The World Factbook

The World
Globally, the 20th century was marked by:
two devastating world wars;
the Great Depression of the 1930s;
the end of vast colonial empires;
rapid advances in science and technology, from the fi rst
airplane fl ight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing
on the moon;
the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact
nations;
a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and
Japan;
increased concerns about environmental degradation including
deforestation, energy and water shortages, declining biological
diversity, and air pollution;
the onset of the AIDS epidemic;
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 1987
6 billion in 1999
7 billion in 2012
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).
Geographic overview:
Area:
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km
water: 361.132 million sq km
The surface of the earth is approximately 70.9% water and 29.1% land.
The former portion is divided into large water bodies termed oceans.
The World has fi ve oceans, which are in decreasing order of size: the
Pacifi c Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and
Arctic Ocean.
The land portion is generally divided into several, large, discrete
landmasses termed continents. The most common classifi cation
recognizes seven continents, which are (from largest to smallest): Asia,
Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
North America is commonly understood to include the island of
Greenland, the isles of the Caribbean, and to extend south all the way
to the Isthmus of Panama.

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The easternmost extent of Europe is generally defi ned as being the Ural
Mountains and the Ural River; on the southeast the Caspian Sea; and on
the south the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea, and the
Mediterranean.
Portions of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey fall
within both Europe and Asia so they are considered part of both
continents. Armenia and Cyprus, which lie completely in Western Asia,
are geopolitically European countries. The islands of the Pacifi c are
often lumped with Australia into a "land mass" termed Oceania.
Africa's northeast extremity is frequently delimited at the Isthmus of
Suez, but for geopolitical purposes, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula is
often included as part of Africa.
Climate: a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates -

bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones - that

separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates
Elevation extremes:

Lowest point: Mariana Trench lying -10,924 m below the surface of the
Pacifi c Ocean
Top ten highest mountains:

Mount Everest (China-Nepal)

8,850 m;
K2 (Pakistan) 8,611 m;
Kanchenjunga (India-Nepal)
8,598 m;
Lhotse (Nepal) 8,516 m;
Makalu (China-Nepal) 8,463 m;

Cho Oyu (China-Nepal) 8,201 m;

Dhaulagiri (Nepal) 8,167 m;
Manaslu (Nepal) 8,163 m;
Nanga Parbat (Pakistan) 8,125
m;
Anapurna (Nepal) 8,091 m

Natural hazards:

large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones);

natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic
eruptions)
volcanism: a fundamental driver and consequence of plate
tectonics, the physical process reshaping the Earth's lithosphere;
associated dangers include lava fl ows, lahars (mudfl ows),
pyroclastic fl ows, ash clouds, ash fall, ballistic projectiles, gas
emissions, landslides, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

Volcanoes with a great potential for destruction:

Avachinsky-Koryaksky (Russia)
Sakurajima (Japan)
Colima (Mexico)
Santa Maria (Guatemala)
Etna (Italy)
Santorini (Greece)
Galeras (Colombia)
Taal (Philippines)
Mauna Loa (United States)
Teide (Spain)
Merapi (Indonesia)
Ulawun (Papua New Guinea)
Nyiragongo (Dem. Rep. of the
Unzen (Japan)
Congo)
Vesuvius (Italy)
Rainier (United States)
People and Society:

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Languages:
Mandarin Chinese 12.44%
Bengali 2.66%
Spanish 4.85%
Portuguese 2.62%
English 4.83%
Russian 2.12%
Arabic 3.25%
Japanese 1.8%
Hindi 2.68%
note: percents are for "f irst language" speakers only; the six UN languages - Arabic,
Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, and Spanish are the mother tongue
or second lan guage of about half of the world's population, and are the official
langua ges in more than half the states in the wo rld;
Religions:
Christian 33.39% (of which Roman
Catholic 16.85%, Protestant 6.15%,
Orthodo x 3.96%, Anglican 1.26%),
Muslim 22.74%,
Hindu 13.8%,
Buddhist 6.77%,

Sikh 0.35%,
Je wish 0.22%,
Baha'i 0.11%,
other religions 10.95%,
non-religious 9.66%,
atheists 2.01%

