World

• 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

0-14 years:

27.8% (male 919,726,623; female 870,468,158)

15-64 years:

64.9% (male 2,117,230,183; female 2,066,864,970)

65 years and over:

7.3% (male 207,903,775; female 263,627,270)

note: some countries do not maintain age structure information, thus a slight discrepancy exists between the total world population and the total for world age structure (2005 est.)

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.79 male(s)/female

total population:

1.01 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

lowest 10%:

NA %

highest 10%:

NA %

• developed countries 1% to 4% typically;
• developing countries 5% to 60% typically;
• national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries (2004 est.)

• 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 industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems

general assessment:

NA

domestic:

NA

international:

NA

total:

1,115,205 km

broad gauge:

257,481 km

standard gauge:

671,413 km

narrow gauge:

186,311 km (2003)

total:

32,345,165 km

paved:

19,403,061 km

unpaved:

12,942,104 km (2002)

• stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 325 international land boundaries separate the 192 independent states and 73 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;
• maritime states have claimed limits and have so far established over 130 maritime boundaries and joint development zones to allocate ocean resources and to provide for national security at sea;
• boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized;
• most disputes over the alignment of political boundaries are confined to short segments and are today less common and less hostile than borderland, resource, and territorial disputes;
• undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries, however, 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 clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation around the world;
• disputes over islands at sea or in rivers frequently form the source of territorial and boundary conflict;
• other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially petroleum) resources, fisheries, and arable land;
• nonetheless, most nations cooperate to clarify their international boundaries and to resolve territorial and resource disputes peacefully;
• regional discord directly affects the sustenance and welfare of local populations, often leaving the world community to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, deforestation, and desertification

cocaine:

• worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 173,450 hectares - almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia;
• potential cocaine production during 2003 is estimated at 728 metric tons (or 835 metric tons of export quality cocaine);
• coca eradication programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru;
• 376 metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to have been seized in 2003, and 26 metric tons disrupted (jettisoned or destroyed);
• consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been 800 metric tons

opiates:

• cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an estimated 137,944 hectares in 2003 - mostly in Southwest and Southeast Asia - with 44% in Afghanistan, potentially produced 3,775 metric tons of opium, which conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 429 metric tons of pure heroin;
• opium eradication programs have been undertaken in Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam