The 1997 CIA World Factbook

Chapter 3

Chapter 33,361 wordsPublic domain

Internal register is a register of ships maintained as a subset of a national register. Ships on the internal register fly the national flag and have that nationality but are subject to a separate set of maritime rules from those on the main national register. These differences usually include lower taxation of profits, use of foreign nationals as crew members, and, usually, ownership outside the flag state (when it functions as an FOC register). The Norwegian International Ship Register and Danish International Ship Register are the most notable examples of an internal register. Both have been instrumental in stemming flight from the national flag to flags of convenience and in attracting foreign-owned ships to the Norwegian and Danish flags.

Merchant ship is a vessel that carries goods against payment of freight; commonly used to denote any nonmilitary ship but accurately restricted to commercial vessels only.

Register is the record of a ship's ownership and nationality as listed with the maritime authorities of a country; also, the compendium of such individual ships' registrations. Registration of a ship provides it with a nationality and makes it subject to the laws of the country in which registered (the flag state) regardless of the nationality of the ship's ultimate owner.

Military: This category includes the entries dealing with a country's military structure, manpower, and expenditures.

Military branches: This entry lists the names of the ground, naval, air, marine, and other defense or military-type forces.

Military expenditures--dollar figure: This entry gives current military expenditures in US dollars; the figure is calculated by multiplying the estimated defense spending in percentage terms by the gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. The figure should be treated with caution because of different price patterns and accounting methods among nations.

Military expenditures--percent of GDP: This entry gives current military expenditures as an estimated percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Military manpower--availability: This entry gives the total numbers of males and females age 15-49 and assumes that every individual is fit to serve.

Military manpower--fit for military service: This entry gives the number of males and females age 15-49 fit for military service. This is a more refined measure of potential military manpower availability which tries to correct for the health situation in the country and reduces the maximum potential number to a more realistic estimate of the actual number fit to serve.

Military manpower--military age: This entry gives the minimum age at which an individual may volunteer for military service or be subject to conscription.

Military manpower--reaching military age annually: This entry gives the number of draft-age males and females entering the military manpower pool in any given year and is a measure of the availability of draft-age young adults.

Military--note: This entry includes miscellaneous military information of significance not included elsewhere.

Money figures: All money figures are expressed in contemporaneous US dollars unless otherwise indicated.

National capital: This entry gives the location of the seat of government.

National holiday: This entry gives the primary national day of celebration--usually independence day.

Nationality: This entry provides the identifying terms for citizens--noun and adjective.

Natural hazards: This entry lists potential natural disasters.

Natural resources: This entry lists a country's mineral, petroleum, hydropower, and other resources of commercial importance.

Net migration rate: This entry includes the figure for the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during the year per 1,000 persons (based on midyear population). An excess of persons entering the country is referred to as net immigration (e.g., 3.56 migrants/1,000 population); an excess of persons leaving the country as net emigration (e.g., -9.26 migrants/1,000 population). The net migration rate indicates the contribution of migration to the overall level of population change. High levels of migration can cause problems such as increasing unemployment and potential ethnic strife (if people are coming in) or reducing the labor force, perhaps in certain key sectors (if people are leaving).

People: This category includes the entries dealing with the characteristics of the people and their society.

People--note: This entry includes miscellaneous demographic information of significance not included elsewhere.

Pipelines: This entry gives the lengths and types of pipelines for transporting products like natural gas, crude oil, or petroleum products.

Political parties and leaders: This entry includes a listing of political organizations and their leaders.

Political pressure groups and leaders: This entry includes a listing of organizations with leaders involved in politics, but not standing for legislative election.

Population: This entry gives an estimate from the US Bureau of the Census based on statistics from population censuses, vital statistics registration systems, or sample surveys pertaining to the recent past, and on assumptions about future trends. Starting with the 1993 Factbook, demographic estimates for some countries (mostly African) have taken into account the effects of the growing incidence of AIDS infections; in 1997 these countries were Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zaire which is now known as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The total population presents one overall measure of the potential impact of the country on the world and within its region.

