| | | World Facts | | | 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 World Factbook recognizes and describes 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). | | | | | | 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% | | | | | Which countries are landlocked? | Landlocked countries are those which entirely or almost entirely are surrounded by land (they have no direct access to the sea). The forty-five (45) nations and other areas of the world that are landlocked include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Two of the countries in the world, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked. Land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km or 156,001 miles (not counting shared boundaries twice). Two nations, China and Russia, each border fourteen (14) other countries. |
| | | | | 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 | | | 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% | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Information extracted from: CIA - The World Factbook | | |
