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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, 7 billion in 2012, and 8 billion in 2022. 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: 361,899,999 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
Rankings top fifteen World Factbook entities ranked by size: Pacific Ocean 155,557,000 km²; Atlantic Ocean 76,762,000 km²; Indian Ocean 68,556,000 km²; Southern Ocean 20,327,000 km²; Russia 17,098,242 km²; Antarctica 14,200,000 km²; Arctic Ocean 14,056,000 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
Rankings top ten largest water bodies: Pacific Ocean 155,557,000 km²; Atlantic Ocean 76,762,000 km²; Indian Ocean 68,556,000 km²; Southern Ocean 20,327,000 km²; Arctic Ocean 14,056,000 km²; Coral Sea 4,184,100 km²; South China Sea 3,595,900 km²; Caribbean Sea 2,834,000 km²; Bering Sea 2,520,000 km²; Mediterranean Sea 2,469,000 km²
Rankings top ten largest landmasses: Asia 44,568,500 km²; Africa 30,065,000 km²; North America 24,473,000 km²; South America 17,819,000 km²; Antarctica 14,200,000 km²; Europe 9,948,000 km²; Australia 7,741,220 km²; Greenland 2,166,086 km²; New Guinea 785,753 km²; Borneo 751,929 km²
Rankings top ten largest islands: Greenland 2,166,086 km²; New Guinea (Indonesia, Papua 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
Rankings top ten longest mountain ranges: Andes (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina) 7,000 km; Rocky Mountains (Canada, US) 4,830 km; Great Dividing Range (Australia) 3,700 km; Transantarctic Mountains (Antarctica) 3,500 km; Kunlun Mountains (China) 3,000 km; Ural Mountains (Russia, Kazakhstan) 2,640 km; Atlas Mountains (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) 2,500 km; Appalachian Mountains (Canada, US) 2,400 km; Himalayas (Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, China, Nepal, Bhutan) 2,300 km; Altai Mountains (Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia) 2,000 km; note - lengths are approximate; if oceans are included, the Mid-Ocean Ridge is by far the longest mountain range at 40,389 km
Rankings top ten largest forested countries: Russia 8,149,310 (49.8%); Brazil 4,935,380 (58.9%); Canada 3,470,690 (38.2%); United States 3,103,700 (33.9%); China 2,098,640 (22.3%); Democratic Republic of the Congo 1,522,670 (67.2%); Australia 1,250,590 (16.3%); Indonesia 903,250 (49.9%); Peru 738,054 (57.7%); India 708,600 (23.8%) (2016 est.)
Rankings top ten most densely forested countries: Suriname (98.3%), Federated States of Micronesia (91.9%), Gabon (90%), Seychelles (88.4%), Palau (87.6%), Guyana (83.9%), Laos (82.1%), Solomon Islands (77.9%), Papua New Guinea (74.1%), Finland (73.1%) (2016 est.)
Rankings top ten largest (non-polar) deserts: Sahara (Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan, Tunisia) 9,200,000 km²; Arabian (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Yemen) 2,330,000 km²; Gobi (China, Mongolia) 1,295,000 km²; Kalahari (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa) 900,000 km²; Patagonian (Argentina) 673,000 km²; Syrian (Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia) 500,000 km²; Chihuahuan (Mexico) 362,000 km²; Kara-Kum (Turkmenistan) 350,000 km²; Great Victoria (Australia) 348,750 km²; Great Basin (United States) 343,169 km²; note - if the two polar deserts are included, they would rank first and second: Antarctic Desert 14,200,000 km² and Arctic Desert 13,900,000 km²
Rankings ten smallest independent countries: Holy See (Vatican City) 0.44 km²; Monaco 2 km²; Nauru 21 km²; Tuvalu 26 km²; San Marino 61 km²; Liechtenstein 160 km²; Marshall Islands 181 km²; Cook Islands 236 km²; Niue 260 km²; Saint Kitts and Nevis 261 km²

Land boundaries: the land boundaries in Gheos World Guid total 279,035.5 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries
Note 1: the total is actually misleading in terms of accuracy, since one cannot accurately measure every river meander along a boundary; a number rounded slightly higher - to 280,000 km - makes more sense and has been coordinated with and approved by the US State Department
Note 2: 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, Czechia, Eswatini, 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, South Sudan, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked
Note 3: worldwide, some one-quarter of interior (non-coastal) borders are rivers; South America with 43% leads the continents, followed by North America with 32%, Africa with 30%, Europe with 23%, and Asia with 18%; Australia has no interior national river borders

