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World—World Statistics—General World Statistics

Country Statistics at a Glance

Country rankings of the type presented below cannot pretend to be definitive; instead they aspire only to provide the reader with an approximation of the high and low ends on a particular scale. Country data vary enormously depending on the sources, and the absence of reliable data on some countries requires their omission, which further skews the results.

LARGEST COUNTRIES¹ (in sq mi):* 2008
1.	Russia	6,591,027
2.	Canada	3,854,082
3.	United States	3,717,727
4.	China	3,704,426
5.	Brazil	3,285,618
6.	Australia	2,967,124
7.	India	1,269,009
8.	Argentina	1,068,019
9.	Kazakhstan	1,048,877
10.	Sudan	967,243

SMALLEST COUNTRIES¹ (in sq mi):* 2008
1.	Vatican City	0.17
2.	Monaco	0.75
3.	Nauru	8.11
4.	Tuvalu	10.04
5.	San Marino	23.63
6.	Liechtenstein	61.78
7.	Saint Kitts and Nevis	100.77
8.	Maldives	115.83
9.	Malta	122.01
10.	Grenada	132.82

HIGHEST POPULATION DENSITY² (per sq mi): 2008†
1.	Monaco	42,143
2.	Singapore	18,645
3.	Malta	3,229
4.	Maldives	3,099
5.	Bahrain	2,923
6.	Bangladesh	2,850
7.	Taiwan	1,849
8.	Mauritius	1,738
9.	Barbados	1,686
10.	Nauru	1,639

LOWEST POPULATION DENSITY² (per sq mi): 2008†
1.	Western Sahara	2.7
2.	Mongolia	4.7
3.	Namibia	6.4
4.	Australia	6.9
5.	Suriname	7.0
6.	Botswana	7.3
7.	Iceland	7.7
8.	Mauritania	8.0
9.	Libya	8.7
10.	Canada	9.3

HIGHEST GDP PER CAPITA¹ (PPP in U.S. dollars): 2008
1.	Qatar	$87,600
2.	Luxembourg	79,400
3.	Kuwait	55,900
4.	Norway	53,300
5.	Brunei	51,000
6.	Singapore	49,900
7.	Ireland	46,600
8.	United States	45,800
8.	Iceland	40,400
9.	Switzerland	40,100
10.	Austria	39,300

LOWEST GDP PER CAPITA¹ (PPP in U.S. dollars): 2008
1.	Zimbabwe	$200
	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	300
	Burundi	300
4.	Liberia	500
	Somalia	600
6.	Sierra Leone	600
	Guinea-Bissau	600
	Ethiopia	700
	Niger	700
	Central African Republic	700
	Mozambique	800

HIGHEST INFLATION:¹ 2008
1.	Zimbabwe	12,563.0%
2.	Burma	35.0
3.	Guinea	23.4
4.	San Tome and Principe	18.7
5.	Yemen	18.0
6.	Ethiopia	17.2
7.	Iran	17.1
8.	Eritrea	17.0
9.	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	16.7
10.	Azerbaijan	16.7

LOWEST INFLATION:¹ 2008
1.	Nauru	–3.6%
2.	San Marino	-1.5
3.	Burkina Faso	-0.2
4.	Japan	0.1
5.	Niger	0.1
6.	Kiribati	0.2
7.	Brunei	0.4
8.	Israel	0.5
9.	Switzerland	0.7
10.	Norway	0.8

HIGHEST INFANT MORTALITY RATE² (deaths per 1,000 births): 2008
1.	Angola	182.3
2.	Sierra Leone	156.5
3.	Afghanistan	154.7
4.	Liberia	143.9
5.	Niger	115.4
6.	Somalia	111.0
7.	Mozambique	107.8
8.	Mali	103.8
9.	Guinea-Bissau	101.6
10.	Zambia	101.0

LOWEST INFANT MORTALITY RATE² (deaths per 1,000 births): 2008
1.	Singapore	2.3
2.	Sweden	2.8
	Japan	2.8
4.	Iceland	3.2
	Macau S.A.R.	3.2
6.	France	3.4
7.	Finland	3.5
	Anguilla	3.5
9.	Norway	3.6
10.	Andorra	3.7

HIGHEST LIFE EXPECTANCY² (in years): 2007
1.	Andorra	82.7
2.	Japan	82.1
3.	San Marino	81.9
	Singapore	81.9
4.	Hong Kong S.A.R.	81.8
5.	Australia	81.5
6.	Canada	81.2
7.	France	80.9
8.	Sweden	80.7
	Switzerland	80.7
	Guernsey	80.7

LOWEST LIFE EXPECTANCY² (in years): 2007
1.	Swaziland	32.0
2.	Angola	37.9
3.	Zambia	38.6
4.	Lesotho	40.2
5.	Sierra Leone	40.9
6.	Mozambique	41.0
7.	Liberia	41.1
8.	Djibouti	43.3
9.	Malawi	43.5
10.	Central African Republic	44.2

LOWEST LITERACY RATES²: 2008
1.	Burkina Faso	23.6%
2.	Mali	24.0
3.	Chad	25.7
4.	Niger	28.7
5.	Guinea	29.5
6.	Benin	34.7
7.	Sierra Leone	34.8
8.	Ethiopia	35.9
9.	Mozambique	38.7
10.	Senegal	39.3

NOTE: Only countries for which statistics were available in sources 1 and 2 figure in these lists. *Size refers to the total area of a country, which includes the land area plus bodies of water. †Population density calculated using population and land area. Sources: 1. The World Factbook, 2008. 2. U.S. Census Bureau, International Database.

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