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| Our
World |
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| 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 |
| Elevation extremes |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench
is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the
Pacific Ocean
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m |
| 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: 13.31%
permanent crops: 4.71%
other: 81.98% (2005) |
| 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 |
| Suggested Age |
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 |
| Population |
6,706,993,152 (July 2008 est.) |
| Age structure |
0-14 years: 27.3% (male 944,665,142/female 887,471,328)
15-64 years: 65.1%
65 years and over: 7.6% (male 222,808,372/female 284,647,297)
(2008 est.) |
| Median age |
total:
male: 27.4 years
female: 28.7 years (2008 est.) |
| Population growth rate |
1.188% (2008 est.) |
| Birth rate |
20.18 births/1,000 population (2008 est.) |
| Death rate |
8.23 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.) |
| Sex ratio |
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 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 (2008 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate |
total: 42.09 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 44.91 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 39.09 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.) |
| Life expectancy |
total population: 66.26 years
male: 64.3 years
female: 68.35 years (2008 est.) |
| Total fertility rate |
2.61 children born/woman (2008 est.) |
| 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 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic
3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%,
Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, French 1.2% (2005 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
| Literacy |
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 (India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate
adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy
rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West Asia,
Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where around one-third
of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.) |
| Administrative divisions |
266 nations, dependent areas, and other entities |
| Legal system |
all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established
the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
| Economy - overview |
Global output rose by 5.2% in 2007, led by China (11.4%), India
(9.2%), and Russia (8.1%). The 14 other successor nations of the
USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely
divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as
strong performers, in the 8%-10% range of growth. From 2006 to
2007 growth rates slowed in all the major industrial countries
except for the United Kingdom (3.1%). Analysts attribute the slowdown
to uncertainties in the financial markets and lowered consumer
confidence. Worldwide, nations varied widely in their growth results.
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 Iraq, in
Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is
losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably
the EU. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity) |
GWP (gross world product): $65.61 trillion (2007 est.) |
| GDP (official exchange rate) |
GWP (gross world product): $54.62 trillion (2007 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32%
services: 64% (2007 est.) |
| Labor force |
3.131 billion (2007 est.) |
| Unemployment rate |
30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized
countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (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 |
| Electricity - production |
18.58 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
| Electricity - consumption |
16.83 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
| Electricity - exports |
634.8 billion kWh (2005) |
| Electricity - imports |
620.5 billion kWh (2005) |
| Oil - production |
78.9 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
| Oil - consumption |
80.29 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
| Oil - proved reserves |
1.336 trillion bbl (1 January 2006 est.) |
| Natural gas - production |
2.854 trillion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Natural gas - consumption |
3 trillion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Natural gas - proved reserves |
172 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
| 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% (2006 est.) |
| Exports - partners |
US 13.5%, Germany 7.4%, China 6.6%, France 4.6%, UK 4.5%, Japan
4.1% (2007) |
| Debt - external |
$51.78 trillion
note: this figure is the sum total of all countries' external
debt, both public and private (2004 est.) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular |
2,168,433,600 (2005) |
| Internet users |
1,018,057,389 (2005) |
| Airports |
total airports - 49,024
top ten by passengers: Atlanta - 84,846,639; Chicago - 77,028,134;
London - 67,530,197; Tokyo - 65,810,672; Los Angeles - 61,041,066;
Dallas/Fort Worth - 60,226,138; Paris - 56,849,567; Frankfurt
- 52,810,683; Beijing - 48,654,770; Denver - 47,325,016
top ten by cargo (metric tons): Memphis - 3,692,081; Hong Kong
- 3,609,780; Anchorage - 2,691,395; Seoul - 2,336,572; Tokyo -
2,280,830; Shanghai - 2,168,122; Paris - 2,130,724; Frankfurt
- 2,127,646; Louisville (US) - 1,983,032; Singapore - 1,931,881
(2006) |
| Roadways |
total: 32,345,165 km (2002) |
| Ports and terminals |
top ten container ports (TEUs): Singapore - 24,792,400; Hong
Kong - 23,539,000; Shanghai - 21,710,000; Shenzhen (China) - 18,468,890;
Busan (South Korea) - 12,030,000; Kaohsiung (Taiwan) - 9,774,670;
- Rotterdam - 9,603,000; Dubai (UAE) - 8,923,465; Hamburg - 8,861,545;
Los Angeles - 8,469,853 (2006) |
| Greatest Ocean Depth |
the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
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source:cia.gov |
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