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 (Keeling) 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
Ten driest places on Earth:
Ten wettest places on Earth:
Ten coldest places on Earth:
Ten hottest places on Earth:

Terrain: tremendous variation of terrain may be found on each of the continents; check the World "Elevation" entry for a compilation of terrain extremes; the world's ocean floors also display extraordinary variation while the ocean surfaces form a dynamic, continuously changing environment; check the "Bathymetry" and "Major surface currents" entries under each of the five ocean entries (Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Southern) for further information on oceanic environs
Ten Cave Superlatives: compiled from "Geography - note(s)" under various country entries where more details may be found
Largest cave: Son Doong in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam is the World's largest cave (greatest cross sectional area) and is the largest known cave passage in the world by volume; it currently measures a total of 38.5 million cu m (about 1.35 billion cu ft); it connects to Thung cave (but not yet officially); when recognized, it will add an additional 1.6 million cu m in volume|largest ice cave: the Eisriesenwelt (Ice Giants World) inside the Hochkogel mountain near Werfen, Austria is the World's largest and longest ice cave system at 42 km (26 mi) |longest cave: Mammoth Cave, in west-central Kentucky, is the World's longest known cave system with more than 650 km (405 mi) of surveyed passageways
Longest salt cave: the Malham Cave in Mount Sodom in Israel is the World's longest salt cave at 10 km (6 mi); its survey is not complete and its length will undoubtedly increase
Longest underwater cave: the Sac Actun cave system in Mexico at 348 km (216 mi) is the longest underwater cave in the World and the second longest cave worldwide
Longest lava tube cave: Kazumura Cave on the island of Hawaii is the World's longest and deepest lava tube cave; it has been surveyed at 66 km (41 mi) long and 1,102 m (3,614 ft) deep
Deepest cave: Veryovkina Cave in the Caucasus country of Georgia is the World's deepest cave, plunging down 2,212 m (7,257 ft)
Deepest underwater cave: the Hranice Abyss in Czechia is the World's deepest surveyed underwater cave at 404 m (1,325 ft); its survey is not complete and it could end up being some 800-1,200 m deep
Largest cave chamber: the Miao Room in the Gebihe cave system at China's Ziyun Getu He Chuandong National Park encloses some 10.78 million m³ (380.7 million cu ft) of volume
Largest bat cave: Bracken Cave outside of San Antonio, Texas is the World's largest bat cave; it is the summer home to the largest colony of bats in the World; an estimated 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost in the cave from March to October making it the World's largest known concentration of mammals
Bonus "cave"-the world's largest sinkhole: the Xiaoxhai Tiankeng sinkhole in Chongqing Municipality, China is 660 m deep, with a volume of 130 million m³

Elevation
Highest point: Mount Everest 8,849 m
Lowest point: Denman Glacier (Antarctica) more than -3,500 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)
Mean elevation: 840 m
Top ten highest mountains: Mount Everest (China-Nepal) 8,849 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 (United States) 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
Top ten highest island peaks: Puncak Jaya (New Guinea) 4,884 m (Indonesia)*; Mauna Kea (Hawaii) 4,207 m (United States); Gunung Kinabalu (Borneo) 4,095 m (Malaysia)*; Yu Shan (Taiwan) 3,952 (Taiwan)*; Mount Kerinci (Sumatra) 3,805 m (Indonesia); Mount Erebus (Ross Island) 3,794 (Antarctica); Mount Fuji (Honshu) 3,776 m (Japan)*; Mount Rinjani (Lombok) 3,726 m (Indonesia); Aoraki-Mount Cook (South Island) 3,724 m (New Zealand)*; Pico de Teide (Tenerife) 3,718 m (Spain)*; note - * indicates the highest peak for that Factbook entry
Highest point on each continent: Asia - Mount Everest (China-Nepal) 8,849 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
Highest capital on each continent: South America - La Paz (Bolivia) 3,640 m; Africa - Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) 2,355 m; Asia - Thimphu (Bhutan) 2,334 m; North America - Mexico City (Mexico) 2,240 m; Europe - Andorra la Vella (Andorra) 1,023 m; Australia - Canberra (Australia) 605 m
Lowest point on each continent: Antarctica - Denman Glacier more than -3,500 m; Asia - Dead Sea (Israel-Jordan) -431 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
Lowest capital on each continent: Asia - Baku (Azerbaijan) -28 m; Europe - Amsterdam (Netherlands) -2 m; Africa - Banjul (Gambia); Bissau (Guinea-Bissau), Conakry (Guinea), Djibouti (Djibouti), Libreville (Gabon), Male (Maldives), Monrovia (Liberia), Tunis (Tunisia), Victoria (Seychelles) 0 m; North America - Basseterre (Saint Kitts and Nevis), Kingstown (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Panama City (Panama), Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Roseau (Dominica), Saint John's (Antigua and Barbuda), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) 0 m; South America - Georgetown (Guyana) 0 m; Australia - Canberra (Australia) 605 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 pose serious long-term problems