Population growth rate: The average annual percent change in the population, resulting from a surplus (or deficit) of births over deaths and the balance of migrants entering and leaving a country. The rate may be positive or negative. Also known as growth rate or average annual rate of growth. The growth rate is a factor in determining how rapidly a country responds to the changing needs of its people in terms of infrastructure (e.g., schools, hospitals, housing, roads), resources (e.g., food, water, electricity), and jobs. Rapid population growth can also be seen as threatening by neighboring countries.

Ports and harbors: This entry lists a few ports and harbors selected on the basis of overall importance to each country. This is determined by evaluating a number of factors (e.g., dollar value of goods handled, gross tonnage, facilities, military significance).

Radio broadcast stations: This entry includes the total number of AM, FM, and shortwave broadcast stations.

Radios: This entry gives the total number of radio receivers.

Railways: This entry includes the total length of the railway network and component parts by gauge: broad, dual, narrow, standard, and other.

Reference maps: This section includes world, regional, and special or current interest maps.

Religions: This entry includes a rank ordering of religions starting with the largest and sometimes includes the percent of total population.

Sex ratio: This entry includes the number of males for each female in five age groups-at birth, under 15 years, 15-64 years, 65 years and over, and for the total population. Sex ratio at birth has recently emerged as an indicator of certain kinds of sex discrimination in some countries. For instance, high sex ratios at birth in some Asian countries are now attributed to sex-selective abortion and infanticide due to a strong preference for sons. This will affect future marriage patterns and fertility patterns and could cause unrest among young adult males who are unable to find partners. The sex ratio at birth for the World is 1.06 (1997 est.).

Suffrage: This entry gives the age at enfranchisement and whether the right to vote is universal or restricted.

Telephone numbers: All telephone numbers in the Factbook consist of the country code in brackets, the city or area code (where required) in parentheses, and the local number. The one component that is not presented is the international access code which varies from country to country. For example, an international direct dial telephone call placed from the US to Madrid, Spain, would be as follows:

011 [34] (1) 577-xxxx where 011 is the international access code for station-to-station calls (01 is for calls other than station-to-station calls), [34] is the country code for Spain, (1) is the city code for Madrid, 577 is the local exchange, and xxxx is the local telephone number.

An international direct dial telephone call placed from another country to the US would be as follows:

An international direct dial telephone call placed from another country to the US would be as follows:

[1] is the country code for the US, (202) is the area code for Washington, DC, 939 is the local exchange, and xxxx is the local telephone number.

Telephone system: This entry includes a brief characterization of the system with details on the domestic and international components. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:

Arabsat-Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)

Autodin--Automatic Digital Network (US Department of Defense)

CB--citizen's band mobile radio communications

cellular telephone system--the telephones in this system are radio

transceivers, each instrument having its own private radio frequency with sufficient radiated power to reach the booster station in its area (cell), from which the telephone signal is fed to a regular telephone exchange

Central American Microwave System--a trunk microwave radio relay system that links the countries of Central America and Mexico with each other

coaxial cable--a multichannel communication cable consisting of a central conducting wire, surrounded by and insulated from a cylindrical conducting shell; a large number of telephone channels can be made available within the insulated space by the use of a large number of carrier frequencies

DSN--Defense Switched Network (formerly Automatic Voice Network or Autovon); basic general--purpose, switched voice network of the Defense Communications System (US Department of Defense)

Eutelsat--European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Paris)

fiber-optic cable--a multichannel communications cable using a thread of optical glass fibers as a transmission medium in which the signal (voice, video, etc.) is in the form of a coded pulse of light

HF--high-frequency; any radio frequency in the 3,000- to 30,000-kHz range

Inmarsat-International Mobile Satellite Organization (London); provider of global mobile satellite communications for commercial and distress and safety applications, at sea, in the air, and on land

Intelsat--International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Washington, DC)

Intersputnik--International Organization of Space Communications (Moscow); first established in the former Soviet Union and the East European countries, it is now marketing its services worldwide with earth stations in North America, Africa, and East Asia

landline--communication wire or cable of any sort that is installed on poles or buried in the ground

Marecs--Maritime European Communications Satellite used in the Inmarsat system on lease from the European Space Agency

Marisat--satellites of the Comsat Corporation that participate in the Inmarsat system

Medarabtel--the Middle East Telecommunications Project of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), providing a modern telecommunications network, primarily by microwave radio relay, linking Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen (initially started in Morocco in 1970 by the Arab Telecommunications Union (ATU) and known at that time as the Middle East Mediterranean Telecommunications Network)

