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Background: Globally the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America Europe and Japan; (g) increased concerns about environmental degradation including deforestation energy and water shortages declining biological diversity and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. 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 1987 6 billion in 1999 and 7 billion in 2012. For the 21st century the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g. advances in medicine and agriculture) and fears (e.g. development of even more lethal weapons of war).


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Physical Map of the World

Area
Total: 510.072 million km²
Land: 148.94 million km²
Water: 361.132 million km²
Note: 70.9% of the world's surface is water 29.1% is land
Comparative: land area about 16 times the size of the US
Comparative top fifteen entities ranked by size: Pacific Ocean 155.557 million km²; Atlantic Ocean 76.762 million km²; Indian Ocean 68.556 million km²; Southern Ocean 20.327 million km²; Russia 17,098,242 km²; Arctic Ocean 14.056 million km²; Antarctica 14 million km²; Canada 9,984,670 km²; United States 9,826,675 km²; China 9,596,960 km²; Brazil 8,515,770 km²; Australia 7,741,220 km²; European Union 4,324,782 km²; India 3,287,263 km²; Argentina 2,780,400 km²
Comparative top ten largest water bodies: Pacific Ocean 155.557 million km²; Atlantic Ocean 76.762 million km²; Indian Ocean 68.556 million km²; Southern Ocean 20.327 million km²; Arctic Ocean 14.056 million km²; Coral Sea 4,184,100 km²; South China Sea 3,595,900 km²; Caribbean Sea 2.834 million km²; Bering Sea 2.52 million km²; Mediterranean Sea 2.469 million km²
Comparative top ten largest landmasses: Asia 44,568,500 km²; Africa 30.065 million km²; North America 24.473 million km²; South America 17.819 million km²; Antarctica 14 million km²; Europe 9.948 million km²; Australia 7,741,220 km²; Greenland 2,166,086 km²; New Guinea 785,753 km²; Borneo 751,929 km²
Comparative top ten largest islands: Greenland 2,166,086 km²; New Guinea 785,753 km²; Borneo (Brunei Indonesia Malaysia) 751,929 km²; Madagascar 587,713 km²; Baffin Island (Canada) 507,451 km²; Sumatra (Indonesia) 472,784 km²; Honshu (Japan) 227,963 km²; Victoria Island (Canada) 217,291 km²; Great Britain (United Kingdom) 209,331 km²; Ellesmere Island (Canada) 196,236 km²
Comparative ten smallest independent countries: Holy See 0.44 km²; Monaco 2 km²; Nauru 21 km²; Tuvalu 26 km²; San Marino 61 km²; Liechtenstein 160 km²; Marshall Islands 181 km²; Saint Kitts and Nevis 261 km²; Maldives 298 km²; Malta 316 km²

Land boundaries: the land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations China and Russia each border 14 other countries
Note: 46 nations and other areas are landlocked these include: Afghanistan Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Bhutan Bolivia Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Central African Republic Chad Czech Republic Ethiopia Holy See Hungary Kazakhstan Kosovo Kyrgyzstan Laos Lesotho Liechtenstein Luxembourg Macedonia Malawi Mali Moldova Mongolia Nepal Niger Paraguay Rwanda San Marino Serbia Slovakia South Sudan Swaziland Switzerland Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uganda Uzbekistan West Bank Zambia Zimbabwe; two of these Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan are doubly landlocked

Coastline: 356,000 km
Note: 95 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries they include: American Samoa Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Ashmore and Cartier Islands The Bahamas Bahrain Baker Island Barbados Bermuda Bouvet Island British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cabo Verde Cayman Islands Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos Islands Comoros Cook Islands Coral Sea Islands Cuba Curacao Cyprus Dominica Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji French Polynesia French Southern and Antarctic Lands Greenland Grenada Guam Guernsey Heard Island and McDonald Islands Howland Island Iceland Isle of Man Jamaica Jan Mayen Japan Jarvis Island Jersey Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Kiribati Madagascar Maldives Malta Marshall Islands Mauritius Mayotte Federated States of Micronesia Midway Islands Montserrat Nauru Navassa Island New Caledonia New Zealand Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Palau Palmyra Atoll Paracel Islands Philippines Pitcairn Islands Puerto Rico Saint Barthelemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Sao Tome and Principe Seychelles Singapore Sint Maarten Solomon Islands South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spratly Islands Sri Lanka Svalbard Taiwan Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Vanuatu Virgin Islands Wake Island Wallis and Futuna