Land use

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

Major rivers
By length in km top ten longest rivers: Nile (Africa) 6,650 km; Amazon (South America) 6,436 km; Yangtze (Asia) 6,300 km; Mississippi-Missouri (North America) 6,275 km; Yenisey-Angara (Asia) 5,539 km; Huang He/Yellow (Asia) 5,464 km; Ob-Irtysh (Asia) 5,410 km; Congo (Africa) 4,700 km; Amur (Asia) 4,444 km; Lena (Asia) 4,400 km
By length in km note: there are 21 countries without rivers: 3 in Africa (Comoros, Djibouti, Libya), 1 in the Americas (Bahamas), 8 in Asia (Bahrain, Kuwait, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen), 3 in Europe (Malta, Monaco, Holy See), 6 in Oceania (Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Tonga, Tuvalu); these countries also do not have natural lakes

Major watersheds area km²
Summary statement: a watershed is a drainage basin on an area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water; oceans ultimately take in the drainage from 83% of all land area; the remaining 17% of the land drains into internal (endorheic) basins, e.g., the Caspian Sea; Gheos World Guid lists 51 different watersheds across 102 countries; of these, 18 are in Asia, 9 in Europe, 9 in Africa, 8 in North and Central America, 5 in South America, and 2 in Australia; all watersheds with an area of at least 500,000 km² have been included along with a number of smaller, regionally significant watersheds; together, these watersheds represent the surface hydrology water flows that are the World's primary sources of fresh water for individual consumption, industry, and agriculture

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources: 54 trillion cubic meters (2011 est.)

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 1,500 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 (mudflows), 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); see second note under "Geography - note"
Countries with the most volcanoes: United States (162), Japan (122), Indonesia (120), Russia (117), Chile (91); note - roughly 1,350 volcanoes have erupted over this time period; about 40-50 eruptions are ongoing at any one time; the frequency of volcanoes has not increased
Longest erupting volcano: Santa Maria volcano in Guatemala has been constantly erupting since 22 June 1922; note - the Yasur volcano on Tanna Island in Vanuatu was observed to be erupting by Captain Cook in 1774 and has been in constant activity since then, but it is not cited since it has no clear start date; research (tephra stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating) shows that activity may have begun on Yasur ca. A.D. 1270 and so has persisted for over 750 years
Highest volcano (above sea level): Nevado Ojos del Salado (6,893 m; 22,615 ft) on the Chile-Argentina border is the World's highest volcano above sea level and the highest peak in Chile
Highest volcano (from base): Mauna Kea (United States) 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

Geography
Note note 1: 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; the earliest widely accepted date for life appearing on Earth is 3.48 billion years ago, but this date is conservative and may get pushed back further


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Population
Distribution: six of the world's seven continents are widely and permanently inhabited; Asia is easily the most-populous continent with about 60% of the world's population (China and India together account for over 35%); Africa comes in second with over 15% of the earth's populace, Europe has about 10%, North America 8%, South America almost 6%, and Oceania less than 1%; the harsh conditions on Antarctica prevent any permanent habitation: 7,979,261,010 (2023 est.)
Ten most populous countries: China 1413.14; India 1339.92; United States 339.67; Indonesia 279.48; Pakistan 247.65; Nigeria 230.84; Brazil 218.69; Bangladesh 167.18; Russia 141.7; Mexico 129.88
Ten least populous countries: Holy See (Vatican City) 1,000; Niue 2,000; Saint Pierre and Miquelon 5,195; Montserrat 5,440; Saint Barthelemy 7,093; Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan de Cunha 7,935; Cook Islands 7,939; Nauru 9,852; Tuvalu 11,639; Wallis and Futuna 15,929
Ten most densely populated countries: Macau 22,856.1; Monaco 15,798.5; Singapore 8,427.9; Hong Kong 6,792.3; Gaza Strip 5,660.4; Gibraltar 4,232.7; Bahrain 2,044.6; Malta 1,478.3; Bermuda 1,344; Maldives 1,343.4
Ten least densely populated countries: Greenland 0.03; Falkland Islands 0.26; Mongolia 2.1; Namibia 3.37; Australia 3.4; Iceland 3.6; Guyana 4; Suriname 4.1; Mauritania 4.1; Libya 4.1
Growth rate: 1.03% (2021 est.)
Growth rate note: this rate results in about 154 net additions to the worldwide population every minute or 2.6 people every second