NMT--Nordic Mobile Telephone; an analog cellular telephone system that was developed jointly by the national telecommunications authorities of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden)

Orbita--a Russian television service; also the trade name of a packet--switched digital telephone network

radiotelephone communications--the two--way transmission and reception of sounds by broadcast radio on authorized frequencies using telephone handsets

satellite communication system--a communication system consisting of two or more earth stations and at least one satellite that provides long distance transmission of voice, data, and television; the system usually serves as a trunk connection between telephone exchanges; if the earth stations are in the same country, it is a domestic system

satellite earth station--a communications facility with a microwave radio transmitting and receiving antenna and required receiving and transmitting equipment for communicating with satellites

satellite link--a radio connection between a satellite and an earth station permitting communication between them, either one--way (down link from satellite to earth station--television receive--only transmission) or two-way (telephone channels)

SHF--super--high--frequency; any radio frequency in the 3,000- to 30,000-MHz range

SHF--super-high-frequency; any radio frequency in the 3,000- to 30,000-MHz range

Solidaridad-geosynchronous satellites in Mexico's system of international telecommunications in the Western Hemisphere

Statsionar--Russia's geostationary system for satellite telecommunications

submarine cable--a cable designed for service under water

TAT--Trans--Atlantic Telephone; any of a number of high--capacity submarine coaxial telephone cables linking Europe with North America

telefax--facsimile service between subscriber stations via the public switched telephone network or the international Datel network

telegraph--a telecommunications system designed for unmodulated electric impulse transmission

telex--a communication service involving teletypewriters connected by wire through automatic exchanges

tropospheric scatter--a form of microwave radio transmission in which the troposphere is used to scatter and reflect a fraction of the incident radio waves back to earth; powerful, highly directional antennas are used to transmit and receive the microwave signals; reliable over-the-horizon communications are realized for distances up to 600 miles in a single hop; additional hops can extend the range of this system for very long distances

trunk network--a network of switching centers, connected by multichannel trunk lines

UHF--ultra-high-frequency; any radio frequency in the 300- to 3,000-MHz range

VHF--very-high-frequency; any radio frequency in the 30- to 300-MHz range

Telephones: This entry gives the total number of subscribers.

Television broadcast stations: This entry gives the total number of separate broadcast stations plus any repeater stations.

Televisions: This entry gives the total number of television sets.

Terminology: Due to the highly structured nature of the Factbook database, some collective generic terms have to be used. "Country name" and "National capital", for example are used collectively to include nations, dependent areas, uninhabited islands, areas of special sovereignty, etc. The term "Military" is also used as an umbrella term for various civil defense, security, and defense activities.

Terrain: This entry contains a brief description of the topography.

Total fertility rate: This entry gives a figure for the average number of children that would be born per woman if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years and bore children according to a given fertility rate at each age. The total fertility rate is a more direct measure of the level of fertility than the crude birth rate, since it refers to births per woman. This indicator shows the potential for population growth in the country. High rates will also place some limits on the labor force participation rates for women. Large numbers of children born to women indicate large family sizes that might limit the capacity of the families to educate their children.

Transnational Issues: This category includes only two entries at the present time. Disputes--international and Illicit drugs--deal with current issues going beyond national boundaries.

Transportation: This category includes the entries dealing with the movement of people or material.

Transportation--note: This entry includes miscellaneous transportation information of significance not included elsewhere.

Unemployment rate: This entry contains the percent of the labor force that is without jobs. Substantial underemployment might be noted.

United Nations System: This information is presented in Appendix B: United Nations System which is a chart, table, or text (depending on the version of the Factbook) that shows the organization of the UN in detail.

Waterways: This entry gives the total length and individual names of navigable rivers, canals, and other inland bodies of water.

Weights and measures: This information is presented in Appendix E: Weights and Measures which includes mathematical notations (mathematical powers and names), metric interrelationships (prefix; symbol; length, weight, or capacity; area; volume), and standard conversion factors.