Maritime claims: a variety of situations exist but in general most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm contiguous zone - 24 nm and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm

Climate: a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones that separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates

Terrain: the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at -10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean

Elevation
Mean elevation: 840 m
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,555 m (in the oceanic realm Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean): highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m
Top ten highest mountains: Mount Everest (China-Nepal) 8,850 m; K2 (Pakistan) 8,611 m; Kanchenjunga (India-Nepal) 8,598 m; Lhotse (Nepal) 8,516 m; Makalu (China-Nepal) 8,463 m; Cho Oyu (China-Nepal) 8,201 m; Dhaulagiri (Nepal) 8,167 m; Manaslu (Nepal) 8,163 m; Nanga Parbat (Pakistan) 8,125 m; Anapurna (Nepal) 8,091 m
Note: Mauna Kea is the world's tallest mountain as measured from base to summit; the peak of this volcanic colossus lies on the island of Hawaii but its base begins more than 70 km offshore and at a depth of about 6,000 m; total height estimates range from 9,966 m to 10,203 m
Highest point on each continent: Asia - Mount Everest 8,850 m; South America - Cerro Aconcagua (Argentina) 6,960 m; North America - Denali (Mount McKinley) (United States) 6,190 m; Africa - Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) 5,895 m; Europe - El'brus (Russia) 5,633 m; Antarctica - Vinson Massif 4,897 m; Australia - Mount Kosciuszko 2,229 m
Lowest point on each continent: Antarctica - Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,555 m; Asia - Dead Sea -408 m; Africa - Lac Assal (Djibouti) -155 m; South America - Laguna del Carbon (Argentina) -105 m; North America - Death Valley (United States) -86 m; Europe - Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-Russia) -28 m; Australia - Lake Eyre -15 m

Natural resources: 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 some countries of Eastern Europe the former USSR and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address

Land use

Irrigated land: 3,242,917 km² (2012 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones); natural disasters (earthquakes landslides tsunamis volcanic eruptions)
Volcanism: volcanism is a fundamental driver and consequence of plate tectonics the physical process reshaping the Earth's lithosphere; the world is home to more than 1500 potentially active volcanoes with over 500 of these having erupted in historical times; an estimated 500 million people live near these volcanoes; associated dangers include lava flows lahars pyroclastic flows ash clouds ash fall ballistic projectiles gas emissions landslides earthquakes and tsunamis; in the 1990s the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior created a list of 16 Decade Volcanoes worthy of special study because of their great potential for destruction: Avachinsky-Koryaksky (Russia) Colima (Mexico) Etna (Italy) Galeras (Colombia) Mauna Loa (United States) Merapi (Indonesia) Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Rainier (United States) Sakurajima (Japan) Santa Maria (Guatemala) Santorini (Greece) Taal (Philippines) Teide (Spain) Ulawun (Papua New Guinea) Unzen (Japan) Vesuvius (Italy)

Geography
Note: the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old just about one-third of the 13.8-billion-year age estimated for the universe


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Population: 7,323,187,457 (July 2016 est.)
Top ten most populous countries: China 1373.54; India 1266.88; United States 324.00; Indonesia 258.32; Brazil 205.82; Pakistan 202.00; Nigeria 186.05; Bangladesh 156.19; Russia 142.36; Japan 126.70
Ten least populous countries: Holy See 1000; Nauru 9,591; Tuvalu 10,959; Palau 21,347; Monaco 30,581; San Marino 33,285; Liechtenstein 37,937; Saint Kitts and Nevis 52,329; Marshall Islands 73,376; Dominica 73,757
Ten most densely populated countries: Monaco 15,291; Singapore 8,416; Holy See (Vatican City) 2,273; Bahrain 1814; Maldives 1319; Malta 1314; Bangladesh 1200; Barbados 678; Mauritius 664; Lebanon 610
Ten least densely populated countries: Mongolia 1.95; Namibia 2.96; Australia 2.99; Iceland 3.35; Mauritania 3.57; Libya 3.72; Guyana 3.74; Suriname 3.76; Canada 3.89; Botswana 3.90
Growth rate: 1.06%
Growth rate note: this rate results in about 148 net additions to the worldwide population every minute or 2.5 every second