Nationality

Ethnic groups

Languages
Most-spoken language: English 18.8%, Mandarin Chinese 13.8%, Hindi 7.5%, Spanish 6.9%, French 3.4%, Arabic 3.4%, Bengali 3.4%, Russian 3.2%, Portuguese 3.2%, Urdu 2.9% (2022 est.)
Most-spoken first language: Mandarin Chinese 12.3%, Spanish 6%, English 5.1%, Arabic 5.1%, Hindi 3.5%, Bengali 3.3%, Portuguese 3%, Russian 2.1%, Japanese 1.7%, Punjabi, Western 1.3%, Javanese 1.1% (2018 est.)
Note 1: the six UN languages - Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, and Spanish (Castilian) - are the mother tongue or second language of about 49.6% of the world's population (2022), and are the official languages in more than half the states in the world; some 400 languages have more than a million first-language speakers (2018)
Note 2: all told, there are estimated to be just over 7,151 languages spoken in the world (2022); approximately 80% of these languages are spoken by less than 100,000 people; about 150 languages are spoken by fewer 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 (2018)
Note 3: approximately 2,300 languages are spoken in Asia, 2,140, in Africa, 1,310 in the Pacific, 1,060 in the Americas, and 290 in Europe (2020)

Religions: Christian 31.1%, Muslim 24.9%, Hindu 15.2%, Buddhist 6.6%, folk religions 5.6%, Jewish <1%, other <1%, unaffiliated 15.6% (2020 est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 24.7% (male 1,013,862,872/female 954,310,632)
15-64 years: 65.2% (male 2,632,261,828/female 2,569,677,967)
65 years and over: 10.1% (male 359,529,609/female 448,106,332) (2023 est.)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 54.1
Youth dependency ratio: 39.3
Elderly dependency ratio: 14.8
Potential support ratio: 7 (2021 est.)

Median age
Total: 31 years (2020)
Male: 30.3 years
Female: 31.8 years

Population growth rate: 1.03% (2021 est.)
Note: this rate results in about 154 net additions to the worldwide population every minute or 2.6 people every second

Birth rate: 18.1 births/1,000 population (2020 est.)
Note: this rate results in about 259 worldwide births per minute or 4.3 births every second

Death rate: 7.7 deaths/1,000 population (2020 est.)
Note: this rate results in about 108 worldwide deaths per minute or 1.8 deaths every second

Net migration rate

Population distribution: six of the world's seven continents are widely and permanently inhabited; Asia is easily the most-populous continent with about 60% of the world's population (China and India together account for over 35%); Africa comes in second with over 15% of the earth's populace, Europe has about 10%, North America 8%, South America almost 6%, and Oceania less than 1%; the harsh conditions on Antarctica prevent any permanent habitation

Urbanization
Urban population: 57.5% of total population (2023)
Rate of urbanization: 1.73% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major urban areas
Population ten largest urban agglomerations: Tokyo (Japan) - 37,393,000; New Delhi (India) - 30,291,000; Shanghai (China) - 27,058,000; Sao Paulo (Brazil) - 22,043,000; Mexico City (Mexico) - 21,782,000; Dhaka (Bangladesh) - 21,006,000; Cairo (Egypt) - 20,901,000; Beijing (China) - 20,463,000; Mumbai (India) - 20,411,000; Osaka (Japan) - 19,165,000 (2020)
Population ten largest urban agglomerations by continent:

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 biodiversity; soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion; ozone layer depletion; waste disposal; global warming becoming a greater concern

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio: 211 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 30.8 deaths/1,000 live births (2020 est.)
Male: 32.8 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 28.6 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 70.5 years (2020)
Male: 68.4 years
Female: 72.6 years

Total fertility rate: 2.42 children born/woman (2020 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source
Improved urban: 96.5% of population
Improved rural: 84.7% of population
Improved total: 91.1% of population
Unimproved urban: 3.5% of population
Unimproved rural: 15.3% of population
Unimproved total: 8.9% of population (2015 est.)

