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2 Transportation 3 Military |
Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) rose to 3% in 1999 from 2% in 1998 despite continued recession in Japan, severe financial difficulties in other East Asian countries, and widespread dislocations in several transition economies, notably Russia. The US economy continued its remarkable sustained prosperity, growing at 4.1% in 1999, and accounted for 23% of GWP. Western Europe's economies grew at roughly 2%, not enough to cut deeply into the region's high unemployment; the EU economies produced 20% of GWP. China, the second largest economy in the world, continued its strong growth and accounted for 12% of GWP. Japan grew at only 0.3% in 1999; its share in GWP is 7%. As usual, the 15 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations experienced widely different rates of growth. The developing nations varied widely in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output.
GDP:
GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $40.7 trillion (1999 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $6,800 (1999 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
all countries 25%; developed countries 1% to 3% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate:
30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (1999 est.)
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 deployment of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems in some regions.
Yearly electricity - production:
12,342.7 billion kWh (1994)
Yearly electricity - consumption:
12,342.7 billion kWh (1994)
Yearly exports:
$5.6 trillion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)
Exports - commodities:
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Exports - partners:
in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries
Yearly imports:
$5.6 trillion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)
Imports - commodities:
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Imports - partners:
in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries
Debt - external:
$2 trillion for less developed countries (1999 est.)
Yearly economic aid - recipient:
traditional worldwide foreign aid $50 billion (1997 est.)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
13,119 (1999)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.)
Yearly military expenditures - percent of GDP:
roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.)Economy - overview
note:
National inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from stable prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World countriesTransportation
Ports and harbors:
Military