Nationality

Ethnic groups

Languages: Mandarin Chinese 12.2% Spanish 5.8% English 4.6% Arabic 3.6% Hindi 3.6% Portuguese 2.8% Bengali 2.6% Russian 2.3% Japanese 1.7% Punjabi Western 1.2% Javanese 1.2% (2016 est.)
Note 1: percents are for 'first language' speakers only; the six UN languages - Arabic Chinese English French Russian and Spanish (Castilian) - are the mother tongue or second language of about half of the world's population and are the official languages in more than half the states in the world; some 300 languages have more than a million first-language speakers
Note 2: all told there are an estimated 7,100 languages spoken in the world; approximately 80% of these languages are spoken by less than 100,000 people; about 130 languages are spoken by less than 10 people; communities that are isolated from each other in mountainous regions often develop multiple languages; Papua New Guinea for example boasts about 840 separate languages
Note 3: approximately 2,300 languages are spoken in Asia 2,140 in Africa 1310 in the Pacific 1060 in the Americas and 290 in Europe

Religions: Christian 31.4% Muslim 23.2% Hindu 15% Buddhist 7.1% folk religions 5.9% Jewish 0.2% other 0.8% unaffiliated 16.4% (2010 est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 25.44%
15-24 years: 16.16%
25-54 years: 41.12%
55-64 years: 8.6%
65 years and over: 8.68% (2016 est.)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 52.3%
Youth dependency ratio: 39.7%
Elderly dependency ratio: 12.6%
Potential support ratio: 7.9%

Median age
Total: 30.1 years
Male: 29.4 years
Female: 30.9 years

Population growth rate: 1.06%
Note: this rate results in about 148 net additions to the worldwide population every minute or 2.5 every second

Birth rate: 18.5 births/1000 population
Note: this rate results in about 258 worldwide births per minute or 4.3 births every second

Death rate: 7.8 deaths/1000 population
Note: this rate results in about 108 worldwide deaths per minute or 1.8 deaths every second

Net migration rate

Population distribution

Urbanization
Urban population: 54% of total population
Rate of urbanization: 2.05% annual rate of change
Ten largest urban agglomerations: Tokyo - 38,001,000; New Delhi (India) - 25,703,000; Shanghai (China) - 23,741,000; Sao Paulo (Brazil) - 21,066,000; Mumbai (India) - 21,043,000; Mexico City (Mexico) - 20,999,000; Beijing (China) - 20,384,000; Osaka (Japan) - 20,238,000; Cairo (Egypt) - 18,772,000; New York-Newark (US) - 18,593,000 (2015)

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: large areas subject to overpopulation industrial disasters pollution (air water acid rain toxic substances) loss of vegetation (overgrazing deforestation desertification) loss of wildlife soil degradation soil depletion erosion; global warming becoming a greater concern

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.03 male/female
0-14 years: 1.07 male/female
15-24 years: 1.07 male/female
25-54 years: 1.02 male/female
55-64 years: 0.95 male/female
65 years and over: 0.805 male/female
Total population: 1.015 male/female

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 34.1 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 36.1 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 32.1 deaths/1000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 69 years
Male: 67 years
Female: 71.1 years

Total fertility rate: 2.42 children born/woman (2016 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source:

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access:

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.8% (2015 est.)
People living with hivaids: 36,710,700 (2015 est.)
Deaths: 1,107,600 (2015 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 86.1%
Male: 89.9%
Female: 82.2%
Note: more than three-quarters of the world's 781 million illiterate adults are found in South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa; of all the illiterate adults in the world almost two-thirds are women

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 12 years
Male: 12 years
Female: 12 years

Youth unemployment


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Country name

Government type

Capital

Administrative divisions: 195 countries 72 dependent areas and other entities

Dependent areas

Independence

National holiday

Constitution

Legal system: the legal systems of nearly all countries are generally modeled upon elements of five main types: civil law (including French law the Napoleonic Code Roman law Roman-Dutch law and Spanish law); common law (including English and US law); customary law; mixed or pluralistic law; and religious law (including Islamic law); an additional type of legal system - international law - governs the conduct of independent nations in their relationships with one another

International law organization participation: all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court; 61 countries have accepted jurisdiction of the ICJ as compulsory with reservations and 11 countries have accepted ICJ jurisdiction as compulsory without reservations; states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICCt) are those countries that have ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute the treaty that established the Court; a total of 123 (effective 2 January 2015) countries have accepted jurisdiction of the ICCt (see Appendix B for a clarification on the differing mandates of the ICJ and ICCt)