Years: All year references are for the calendar year (CY) unless indicated as fiscal year (FY). The calendar year is an accounting period of 12 months from 1 January to 31 December. The fiscal year is an accounting period of 12 months other than 1 January to 31 December. FY93/94 refers to the fiscal year that began in calendar year 1993 and ended in calendar year 1994.

Note: Information for the US and US dependencies was compiled from material in the public domain and does not represent Intelligence Community estimates. The [2]Handbook of International Economic Statistics, published annually in September by the Central Intelligence Agency, contains detailed economic information for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the successor nations to the Soviet Union, and selected other countries. The Handbook can be obtained wherever the Factbook is available.

References

1. http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/hies97/index.htm 2. http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/hies97/index.htm

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GUIDE TO COUNTRY PROFILES (CATEGORIES, FIELDS AND SUBFIELDS)

Introduction

Current issues Historical perspective

Geography

Location Geographic coordinates Map references Area total land water

Area--comparative Land boundaries total border countries

Coastline Maritime claims contiguous zone continental shelf exclusive economic zone exclusive fishing zone extended fishing zone other territorial sea

Climate Terrain Elevation extremes lowest point highest point

Natural resources Land use arable land permanent crops permanent pastures forests and woodland other

Irrigated land Natural hazards Environment--current issues Environment--international agreements party to signed, but not ratified

Geography--note

People

Population Age structure 0-14 years 15-64 years 65 years and over

Population growth rate Birth rate Death rate Net migration rate Sex ratio at birthunder 15 years 15-64 years 65 years and over total population

Infant mortality rate Life expectancy at birth total population male female

Total fertility rate Nationality noun adjective

Ethnic groups Religions Languages Literacy definition total population male female

Government

Country name conventional long form conventional short form local long form local short form former

Data code Dependency status Government type National capital Administrative divisions Dependent areas Independence National holiday Constitution Legal system Suffrage Executive branch chief of state head of government cabinet elections election results

Legislative branch elections election results

Judicial branch Political parties and leaders Political pressure groups and leaders International organization participation Diplomatic representation in the US chief of mission chancery telephone FAX consulate(s) general consulate(s) honorary consulate(s) honorary consulate(s) general

Diplomatic representation from the US chief of mission embassy branch office mailing address telephone FAX consulate(s) general consulate(s)

Flag description Government--note

Economy

Economy--overview GDP GDP--real growth GDP--per capita GDP--composition by sector agriculture industry services

Inflation rate--consumer price index Labor force total by occupation

Unemployment rate Budget revenues expenditures

Industries Industrial production growth rate Electricity--capacity Electricity--production Electricity--consumption per capita Agriculture--products Exports total value commodities partners

Imports total value commodities partners

Debt--external Economic aid donor recipient

Currency Exchange rates Fiscal year

Communications

Telephones Telephone system domestic international

Radio broadcast stations Radios Television broadcast stations Televisions Communications--note

Transportation

Railways total broad gauge dual gauge narrow gauge other gauges standard gauge

Highways total paved unpaved

Waterways Pipelines Ports and harbors Merchant marine total ships by type

Airports Airports--with paved runways total over 3,047m 2,438 to 3,047m 1,524 to 2,437m 914 to 1,523m under 914m

Airports--with unpaved runways total over 3,047m 2,438 to 3,047m 1,524 to 2,437m 914 to 1,523m under 914m

Heliports Transportation--note

Military

Military branches Military manpower--military age Military manpower--availability males age 15-49 females age 15-49

Military manpower--fit for military service males females

Military manpower--reaching military age annually males females

Military expenditures--dollar figure Military expenditures--percent of GDP Military--note

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international Illicit drugs

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AFGHANISTAN

@Afghanistan:Geography

Location: Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran

Geographic coordinates: 33 00 N, 65 00 E

Map references: Asia

Area: total: 647,500 sq km land: 647,500 sq km water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: total: 5,529 km border countries: China 76 km, Iran 936 km, Pakistan 2,430 km, Tajikistan 1,206 km, Turkmenistan 744 km, Uzbekistan 137 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers

Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Amu Darya 258 m highest point: Nowshak 7,485 m

Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones

Land use: arable land: 12% permanent crops : 0% permanent pastures: 46% forests and woodland: 3% other: 39% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 30,000 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush mountains; flooding

Environment - current issues: soil degradation; overgrazing; deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials); desertification