The World in Focus.FACT FACTS ON 192 COUNTRIES Statistics look like a series of cold, hard facts. But every number tells a story. The 38/40 under the "Life Expectancy Life Expectancy 1. The age until which a person is expected to live. 2. The remaining number of years an individual is expected to live, based on IRS issued life expectancy tables. " column for Malawi, for instance, means that people in that African nation are dying young. The $700 per capita [Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals. GDP GDP (guanosine diphosphate): see guanine. for Cambodia tells you that nation is extremely poor. (Compare it with the U.S.) The tables give key facts for each of the world's 192 independent countries. Begin by looking at the sample entry for Russia (at right). The boxes explain each item of information. Countries are grouped by continent, then listed in alphabetical order. Area and Population: Taken together, these figures allow you to calculate population density (population divided by area), an important indicator of a country's potential problems. Russia 6,592,819 145,200,000 Urban Population: The percentage of a country's total population living in urban areas. Urbanization has skyrocketed in developing countries, as people move to cities in search of work. Moscow 73 Population Growth: The high rate of population growth in some poor countries has prompted fears of overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. , and complicated the struggle to feed the people and combat disease. Moscow -0.6 Major Languages Spoken: There are some 6,000 languages in the world, not counting local dialects. Some 975 million people speak Mandarin Chinese--500 million more than speak English. Russian, other languages Form of Government and Head: Governments are classified according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. who holds power. In democracies, people elect their leaders; dictatorships keep power away from the people. Presidential-parliamentary democracy; President Vladimir Putin Literacy Rate: The percentage of people who can read and write (male/female). Date of Origin: The year a nation was formed, gained independence, or established its present form of government. 1991 Percent of Population Under Age 15: Developing countries with a high percentage of young people may have trouble providing jobs, schools, and food--and risk overpopulation overpopulation Situation in which the number of individuals of a given species exceeds the number that its environment can sustain. Possible consequences are environmental deterioration, impaired quality of life, and a population crash (sudden reduction in numbers caused by . 19 Presidential-parliamentary democracy; President Vladimir Putin Literacy Rate: The percentage of people who can read and write (male/female). Date of Origin: The year a nation was formed, gained independence, or established its present form of government. 99/99 Life Expectancy: The age to which a newborn can expect to live. Improvements in medicine have helped people live longer. The first number is for males; the second, for females. 61/73 Presidential-parliamentary democracy; President Vladimir Putin Per Capita GDP: The value of all goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. produced within a country in one year (its gross domestic product), divided by its population. It's one way to gauge a nation's wealth. $4,000 HDI HDI Human Development Index (UNDP yardstick of human welfare) HDI Help Desk Institute HDI Humpty Dumpty Institute (New York, New York) HDI High Density Interconnect (Human Development Index): This number measures economic and human well-being on a scale of 0 to 1. It combines life expectancy, literacy, and purchasing power Purchasing Power 1. The value of a currency expressed in terms of the amount of goods or services that one unit of money can buy. Purchasing power is important because, all else being equal, inflation decreases the amount of goods or services you'd be able to purchase. 2. into one number. 0.771 Presidential-parliamentary democracy; President Vladimir Putin Terms to Know Communist: One-party rule. The Communist Party Communist party, in China Communist party, in China, ruling party of the world's most populous nation since 1949 and most important Communist party in the world since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. runs the government and regulates the economy. No opposition to the Communist Party is allowed. Conservative: A person or party that sticks to traditional views and wants to limit the role of government. Constitutional monarchy constitutional monarchy System of government in which a monarch (see monarchy) shares power with a constitutionally organized government. The monarch may be the de facto head of state or a purely ceremonial leader. : A government headed by a monarch whose power is limited by a constitution. Dominant party: One party controls the government, but allows other parties to exist--as in Egypt. Military: A system in which the country's military forces control the government. Monarchy: A government ruled by a member of the royal family, as in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (sä  `dē ərā`bēə, sou`–, sô–), officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom (2005 est. pop. . One-party: A government in which one political party has all the power, as in Iraq. Parliamentary democracy: A government in which an elected parliament (lawmaking body) chooses the head of government, as in Canada. Presidential dictatorship: A government in which the president exercises total power, as in Belarus. Presidential-legislative democracy: A government in which power is shared by a president and a legislature (lawmaking body), as in the U.S. Presidential-parliamentary democracy: A government in which an elected president shares power with an elected parliament (lawmaking body), as in France. Rival warlords Warlords may refer to:
Socialist: A person or party believing the government should own a country's resources and control their use. Transitional: A government undergoing a change in the way power is exercised, as in Indonesia. NOTES TO THE WORLD IN FOCUS TABLES Date of independence: The year in which a country won control of its internal and external affairs, or when smaller areas joined to form a larger nation. Form of government and head: Some countries have two heads: a head of state and a head of government. These tables list only the latter. (For instance, Queen Elizabeth is the United Kingdom's head of state, but Tony Blair runs the government.) Human Development Index (HDI): A number from zero to one, based on how a country's people tare tare (târ), name sometimes used as a synonym for any vetch, most frequently for the common vetch. The tare of the Scriptures, a weed of grainfields and considered a seed of evil, is thought to have been the unrelated darnel (see rye grass). in terms of life expectancy, adult literacy, and purchasing power (a person's ability to buy food, clothing, and other necessities). The higher the number, the better the rating. Literacy rate: Experts doubt some estimates. NA: Means figure(s) not available. Per capita gross domestic product: This figure is given in U.S. dollars. |
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