Chapter 3
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 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 a reduction in 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.
Personal Names--Capitalization: The Factbook capitalizes the surname or family name of individuals for the convenience of our users who are faced with a world of different cultures and naming conventions. An example would be President SADDAM Husayn of Iraq. Saddam is his name and Husayn is his father's name. He may be referred to as President SADDAM Husayn or President SADDAM, but not President Husayn. The need for capitalization, bold type, underlining, italics, or some other indicator of the individual's surname is apparent in the following examples: MAO Zedong, Fidel CASTRO Ruz, William Jefferson CLINTON, and TUNKU SALAHUDDIN Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Hisammuddin Alam Shah. By knowing the surname, a short form without all capital letters can be used with confidence as in President Saddam, President Castro, Chairman Mao, President Clinton, or Sultan Tunku Salahuddin. The same system of capitalization is extended to the names of leaders with surnames that are not commonly used such as Queen ELIZABETH II.
Personal Names--Spelling: The romanization of personal names in the Factbook normally follows the same transliteration system used by the US Board on Geographic Names for spelling place names. At times, however, a foreign leader expressly indicates a preference for, or the media or official documents regularly use, a romanized spelling that differs from the transliteration derived from the US Government standard. In such cases, the Factbook uses the alternative spelling.
Personal Names--Titles: The Factbook capitalizes any valid title (or short form of it) immediately preceding a person's name. A title standing alone is lowercased. Examples: President YEL'TSIN and President CLINTON are chiefs of state. In Russia, the president is chief of state and the premier is the head of the government, while in the US, the president is both chief of state and head of government.
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 significant 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. The total population presents one overall measure of the potential impact of the country on the world and within its region. Note: 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. These countries are Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Population below poverty line: National estimates of the percentage of the population lying below the poverty line are based on surveys of sub-groups, with the results weighted by the number of people in each group. Definitions of poverty vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations.
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. The growth rate is a factor in determining how great a burden would be imposed on a country by the changing needs of its people for infrastructure (e.g., schools, hospitals, housing, roads), resources (e.g., food, water, electricity), and jobs. Rapid population growth can be seen as threatening by neighboring countries.
Ports and harbors: This entry lists the major 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. Eventually it could cause unrest among young adult males who are unable to find partners. The sex ratio at birth for the World is 1.06 (1999 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:
international access code + [1] (202) 939-xxxx, where
[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, with each instrument having its own private radio frequency and 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.
Comsat--Communications Satellite Corporation (US).
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, 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; it was initially started in Morocco in 1970 by the Arab Telecommunications Union (ATU) and was known at that time as the Middle East Mediterranean Telecommunications Network.
microwave radio relay--transmission of long distance telephone calls and television programs by highly directional radio microwaves that are received and sent on from one booster station to another on an optical path.
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.
shortwave--radio frequencies (from 1.605 to 30 MHz) that fall above the commercial broadcast band and are used for communication over long distances.
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. For example, the word Country in the Country name entry refers to a wide variety of dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, uninhabited islands, and other entities in addition to the traditional countries or independent states. Military is also used as an umbrella term for various civil defense, security, and defense activities in many entries. The Independence entry includes the usual colonial independence dates and former ruling states as well as other significant nationhood dates such as the traditional founding date or the date of unification, federation, confederation, establishment, or state succession that are not strictly independence dates. Dependent areas have the nature of their dependency status noted in this same entry.
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 ability of the families to feed and educate their children.
Transnational Issues: This category includes only two entries at the present time --Disputes--international and Illicit drugs--that deal with current issues going beyond national boundaries.
Transportation: This category includes the entries dealing with the means for movement of people and goods.
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 as 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 and 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 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.
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A Brief History of Basic Intelligence and The World Factbook
The Intelligence Cycle is the process by which information is acquired, converted into intelligence, and made available to policymakers. Information is raw data from any source, data that may be fragmentary, contradictory, unreliable, ambiguous, deceptive, or wrong. Intelligence is information that has been collected, integrated, evaluated, analyzed, and interpreted. Finished intelligence is the final product of the Intelligence Cycle ready to be delivered to the policymaker.
The three types of finished intelligence are: basic, current, and estimative. Basic intelligence provides the fundamental and factual reference material on a country or issue. Current intelligence reports on new developments. Estimative intelligence judges probable outcomes. The three are mutually supportive: basic intelligence is the foundation on which the other two are constructed; current intelligence continually updates the inventory of knowledge; and estimative intelligence revises overall interpretations of country and issue prospects for guidance of basic and current intelligence. The World Factbook, The President's Daily Brief, and the National Intelligence Estimates are examples of the three types of finished intelligence.
The United States has carried on foreign intelligence activities since the days of George Washington, but only since World War II have they been coordinated on a governmentwide basis. Three programs have highlighted the development of coordinated basic intelligence since that time: (1) the Joint Army Navy Intelligence Studies (JANIS), (2) the National Intelligence Survey (NIS), and (3) The World Factbook.
During World War II, intelligence consumers realized that the production of basic intelligence by different components of the US Government resulted in a great duplication of effort and conflicting information. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought home to leaders in Congress and the executive branch the need for integrating departmental reports to national policymakers. Detailed coordinated information was needed not only on such major powers as Germany and Japan, but also on places of little previous interest. In the Pacific Theater, for example, the Navy and Marines had to launch amphibious operations against many islands about which information was unconfirmed or nonexistent. Intelligence authorities resolved that the United States should never again be caught unprepared.
In 1943, Gen. George B. Strong (G-2), Adm. H. C. Train (Office of Naval Intelligence--ONI), and Gen. William J. Donovan (Director of the Office of Strategic Services--OSS) decided that a joint effort should be initiated. A steering committee was appointed on 27 April 1943 that recommended the formation of a Joint Intelligence Study Publishing Board to assemble, edit, coordinate, and publish the Joint Army Navy Intelligence Studies (JANIS). JANIS was the first interdepartmental basic intelligence program to fulfill the needs of the US Government for an authoritative and coordinated appraisal of strategic basic intelligence. Between April 1943 and July 1947, the board published 34 JANIS studies. JANIS performed well in the war effort, and numerous letters of commendation were received, including a statement from Adm. Forrest Sherman, Chief of Staff, Pacific Ocean Areas, which said, "JANIS has become the indispensable reference work for the shore-based planners."
The need for more comprehensive basic intelligence in the postwar world was well expressed in 1946 by George S. Pettee, a noted author on national security. He wrote in The Future of American Secret Intelligence (Infantry Journal Press, 1946, page 46) that world leadership in peace requires even more elaborate intelligence than war. "The conduct of peace involves all countries, all human activities--not just the enemy and his war production."
The Central Intelligence Agency was established on 26 July 1947 and officially began operating on 18 September 1947. Effective 1 October 1947, the Director of Central Intelligence assumed operational responsibility for JANIS. On 13 January 1948, the National Security Council issued Intelligence Directive (NSCID) No. 3, which authorized the National Intelligence Survey (NIS) program as a peacetime replacement for the wartime JANIS program. Before adequate NIS country sections could be produced, government agencies had to develop more comprehensive gazetteers and better maps. The US Board on Geographic Names (BGN) compiled the names; the Department of the Interior produced the gazetteers; and CIA produced the maps.