est.)
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
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
Debt - external: $2 trillion for less developed countries (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: official development assistance (ODA) $50
billion (2001 est.)
Communications World
Telephones - main lines in use: NA
Telephones - mobile cellular: NA
Telephone system: general assessment: NA domestic: NA international: NA
Radio broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
Radios: NA
Television broadcast stations: NA
Televisions: NA
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 10,350 (2000 est.)
Internet users: 513.41 million (2001 est.)
Transportation World
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
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
Military World
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.)
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
========================================================================
Yugoslavia
Introduction
Yugoslavia
Background: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was formed in
1918; its name was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929. Occupation by Nazi
Germany in 1941 was resisted by various paramilitary bands that fought
themselves as well as the invaders. The group headed by Marshal TITO
took full control upon German expulsion in 1945. Although Communist,
his new government successfully steered its own path between the Warsaw
Pact nations and the West for the next four and a half decades. In the
early 1990s, post-TITO Yugoslavia began to unravel along ethnic lines:
Slovenia, Croatia, and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia all
declared their independence in 1991; Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. The
remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro declared a new "Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia" (FRY)in 1992 and, under President Slobodan
MILOSEVIC, Serbia led various military intervention efforts to unite
Serbs in neighboring republics into a "Greater Serbia." All of these
efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. In 1999, massive expulsions by
FRY forces and Serb paramilitaries of ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo
provoked an international response, including the NATO bombing of Serbia
and the stationing of NATO and Russian peacekeepers in Kosovo. There are
Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS)-led coalitions governing at the
federal and Serbian Republic levels, implementing a wide-ranging political
and economic reform program. The governing coalition in Montenegro is
seeking independence from the Federation. Kosovo has been governed by
the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) since June 1999,
under the authority of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
Geography Yugoslavia
Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between
Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Geographic coordinates: 44 00 N, 21 00 E
Map references: Europe
Area: total: 102,350 sq km water: 214 sq km land: 102,136 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Kentucky
Land boundaries: total: 2,246 km border countries: Albania 287 km,
Bosnia and Herzegovina 527 km, Bulgaria 318 km, Croatia (north) 241 km,
Croatia (south) 25 km, Hungary 151 km, The Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia 221 km, Romania 476 km
Coastline: 199 km
Maritime claims: NA
Climate: in the north, continental climate (cold winters and hot, humid
summers with well distributed rainfall); central portion, continental and
Mediterranean climate; to the south, Adriatic climate along the coast,
hot, dry summers and autumns and relatively cold winters with heavy
snowfall inland
Terrain: extremely varied; to the north, rich fertile plains; to the
east, limestone ranges and basins; to the southeast, ancient mountains
and hills; to the southwest, extremely high shoreline with no islands
off the coast
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Adriatic Sea 0 m highest point:
Daravica 2,656 m
Natural resources: oil, gas, coal, antimony, copper, lead, zinc, nickel,
gold, pyrite, chrome, hydropower, arable land
Land use: arable land: 36% permanent crops: 4% other: 60% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: 570 sq km
Natural hazards: destructive earthquakes
Environment - current issues: pollution of coastal waters from sewage
outlets, especially in tourist-related areas such as Kotor; air pollution
around Belgrade and other industrial cities; water pollution from
industrial wastes dumped into the Sava which flows into the Danube
Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Climate
Change, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life
Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Geography - note: controls one of
the major land routes from Western Europe to Turkey and the Near East;
strategic location along the Adriatic coast
People Yugoslavia
Population: 10,656,929 note: all data dealing with population is subject
to considerable error because of the dislocations caused by military
action and ethnic cleansing (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 19.6% (male 1,077,581; female 1,005,379)
15-64 years: 65.3% (male 3,415,929; female 3,546,410) 65 years and over:
15.1% (male 690,014; female 921,616) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.12% (2002 est.)
Birth rate: 12.8 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate: 10.59 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Net migration rate: -3.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.08 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.07
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over:
0.75 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2002 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 17.36 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: 76.89 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 1.78 children born/woman (2002 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: NA%