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access
Improved urban:
Unimproved urban:

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases
Food or waterborne diseases: Typhoid fever - An estimated 26 million cases of typhoid fever and 5 million cases of paratyphoid fever occur worldwide each year, causing 215,000 deaths. High-risk regions for typhoid and paratyphoid fever include Africa and Southeast Asia; lower-risk regions include East Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. Typhoid fever is a life-threatening illness caused by Salmonella Typhi bacteria. Paratyphoid fever is a life-threatening illness caused by Salmonella Paratyphi bacteria. The bacteria that cause typhoid fever are most often spread through contaminated food and water and person to person contact. Symptoms of typhoid fever include high fever, weakness, stomach pain, headache, constipation or diarrhea, cough, and loss of appetite. Typhoid fever can be fatal without appropriate antibiotic treatment. CDC recommends that all travelers (even short-term travelers) to affected areas be vaccinated against typhoid fever before travel.
Vectorborne diseases:
Water contact diseases: Schistosomaisis - also known as bilharzia, is a disease caused by parasitic worms. In terms of impact this disease is second only to malaria as the most devastating parasitic disease (see attached map). Schistosomiasis is considered one of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The parasites that cause schistosomiasis live in certain types of freshwater snails. The infectious form of the parasite, known as cercariae, emerge from the snail into the water. You can become infected when your skin comes in contact with contaminated freshwater. Most human infections are caused by Schistosoma mansoni, S. haematobium, or S. japonicum. Freshwater becomes contaminated by Schistosoma eggs when infected people urinate or defecate in the water. The eggs hatch, and if certain types of freshwater snails are present in the water, the parasites develop and multiply inside the snails. The parasite leaves the snail and enters the water where it can survive for about 48 hours. Schistosoma parasites can penetrate the skin of persons who are wading, swimming, bathing, or washing in contaminated water.
Respiratory diseases: Meningococcal meningitis - Meningococcal disease occurs worldwide, with the highest incidence of disease found in the ‘meningitis belt’ of sub-Saharan Africa (see attached map). In this region, major epidemics occur every 5 to 12 years with attack rates reaching 1,000 cases per 100,000 population. Bacteria called Neisseria meningitidis cause meningococcal disease. About 1 in 10 people have these bacteria in the back of their nose and throat without being ill. This is called being ‘a carrier.’ Sometimes the bacteria invade the body and cause certain illnesses, which are known as meningococcal disease. Other regions of the world experience lower overall rates of disease and occasional outbreaks. Annual attack rates in these regions averages around 0.3 to 3 per 100,000 population. Risk factors for meningococcal disease outbreaks in Africa are not fully understood. However, the following characteristics create favorable conditions for meningococcal disease epidemics: Dry and dusty conditions during the dry season between December to June, Immunological susceptibility of the population, Travel and large population displacements, Crowded living conditions
Note 1: widespread ongoing transmission of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is occurring globally; older adults and people of any age with serious chronic medical conditions are at increased risk for severe disease; as of 23 August 2023, 769,806,130 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: 86.7%
Male: 90.1%
Female: 83.3% (2020)
Note: more than three quarters of the world's 750 million illiterate adults are found in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa; of all the illiterate adults in the world, almost two thirds are women (2016)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 13 years
Male: 13 years
Female: 13 years (2020)

Youth unemployment
Rate ages 15 24 total: 17.9% (2021 est.)
Rate ages 15 24 male: 17.3%
Rate ages 15 24 female: 19.7%

World - Government 2023

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Country name
Note: countries with names connected to animals include: Albania "Land of the Eagles"; Anguilla (the name means "eel"); Bhutan "Land of the Thunder Dragon"; Cameroon (the name derives from "prawns"); Cayman Islands (named after the caiman, a marine crocodile); Faroe Islands (from Old Norse meaning "sheep"); Georgia "Land of the Wolves"; Italy "Land of Young Cattle"; Kosovo "Field of Blackbirds"; Sierra Leone "Lion Mountains"; Singapore "Lion City"

Government type

Capital
Time difference: there are 21 World entities (20 countries and 1 dependency) with multiple time zones: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, France, Greenland (part of the Danish Kingdom), Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Russia, Spain, United States
Note 1: in some instances, the time zones pertain to portions of a country that lie overseas
Note 2: in 1851, the British set their prime meridian (0° longitude) through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England; this meridian became the international standard in 1884 and thus the basis for the standard time zones of the World; today, GMT is officially known as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and is also referred to as "Zulu time"; UTC is the basis for all civil time, with the World divided into time zones expressed as positive or negative differences from UTC
Note 3: each time zone is based on 15° starting from the prime meridian; in theory, there are 24 time zones based on the solar day, but there are now upward of 40 because of fractional hour offsets that adjust for various political and physical geographic realities; see the Standard Time Zones of the World map included with the World and Regional Maps
Daylight saving time: some 67 countries - including most of the World's leading industrialized nations - use daylight savings time (DST) in at least a portion of the country; China, Japan, India, and Russia are major industrialized countries that do not use DST; Asia and Africa generally do not observe DST and it is generally not observed near the equator, where sunrise and sunset times do not vary enough to justify it; some countries observe DST only in certain regions; for example, only southeastern Australia observes it; in fact, only a minority of the World's population - about 20% - uses DST

