Where in the world is Mt. Kilimanjaro?
Who is the leader of Saudi
Arabia? What is the currency used in Belize? You can
find the answers to these questions and much more in the CIA’s most popular and
widely-disseminated publication, The
World Factbook.
The World Factbook provides
wide-ranging and hard-to-locate information about the background, geography,
people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and
transnational issues for countries from Afghanistan
to Zimbabwe.
For most of the country listings in The World
Factbook you can learn specific information like geographic coordinates,
current account balances, number of mobile cellular telephones, heliports,
legal systems, refugees, literacy, HIV/AIDS-deaths, and much more.
The World Factbook started as a
hardcopy intelligence product, published annually, in 1981. The first issue
featured 165 nations; the Factbook now
features 265 geographic entries, including one for the “World.” Throughout its
evolution, The World Factbook has
grown in size, stature, and popularity. It was first published online in 1997.
Millions of visitors peruse the online World
Factbook each month. In addition, tens of thousands of government,
commercial, academic, and other Web sites link to or replicate the online
version of the Factbook. The World Factbook is available for
download in Zip file format for both high-bandwidth users and low-bandwidth
users at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/download/.
Be one of the millions who browse The
World Factbook by visiting this
invaluable resource at www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.
Factbook Timeline
Want to learn more about The
World Factbook? Take a look at the timeline below to see how the Factbook has evolved.
1981 – Publication becomes an annual product and is renamed The
World Factbook. A total of 165 nations are covered on 225 pages.
1983 – Appendices (Conversion Factors, International
Organizations) first introduced.
1984 – Appendices expanded; now include: A. The United Nations,
B. Selected United Nations Organizations, C. Selected International
Organizations, D. Country Membership in Selected Organizations, E. Conversion
Factors.
1987 – A new Geography section replaces the former separate Land
and Water sections. UN Organizations and Selected International Organizations
appendices merged into a new International Organizations appendix. First
multi-color-cover Factbook.
1988 – More than 40 new geographic entities added to provide
complete world coverage without overlap or omission. Among the new entities are
Antarctica, oceans (Arctic, Atlantic, Indian,
Pacific), and the World. The front-of-the-book explanatory introduction
expanded and retitled to Notes, Definitions, and Abbreviations. Two new
Appendices added: Weights and Measures (in place of Conversion Factors) and a
Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names. Factbook size reaches 300
pages.
1989 – Economy section completely revised and now includes an
Overview briefly describing a country's economy. New entries added under
People, Government, and Communications.
1990 – The Government section revised and considerably expanded
with new entries.
1991 – A new International Organizations and Groups appendix
added. Factbook size reaches 405 pages.
1992 – Twenty new successor state entries replace those of the
Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
New countries are respectively: Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia,
Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova,
Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan; and Bosnia
and Hercegovina, Croatia,
Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro,
Slovenia.
Number of nations in the Factbook rises to 188.
1993 – Czechoslovakia's
split necessitates new Czech Republic and Slovakia entries. New Eritrea entry added after it secedes from Ethiopia.
Substantial enhancements made to Geography section.
1994 – Two new appendices address Selected International
Environmental Agreements. The gross domestic product (GDP) of most developing
countries changed to a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis rather than an
exchange rate basis. Factbook size up to 512 pages.
1995 – The GDP of all countries now presented on a PPP basis.
New appendix lists estimates of GDP on an exchange rate basis. Communications
category split; Railroads, Highways, Inland waterways, Pipelines, Merchant
marine, and Airports entries now make up a new Transportation category. The
World Factbook is first produced on CD-ROM.
1996 – Maps accompanying each entry now present more detail.
Flags also introduced for nearly all entities. Various new entries appear under
Geography and Communications. Factbook abbreviations consolidated into
a new Appendix A. Two new appendices present a Cross-Reference List of Country
Data Codes and a Cross-Reference List of Hydrogeographic Data Codes. Geographic
coordinates added to Appendix H, Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names. Factbook
size expands by 95 pages in one year to reach 652.
1997 – A special edition for the CIA's 50th anniversary. A
schema or Guide to Country Profiles introduced. New color maps and flags now
accompany each country profile. Category headings distinguished by shaded
backgrounds. Number of categories expanded to nine – the current number – with
the addition of an Introduction (for only a few countries) and Transnational
Issues (which includes Disputes-international and Illicit drugs). The World
Factbook introduced onto the Internet.
1998 – The Introduction category with two entries, Current
issues and Historical perspective, expanded to more countries. Last year for
the production of CD-ROM versions of the Factbook.
1999 – Historical perspective and Current issues entries in the
Introduction category combined into a new Background statement. Several new
Economy entries introduced. A new physical map of the world added to the
back-of-the-book reference maps.
2000 – A new “country profile” added on the Southern Ocean. The
Background statements dramatically expanded to over 200 countries and
possessions. A number of new Communications entries added.
2001 – Background entries completed for all 267 entities in the Factbook.
Several new HIV/AIDS entries introduced under the People category. Revision
begun on individual country maps to include elevation extremes and a partial
geographic grid. Weights and Measures appendix deleted.
2002 – New entry on Distribution of Family income – Gini index
added. Revision of individual country maps continued (process still ongoing as
of 2008).
2003 – In the Economy category, petroleum entries added for oil
production, consumption, exports, imports, and proved reserves, as well as
natural gas proved reserves.
2004 – Additional petroleum entries included for natural gas
production, consumption, exports, and imports. In the Transportation category,
under Merchant marine, subfields added for foreign-owned vessels and those
registered in other countries. Descriptions of the many forms of government
mentioned in the Factbook incorporated into the Notes and Definitions.
2005 – In the People category, a Major infectious diseases field
added for countries deemed to pose a higher risk for travelers. In the Economy
category, entries included for Current account balance, Investment, Public
debt, and Reserves of foreign exchange and gold. The Transnational issues
category expanded to include Refugees and internally displaced persons.
Category headings receive distinctive colored backgrounds. These distinguishing
colors are used in both the printed and online versions of the Factbook.
Size of the printed Factbook reaches 702 pages.
2006 – In the Economy category, national GDP figures now
presented at Official Exchange Rates (OER) in addition to GDP at purchasing
power parity (PPP). Entries in the Transportation section reordered; Highways
changed to Roadways, and Ports and harbors to Ports and terminals.
2007 - In the Government category, the Capital entry
significantly expanded with up to four subfields, including new information
having to do with time. The subfields consist of the name of the
capital itself, its geographic coordinates, the time difference at
the capital from coordinated universal time (UTC), and, if applicable,
information on daylight saving time (DST). Where appropriate, a
special note is added to highlight those countries with multiple time
zones. A Trafficking in persons entry added to the Transnational issues
category. A new appendix, Weights and Measures, (re)introduced to the online
version of the Factbook.