and other areas that are landlocked include
Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan,
Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic,
Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg,
Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San
Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West
Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Climate: two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather
narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to
subtropical climates

Terrain: the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in
the Pacific Ocean

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m
highest point: Mount Everest 8,848 m

Natural resources: the rapid using up of nonrenewable mineral
resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction
of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water
quality (especially in Eastern Europe and the former USSR) pose
serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only
beginning to address

Land use:
arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 26%
forests and woodland: 32%
other: 31% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 2,481,250 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: large areas subject to severe weather (tropical
cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis,
volcanic eruptions)

Environment-current issues: large areas subject to overpopulation,
industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic
substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation,
desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion,
erosion

Environment-international agreements: selected international
environmental agreements are included under the
Environment-international agreements entry for each country and in the
Selected International Environmental Agreements appendix

@World:People

Population: 5,926,466,814 (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.3% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 22 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female

Infant mortality rate: 58 d