| Economy - overview | Global output rose by 5% in 2006, led by China (10.5%), India (8.5%), and Russia (6.6%). The 14 other successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 7%-10% range of growth. Growth results posted by the major industrial countries varied from no gain for Italy to a strong gain by the United States (3.4%). The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably the EU. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued through 2006. |
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| GDP | roughly 2% of gross world product (2005 est.) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 5.3% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 4%
industry: 32%
services: 64% (2004 est.) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 29.9% (2002 est.) |
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| Labor force | 3.001 billion (2005 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 40.7%
industry: 20.5%
services: 38.8% (2002 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2006 est.) |
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| 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 industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 3% (2003 est.) |
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| Electricity - production | 17.4 trillion kWh (2004 est.) |
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| Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel: NA
hydro: NA
nuclear: NA
other: NA |
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| Electricity - consumption | 16.33 trillion kWh (2004 est.) |
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| Electricity - exports | 568.4 billion kWh (2004) |
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| Electricity - imports | 582.2 billion kWh (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 83 million bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - consumption | 82.59 million bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - proved reserves | 1.326 trillion bbl (1 January 2002 est.) |
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| Exports | $12.44 trillion f.o.b. (2004 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
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| Exports - partners | US 15.6%, Germany 7.4%, China 5.7%, France 4.9%, UK 4.7%, Japan 4.5% (2005) |
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| Imports | $12.09 trillion f.o.b. (2004 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
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| Imports - partners | China 9.3%, Germany 9%, US 9%, Japan 6.1%, France 4.2% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $44.61 trillion
note: this figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt, both public and private (2004 est.) |
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| Economic aid - recipient | ODA, $154 billion (2004) |
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