ng 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, and in Canada. 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 the economic point of view,
are becoming further marginalized. Continued financial difficulties
in East Asia, Russia, and many African nations, as well as the
slowdown in US economic growth, cast a shadow over short-term global
economic prospects; GWP probably will grow at 3-4% in 2001. 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 serious economic risks because of varying
levels of income and cultural and political differences among the
participating nations. (For specific economic developments in each
country of the world in 2000, see the individual country entries.)

Yemen:
Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world,
reported strong growth in the mid-1990s with the onset of oil
production, but was harmed by low oil prices in 1998. Yemen has
embarked on an IMF-supported structural adjustment program designed
to modernize and streamline the economy, which has led to foreign
debt relief and restructuring. Aided by higher oil prices in
1999-2000, Yemen worked to maintain tight control over spending and
implement additional components of the IMF program. A high
population growth rate of nearly 3.4% and internal political
dissension complicate the government's task.

Yugoslavia:
The swift collapse of the Yugoslav federation in 1991
was followed by highly destructive warfare, the destabilization of
republic boundaries, and the breakup of important interrepublic
trade flows. Output in Yugoslavia dropped by half in 1992-93. Like
the other former Yugoslav republics, it had dep