World Facts | 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. | Population (July 2012 estimate) | Labor Force (2011 estimate) | 7,021,836,029 | 3.264 billion | | | Most Populous Countries (in millions) | Top Entities
ranked by size | - China 1,343.24
- India 1,205.07
- United States 313.85
- Indonesia 248.22
- Brazil 205.72
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| - Pacific Ocean 155.557 million sq km
- Atlantic Ocean 76.762 million sq km
- Indian Ocean 68.556 million sq km
- Southern Ocean 20.327 million sq km
- Russia 17,098,242 sq km
- Arctic Ocean 14.056 million sq km
- Antarctica 14 million sq km
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| | | The earth's largest Islands | - Greenland 2,166,086 sq km
- New Guinea (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea) 785,753 sq km
- Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia) 751,929 sq km
- Madagascar 587,713 sq km
- Baffin Island (Canada) 507,451 sq km
- Sumatra (Indonesia) 472,784 sq km
- Honshu (Japan) 227,963 sq km
- Victoria Island (Canada) 217,291 sq km
- Great Britain (United Kingdom) 209,331 sq km
- Ellesmere Island (Canada) 196,236 sq km
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| Did you know . . . ? China and Russia each border 14 other countries Over two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults are found in only eight countries:
Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan. | | |
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