Administrative divisions: 197 countries, 69 dependent areas and other entities

Dependent areas:

Australia dependencies: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island (6)

France dependencies: Clipperton Island, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, New Caledonia, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna (8)

New Zealand dependency: Tokelau (1)

Norway dependencies: Bouvet Island, Jan Mayen, Svalbard (3)

United Kingdom dependencies: Anguilla; Bermuda; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn Islands; Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Turks and Caicos Islands (12)

United States dependencies: American Samoa, Baker Island, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Wake Island (14)

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 sharia 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; 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; as of May 2019, a total of 122 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
Chief of state: there are 27 countries with royal families in the World, most are in Asia (13) and Europe (10), three are in Africa, and one in Oceania; monarchies by continent are as follows: Asia (Bahrain, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates); Europe (Belgium, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom); Africa (Eswatini, Lesotho, Morocco); Oceania (Tonga)
Note 1: Andorra and the Holy See (Vatican) are also monarchies of a sort, but they are not ruled by royal houses; Andorra has two co-princes (the president of France and the bishop of Urgell) and the Holy See is ruled by an elected pope
Note 2: the sovereign of Great Britain is also the monarch for 14 of the countries (including Australia, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand) that make up the Commonwealth; that brings to 43 the total number of countries with some type of monarchies

Legislative branch: there are 230 political entities with legislative bodies; of these 144 are unicameral (a single “house”) and 86 are bicameral (both upper and lower houses); note - while there are 197 countries in the World, 33 territories, possessions, or other special administrative units also have their own governing bodies

Judicial branch

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: while a "World" flag does not exist, the flag of the United Nations (UN) - adopted on 7 December 1946 - has been used on occasion to represent the entire planet; technically, however, it only represents the international organization itself; the flag displays the official emblem of the UN in white on a blue background; the emblem design shows a map of the World in an azimuthal equidistant projection centered on the North Pole, the image is flanked by two olive branches crossed below; blue was selected as the color to represent peace, in contrast to red usually associated with war; the map projection chosen includes all of the continents except Antarctica
Note 1: the flags of 12 nations: Austria, Botswana, Georgia, Jamaica, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Micronesia, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Switzerland, and Thailand have no top or bottom and may be flown with either long edge on top without any notice being taken
Note 2: the most common colors found on national flags are: red (including deep red; ~75%), white (~70%), and blue (including light blue; ~50%); these three colors are so prevalent that there are only two countries, Jamaica and Sri Lanka, that do not include one of them on their flag; the next three most popular colors are: yellow/gold and green (both ~45%) and black (~30%)
Note 3: flags composed of three colors are by far the most common type and, of those, the red-white-blue combination is the most widespread

National symbols

National anthem
Name: virtually every country has a national anthem; most (but not all) anthems have lyrics, which are usually in the national or most common language of the country; states with more than one national language may offer several versions of their anthem
Note: the World's oldest national anthem is the "Het Wilhelmus" (The William) of the Netherlands, which dates to the 17th century; the first national anthem to be officially adopted (1795) was "La Marseillaise" (The Song of Marseille) of France; Japan claims to have the World's shortest national anthem, entitled "Kimigayo" (The Emperor's Reign), it consists of 11 measures of music (the lyrics are also the world's oldest, dating to the 10th century or earlier); the World's longest national anthem in terms of lyrics is that of Greece, "Ymnos eis tin Eleftherian" (Hymn to Liberty) with 158 stanzas - only two of which are used; the World's longest national anthem in terms of music is that of Uruguay, "Himno Nacional" (National Anthem of Uruguay) with 105 bars (almost five minutes) - generally only the first verse and chorus are sung; both Denmark and New Zealand have two official national anthems

National heritage
Total World Heritage Sites: 1184 (924 cultural, 221 natural, 39 mixed) (2023)
Note: a summary of every country's UNESCO World Heritage Sites (i.e., country-specific "Wonders") may be found in individual country "National heritage" entries; a Wonders of the World field (seven ancient, seven new, and seven natural Wonders) may be found under World > Geography > "Wonders of the World"

World - Economy 2023

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Economy overview

Real gdp purchasing power parity:

$134.08 trillion (2021 est.)
$126.51 trillion (2020 est.)
$130.445 trillion (2019 est.)

Note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real gdp growth rate:

5.87% (2021 est.)
-3.12% (2020 est.)
2.59% (2019 est.)

