A Profile of the World

Geography

• Age: 4.55 billion years old.
• Total area: 510.072 million sq km (196.940 million sq mi). Land area: 148.94 million sq km (57.506 million sq mi). Water area: 361.132 million sq km (139.434 million sq mi). Coastline: 356,000 km (221,208 mi). Note: 70.8% of the world is water, 29.2% is land.
• Land boundaries: 251,060 km (156,262.58 mi.), not counting shared boundaries twice.
• Climate: Two large areas of polar climates are separated by two rather narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates.
• Terrain: Highest elevation is Mt. Everest at 8,850 m (29,035 ft) and lowest land depression is the Dead Sea at –411 m (–1,349 ft) below sea level. The greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at –10,924 m (–35,840 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.
• Land use: Arable land: 13.31%. Permanent crops: 4.71%. Other: 81.98% (2005 est.). Irrigated land: 2,770,980 sq km (1,721,886 sq mi).

See also Atlas of the World.

People

• Population: 6,602,224,175 (July 2007 est.).
• Growth rate: 1.167% (2007 est.).
• Birth rate: 20.09 births/1,000 population (2007 est.).
• Death rate: 8.37 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.).
• Sex ratio (at birth): 1.07 males/females (2007 est.).
• Infant mortality rate: 43.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.).
• Life expectancy at birth: Total population: 65.82 years. Male: 63.89 years. Female: 67.84 years (2007 est.).
• Total fertility rate: 2.59 children born per woman (2007 est.).
• Literacy: Age 15 and over who can read and write (2005 est.). 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.)

Government and Economy

• Political divisions: 195 sovereign nations, 61 dependent areas, and 6 disputed territories.
• Economy: Global output rose by 5.2% in 2007, led by China (11.4%), India (8.5%), and Russia (7.4%). From 2006 to 2007 growth rates slowed in all the major industrial countries except for the United Kingdom (3.0%). Analysts attribute the slowdown to uncertainties in the financial markets and lowered consumer confidence. 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 an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized.
• GWP/PPP: $65.82 trillion (2007 est.).
• GWP—real growth rate: 5.2% (2007 est.).
• GWP/PPP—per capita: $10,000 (2007 est.).
• GWP composition: agriculture 4%, industry 32%, services 64% (2004 est.).
• Inflation rate (consumer price index): developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 20% typically (2005 est.).
• Unemployment rate: 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2007 est.).
• Exports: $13.87 trillion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
• Imports: $13.81 trillion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
• External debt: $44.61 trillion (2004 est.)
• Military expenditures: roughly 2% of GWP (2005 est.).

Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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