| | | World Facts | | | | 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 U.S. 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). | | | Geographic Overview | | | 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 five oceans, which are in decreasing order of size: the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. The land portion is generally divided into several, large, discrete landmasses termed continents. Depending on the convention used, the number of continents can vary from five to seven. The most common classification recognizes seven, which are (from largest to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Asia and Europe are sometimes lumped together into a Eurasian continent resulting in six continents. Alternatively, North and South America are sometimes grouped as simply the Americas, resulting in a continent total of six (or five, if the Eurasia designation is used). 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. The easternmost extent of Europe is generally defined 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. 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 Africa. Asia usually incorporates all the islands of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The islands of the Pacific are often lumped with Australia into a "land mass" termed Oceania or Australasia. | | | | | | Area | | Population (July 2009 estimate) | | Internet Users (2005) | | Land: 148.94 million sq km | | Water: 361.132 million sq km | | Total: 510.072 million sq km | | | | 70.9% of the world's surface is water and 29.1% is land. | | | 6,790,062,216 | | 1,018,057,389 | | | | | | | | Area - Comparative | | Age structure (2009 estimate) | | Labor force by occupation (2007 estimate) | | Land area about 16 times the size of the United States | | | 0-14 years: 27.2% | | 15-64 years: 65.2% | | 65 years and over: 7.6% | | | | Agriculture: 40% | | Services: 39.4% | | Industry: 20.6% | | | | * * Transnational Issue of the World * *
Trafficking in persons | Approximately 800,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked annually across national borders, not including millions trafficked within their own countries; at least 80% of the victims are female and up to 50% are minors; 75% of all victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation; almost two-thirds of the global victims are trafficked intra-regionally within East Asia and the Pacific (260,000 to 280,000 people) and Europe and Eurasia (170,000 to 210,000 people). |
| | | | | Elevation extremes | | Median age (2009 estimate) | | Labor Force (2008 estimate) | Lowest point:
Bentley Subglacial Trench
-2,540 meters | | | Highest point:
Mount Everest
8,850 meters | | | | In the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. | | | | Male: 27.7 years | | Female: 29 years | | | | Life expectancy at birth | | Male: 64.52 years | | Female: 68.76 years | | Total population: 66.57 years | | | | 3.167 billion | | | | Unemployment Rate (2007 estimate) | | 30% | | | | Note: combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment. | | | | OIL * | Oil Production (2007 estimate) | Oil Consumption (2007 estimate) | | 85.54 million bbl/day | 85.22 million bbl/day | | Oil Imports (2005) | Oil Exports (2005) | Proved Reserves of Oil (Jan. 2008 estimate) | | 65.41 million bbl/day | 66.19 million bbl/day | 1.332 trillion bbl | | * bbl = barrels |
| | | | | Natural resources | | Languages (2005 estimate) | | Exports (2006 estimate) | 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 (2005) | | Arable land: 10.57% | | Permanent crops: 1.04% | | Other: 81.38% | | | | 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% | | | The world exports a whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services. The top ten world exports in terms of 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 / 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% | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | World Religions (2007 estimate) | Christians - 33.32% (of which Roman Catholics 16.99%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.53%, Anglicans 1.25%) | | | | Muslims - 21.01% | Sikhs - 0.35% | Other religions - 11.78% | | Hindus - 13.26% | Jews - 0.23% | Non-religious - 11.77% | | Buddhists - 5.84% | Baha'is - 0.12% | Atheists - 2.32% | | | | | Information extracted from: CIA - The World Factbook | | |