Real gdp per capita:

$17,000 (2021 est.)
$16,200 (2020 est.)
$16,800 (2019 est.)

Note: data are in 2017 dollars

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 56.4% (2017 est.)
Government consumption: 16.1% (2017 est.)
Investment in fixed capital: 25.7% (2017 est.)
Investment in inventories: 1.4% (2017 est.)
Exports of goods and services: 28.8% (2017 est.)
Imports of goods and services: -28.3% (2017 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 6.4% (2017 est.)
Industry: 30% (2017 est.)
Services: 63% (2017 est.)

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: 6.13% (2021 est.)

Labor force: 3.463 billion (2021 est.)

Labor force

Unemployment rate:

6.18% (2021 est.)
6.58% (2020 est.)
5.36% (2019 est.)

Note: combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2007 est.)

Youth unemployment
Rate ages 15 24 total: 17.9% (2021 est.)
Rate ages 15 24 male: 17.3%
Rate ages 15 24 female: 19.7%

Population below poverty line

Gini index
Coefficient distribution of family income: 37.9 (2012 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10%: 2.6%
Highest 10%: 30.2% (2008 est.)

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $21.68 trillion (2017 est.)
Expenditures: $23.81 trillion (2017 est.)
Surplus  or deficit: -3% (of GDP) (2016 est.)

Taxes and other revenues: 13.55% (of GDP) (2020 est.)

Public debt:

67.2% of GDP (2017 est.)
67.2% of GDP (2016 est.)

Revenue

Fiscal year

Inflation rate consumer prices:

3.5% (2021 est.)
1.92% (2020 est.)
2.19% (2019 est.)

Developed countries: 1.9% (2017 est.) 0.9% (2016 est.)
Developing countries: 8.8% (2017 est.) 3.7% (2016 est.)
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:

$28.108 trillion (2021 est.)
$22.595 trillion (2020 est.)
$24.971 trillion (2019 est.)

Commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Commodities top ten-share of world trade: 14.8 electrical machinery, including computers; 14.4 mineral fuels, including oil, coal, gas, and refined products; 14.2 nuclear reactors, boilers, and parts; 8.9 cars, trucks, and buses; 3.5 scientific and precision instruments; 3.4 plastics; 2.7 iron and steel; 2.6 organic chemicals; 2.6 pharmaceutical products; 1.9 diamonds, pearls, and precious stones (2007 est.)

Imports:

$27,120,162,000,000 (2021 est.)
$21,949,583,000,000 (2020 est.)
$24,418,208,000,000 (2019 est.)

Commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external:

$76.56 trillion (31 December 2017 est.)
$75.09 trillion (31 December 2016 est.)

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

World - Energy 2023

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Electricity
Access population without electricity: (2020) 757 million
Access electrification-total population: 91.4% (2021)
Access electrification-urban areas: 97.6% (2021)
Access electrification-rural areas: 84.4% (2021)
Access note: sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the largest number of people without access to electricity with 77% of the World's total
Generation sources fossil fuels: 60.6% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources nuclear: 10.3% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources solar: 3.3% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources wind: 6.2% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 17% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources tide and wave: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources geothermal: 0.4% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources biomass and waste: 2.4% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum
Products production: 88.4 million bbl/day (2014 est.)
Products exports: 29.66 million bbl/day (2014 est.)
Products imports: 28.62 million bbl/day (2014 est.)

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions: 35,551,713,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From coal and metallurgical coke: 15,587,834,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From petroleum and other liquids: 12,195,793,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From consumed natural gas: 7,768,086,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)

Energy consumption per capita

World - Communication 2023

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Telephones
Fixed lines total subscriptions: 840,736,466 (2022 est.)
Fixed lines subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 11 (2021 est.)
Mobile cellular total subscriptions: 8.06 billion (2021 est.)
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 110 (2021 est.)

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet
Users total: 5.3 billion (2022 est.)
Users percent of population: 66% (2022 est.)
Users top ten countries by Internet usage: 854 China; 560 India; 293 United States; 171 Indonesia; 149 Brazil; 123 Nigeria; 119 Japan; 116 Russia; 96 Bangladesh; 88 Mexico (2023)

Broadband fixed subscriptions
Total: 1.23 billion (2020 est.) the number of fixed broadband subscriptions has been higher than that of fixed telephony since 2017
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 17 (2021 est.)

World - Military 2023

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Military expenditures:

2.2% of GDP (2022 est.)
2.3% of GDP (2021 est.)
2.4% of GDP (2020 est.)
2.2% of GDP (2019 est.)
2.2% of GDP (2018 est.)