Citizenship

Suffrage

Executive branch

Legislative branch

Judicial branch

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation

Diplomatic representation

Flag description
Note: the flags of 11 nations: Austria Botswana Jamaica Japan Laos Latvia Macedonia Micronesia Nigeria Switzerland and Thailand have no top or bottom and may be flown with either long edge on top without any notice being taken

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview:

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Note: data are in 2015 US dollars

Real gdp growth rate:

Real gdp per capita:
Note: data are in 2015 US dollars

Gross national saving:

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 57.1%
Government consumption: 16.2%
Investment in fixed capital: 25.4%
Investment in inventories: 0.7%
Exports of goods and services: 29.1%
Imports of goods and services: -28.5%

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 6.4%
Industry: 30.4%
Services: 62.6%

Agriculture products

Industries: dominated by the onrush of technology especially in computers robotics telecommunications and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new technologies is complicating already grim environmental problems

Industrial production growth rate: 2.3% (2015 est.)

Labor force: 3.395 billion (2015 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 34.3%
By occupation industry: 22.3%
By occupation services: 43.4%

Unemployment rate:
Note: 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 2.6%
Highest 10: 30.3%

Distribution of family income gini index:

Budget
Revenues: $20.3 trillion
Expenditures: $22.52 trillion
Surplus or deficit: -3% of GDP (2015 est.)

Taxes and other revenues: 27.5% of GDP (2015 est.)

Public debt:

Revenue

Fiscal year

Inflation rate consumer prices:
Note: the above estimates are weighted averages; inflation in developed countries is 0% to 4% typically in developing countries 4% to 10% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases; inflation rates have declined for most countries for the last several years held in check by increasing international competition from several low wage countries and by soft demand due to the world financial crisis

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money:

Stock of broad money:

Stock of domestic credit:

Market value of publicly traded shares:

Current account balance

Exports:
Commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Commodities top ten 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 and 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%

Imports:
Commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Commodities top ten share of world trade: see listing for exports

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external:
Note: this figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt both public and private

Stock of direct foreign investment at home:

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad:

Exchange rates


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Electricity
Access population without electricity: 1,201,000,000
Access electrification total population: 83%
Access electrification urban areas: 95%
Access electrification rural areas: 70%
Production: 22.75 trillion kWh (2014 est.)
Consumption: 21.38 trillion kWh (2014 est.)
Exports: 695.6 billion kWh (2013 est.)
Imports: 723.2 billion kWh (2014 est.)
Installed generating capacity: 5.847 billion kW (2012 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels: 65.3% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources nuclear: 6.8% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 18.7% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources: 9.2% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

Coal

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 80.25 million bbl/day (2015 est.)
Crude oil exports: 44.53 million bbl/day (2013 est.)
Crude oil imports: 46.7 million bbl/day (2013 est.)
Crude oil proven reserves: 1.662 trillion bbl (1 January 2016 es)

Crude oil

Refined petroleum
Products production: 89.29 million bbl/day (2013 est.)
Products consumption: 93.5 million bbl/day (2014 est.)
Products exports: 26.97 million bbl/day (2013 est.)
Products imports: 26.06 million bbl/day (2013 est.)

Natural gas
Production: 3.43 trillion m³ (2013 est.)
Consumption: 3.42 trillion m³ (2013 est.)
Exports: 1.136 trillion m³ (2013 est.)
Imports: 1.449 trillion m³ (2013 est.)
Proven reserves: 191.4 trillion m³ (1 January 2014 es)

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 34.18 billion Mt (2012 est.)

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Fixed lines: 1.1 billion (July 2015 est.)
Mobile cellular: total 7 billion (July 2015 est.)

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet
Users: 3.172 billion
Users top ten countries by Internet usage: China 687.9; India 325.4; United States 239.6; Brazil 120.7; Japan 118.5; Russia 104.6; Nigeria 86.1; Germany 70.8; Mexico 69.9; United Kingdom 59 (July 2015 est.)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures:

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 41,821 (2013)
Top ten by passengers: Atlanta - 94,431,224; Beijing (PEK) - 83,712,355; London (LHR) - 72,368,061; Tokyo (HND) - 68,906,509; Chicago (ORD) - 66,777,161; Los Angeles (LAX) - 66,667,619; Dubai (DXB) - 66,431,533; Paris (CDG) - 62,052,917; Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - 60,470,507; Jakarta (CGK) - 60,137,347 (2013)
Top ten by cargo: Hong Kong (HKG) - 4,166,303; Memphis TN (MEM) - 4,137,801; Shanghai (PVG) - 2,928,527; Incheon (ICN) - 2,464,384; Dubai (DXB) - 2,435,567; Anchorage AK (ANC) - 2,421,145; Louisville KY (SDF) - 2,216,079; Frankfurt (FRA) - 2,094,453; Paris (CDG) - 2,069,200; Tokyo (NRT) - 2,019,844 (2013)