Population: 7,095,217,980 - July 2013

Top ten most populous countries (in millions):
China 1,349.59;
Pakistan 193.24;
India 1,220.80;
Nigeria 174.51;
United States 316.67;
Bangladesh 163.65;
Indonesia 251.16;
Russia 142.50;
Brazil 201.01;
Japan 127.25
Age structure:
0-14 years: 26%
15-24 years: 16.8%
25-54 years: 40.6%
55-64 years: 8.4%
65 years and over: 8.2%
Population growth rate: 1.095%
Birth rate: 18.9 births/1,000 population (4.3 births every second)
Death rate: 7.9 deaths/1,000 population ( 1.8 deaths every second)
Infant mortality rate: 37.61 deaths/1,000 live births
Urbanization: 50.5% of total population
Top ten largest urban agglomerations:
Tokyo (Japan) - 36,669,000;
Delhi (India) - 22,157,000;
Sao Paulo (Bra zil) - 20,262,000;
Mumbai (India) - 20,041,000;
Me xico City (Mexico) - 19,460,000;

New York-Ne wark (US) - 19,425,000;

Shanghai (China) - 16,575,000;
Kolkata (India) - 15,552,000;
Dhaka (Bangladesh) - 14,648,000;
Karachi (Pakistan) - 13,125,000 (2009)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 68.09 years

The World Factbook

male: 66.09 years

female: 70.24 years
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 84.1%
note: almost three-quarters of the wo rld's illiterate adults are found in only ten
countries (in descending order: India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria,
Ethiopia, Egypt, Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo);

Economy:
The international financial crisis of 2008-09 led to the f irst downturn in global output
since 1946 and presented the wo rld with a major new challenge: determining what
mix of fiscal and monetary policies to follo w to restore gro wth and jobs, while
keeping inf lation and debt under control.
Governments now are faced with the difficult task of spurring current gro wth and
employment without saddling their economies with so much debt that they sacrif ice
long-term growth and financial stabilit y.
GDP by sector of origin:
agriculture: 5.9%
industry: 30.7%
services: 63.4%

Labor force - by occupation :

agriculture: 35.3%
industry: 22.7%
services: 42%

Unemployment rate:
9% (2012 est.)
8.4% (2011 est.)
Industries: dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers,
robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment;
Top ten - share of world trade:
electrical machinery, including computers 14.8%;
mineral fuels, including oil, coal, gas, and ref ined products 14.4%;
nuclear reactors, boilers, and parts 14.2%;
cars, trucks, and buses 8.9%;
scientif ic 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%
Transportation:
Airports: total airports: 41,821 (2013)
Top ten by passengers:
Atlanta (ATL)

Beijing (PEK)
London (LHR)

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Tokyo (HND)
Chicago (ORD)
Los Angeles (LA X)
Paris (CDG)
Dallas/Fort W orth (DFW )
Dubai (DXB)
Jakarta (CGK)
Top ten by cargo (metric tons):
Hong Kong (HKG)
Waterways:

Memphis (MEM)
Shanghai (PVG)
Anchorage (ANC)
Incheon (ICN)
Dubai (DXB )
Louisville (SDF)
Frankfurt (FRA)
Tokyo (NRT)
Paris (CDG)

Top ten longest rivers:

Nile (Africa) 6,693 km;
Amazon (S. America) 6,436 km,
- if measured b y volume, the Amazon is the largest rive r in the wo rld
Mississippi-Missouri (N. America) 6,238 km;
Yenisei-Angara (Asia) 5,981 km;
Ob-Irtysh (Asia) 5,569 km;
Yangtze (Asia) 5,525 km;
Yello w (Asia) 4,671 km;
Amur (Asia) 4,352 km;
Lena (Asia) 4,345 km;
Congo (Af rica) 4,344 km
Top ten largest natural lakes (by surface area):
Caspian Sea
Lake Tangan yika
Lake Superior
Great Bear Lake
Lake Victoria
Lake Baikal
Lake Huron
Lake Nyasa
Lake Michigan
Great Slave Lake
Ports and terminals:
Top ten container ports:
Shanghai (China)
Singapore (Singapore)
Hong Kong (China)
Shenzhen (China)
Busan (South Korea)

Ningbo (China)
Guangzhou (China)
Qingdao (China)
Dubai (UAE)
Rotterdam (Netherlands)