Note: in 2022, total global military expenditures were estimated at more than $2 trillion

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups

World - Transportation 2023

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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 41,820 (2021)
Top ten by passengers (2021): Atlanta (ATL) - 75,704,760; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) 62,465,756; Denver, CO (DEN) 58,828,552; Chicago, IL (ORD) 54,020,399; Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 48,007,284; Charlotte, NC (CLT) 43,302,230; Orlando, FL (MCO) 40,351,068; Guangzhou (CAN) 40,259,401; Chengdu (CTU) 40,117,496; Las Vegas, NV (LAS) 39,754,366 (2021)
Top ten by passengers (2020): Guangzhou (CAN) 43,767,558; Atlanta (ATL) - 42,918,685; Chengdu (CTU) 40,741,509; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) 39,364,990; Shenzhen (SZX) 37,916,054; Beijing (PEK) - 34,513,827; Denver, CO (DEN) 33,741,129; Kunming (KMG) 32,990,805; Shanghai (PVG) 31,165,641; Xi'an (XIY)  31,073,924 (2020) note - 2020 numbers included to allow for a comparison with the effects of COVID-19 restrictions on international air travel in 2020
Top ten by cargo: Hong Kong (HKG) - 5,025,495; Memphis, TN (MEM) - 4,480,465; Shanghai (PVG) - 3,982,616; Anchorage, AK (ANC) - 3,555,160; Incheon (ICN) - 3,329,292; Louisville, KY (SDF) - 3,052,269; Taipei (TPE) - 2,812,065; Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 2,691,830; Tokyo (NRT) 2,644,074; Doha, Qatar (DOH) 2,620,095 (2021)

Heliports: 6,524 (2021)

Pipelines

Railways
Total: 1,148,186 km (2013)

Roadways

Waterways: 2,293,412 km (2017)
Top ten longest rivers: Nile (Africa) 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 1: the areas of the lakes are subject to seasonal variation; only the Caspian Sea is saline, the rest are fresh water
Note 2: Lakes Huron and Michigan are technically a single lake because the flow of water between the Straits of Mackinac that connects the two lakes keeps their water levels at near-equilibrium; combined, Lake Huron-Michigan is the largest freshwater lake by surface area in the World
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
Note 3: the deepest lake in the world (1,620 m), and also the largest freshwater lake by volume (23,600 cu km), is Lake Baikal in Russia

Merchant marine
Total: 101,158 (2022)
By type: bulk carrier 12,707, container ship 5,583, general cargo 19,647, oil tanker 11,396, other 51,825

Ports and terminals
Top twenty container ports as measured by Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) throughput: Shanghai (China) - 47,030,300; Singapore (Singapore) - 37,470,000; Ningbo (China) - 31,070,000; Shenzhen (China) - 28,767,600; Guangzhou (China) - 24,180,000; Qingdao (China) - 23,710,000; Busan (South Korea) - 22,706,130; Tianjin (China) - 20,269,400; Hong Kong (China) - 17,798,000; Rotterdam (Netherlands) - 15,300,000; Dubai (UAE) - 13,742,000; Port Kelang (Malaysia) - 13,724,460; Xiamen (China) - 12,045,700; Antwerp (Belgium) - 12,020,000; Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia) - 11,200,000; Los Angeles (US) - 10,677,610; Kaohsiung (Taiwan) - 9,864,448; Long Beach (US) - 9,384,368; New York/New Jersey (US) - 8,985,929; Hamburg (Germany) - 8,715,000 (2021)

World - Transnational issues 2023

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Disputes international: stretching over some 280,000 km, the world's 325 international land boundaries separate 197 independent states and 68 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 62.5 million people and cross-border displacements of approximately 42.5 million refugees and asylum seekers around the world as of mid-year 2023; approximately 404,000 refugees were repatriated during the first half of 2023; 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 mid-year 2023 there were 110 million people forcibly displaced worldwide; this includes 62.5 million IDPs, 36.4 million refugees, 6.1 million asylum seekers, 5.3 million others in need of international protection; the UNHCR estimates there are currently more than 4.4 million stateless persons as of year-end 2022 (the true number is estimated to be significantly higher)

Illicit drugs
Cocaine:

worldwide coca cultivation in 2020 likely amounted to 373,000 hectares, potential pure cocaine production reached 2,100 metric tons in 2020
opiates: worldwide illicit opium poppy cultivation probably reached about 265,000 hectares in 2020, with potential opium production reaching 7,300 metric tons; Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer, accounting for 85% of the global supply; Southeast Asia was responsible for 7% of global opium; Latin America opium in 2020 was sufficient to produce about 61 metric tons of pure heroin