Heliports: 6,524 (2013)

Pipelines

Railways
Total: 1,148,186 km

Roadways
Total: 64,285,009 km

Waterways: 2,293,412 km
Top ten longest rivers: Nile 6,693 km; Amazon (South America) 6,436 km; Mississippi-Missouri (North America) 6,238 km; Yenisey-Angara (Asia) 5,981 km; Ob-Irtysh (Asia) 5,569 km; Yangtze (Asia) 5,525 km; Yellow (Asia) 4,671 km; Amur (Asia) 4,352 km; Lena (Asia) 4,345 km; Congo (Africa) 4,344 km
Note: the areas of the lakes are subject to seasonal variation; only the Caspian Sea is saline the rest are fresh water
Top ten largest natural lakes: Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan Iran Kazakhstan Russia Turkmenistan) 372,960 km²; Lake Superior (Canada United States) 82,414 km²; Lake Victoria (Kenya Tanzania Uganda) 69,490 km²; Lake Huron (Canada United States) 59,596 km²; Lake Michigan (United States) 57,441 km²; Lake Tanganyika (Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Tanzania Zambia) 32,890 km²; Great Bear Lake (Canada) 31,800 km²; Lake Baikal (Russia) 31,494 km²; Lake Nyasa (Malawi Mozambique Tanzania) 30,044 km²; Great Slave Lake (Canada) 28,400 km²

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals
Top ten container ports: (as measured by TwentyFoot Equivalent Units throughput) Shanghai (China) - 33,617,000; Singapore (Singapore) - 32,578,000; Shenzhen (China) - 23,278,000; Hong Kong (China) - 22,352,000; Busan (South Korea) - 17,611,882; Ningbo (China) - 17,326,800; Qingdao (China) - 15,520,000; Guangzhou (China) - 15,309,200; Dubai (UAE) - 13,600,000; - Tianjin (China) - 12,996,510 (2013)


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Disputes international: stretching over 250,000 km the world's 325 international land boundaries separate 195 independent states and 71 dependencies areas of special sovereignty and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity culture race religion and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history physical terrain political fiat or conquest resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; most maritime states have claimed limits that include territorial seas and exclusive economic zones; overlapping limits due to adjacent or opposite coasts create the potential for 430 bilateral maritime boundaries of which 209 have agreements that include contiguous and non-contiguous segments; boundary borderland/resource and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; undemarcated indefinite porous and unmanaged boundaries tend to encourage illegal cross-border activities uncontrolled migration and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic and cultural clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation and internal displacement of the estimated 20.8 million people and cross-border displacements of approximately 12.1 million refugees and asylum seekers around the world as of mid-2013; over half a million refugees were repatriated during 2012; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially hydrocarbon) resources fisheries and arable land; armed conflict prevails not so much between the uniformed armed forces of independent states as between stateless armed entities that detract from the sustenance and welfare of local populations leaving the community of nations to cope with resultant refugees hunger disease impoverishment and environmental degradation

Refugees and internally displaced persons: the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that as of the end of 2015 there were 65.3 million people forcibly displaced worldwide the highest level ever recorded; this includes 21.3 million refugees 3.2 million asylum seekers and 40.8 million conflict IDPs; the UNHCR estimates there are currently at least 10 million stateless persons (2016)

Illicit drugs
Cocaine: worldwide coca leaf cultivation in 2013 likely amounted to 165,000 hectares assuming a stable crop in Bolivia; Colombia produced slightly less than half of the worldwide crop followed by Peru and Bolivia; potential pure cocaine production increased 7% to 640 metric tons in 2013; Colombia conducts an aggressive coca eradication campaign Peru has increased its eradication efforts but remains hesitant to eradicate coca in key growing areas
Opiates: worldwide illicit opium poppy cultivation increased in 2013 with potential opium production reaching 6,800 metric tons; Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer accounting for 82% of the global supply; Southeast Asia was responsible for 12% of global opium; Pakistan produced 3% of global opium; Latin America produced 4% of global opium and most was refined into heroin destined for the US market