sovereignty was achieved, and from what nation, empire, or
trusteeship. For the other countries, the date given may not represent
''independence'' in the strict sense, but rather some significant
nationhood event such as traditional founding date, date of
unification, federation, confederation, establishment, fundamental
change in the form of government, or state succession. Dependent areas
include the notation ''none'' followed by the nature of their
dependency status. Also see the Terminology note.

Industrial production growth rate: This entry gives the annual
percentage increase in industrial production (includes manufacturing,
mining, and construction).

Industries: This entry provides a rank ordering of industries starting
with the largest by value of annual output.

Infant mortality rate: This entry gives the number of deaths of
infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births
occurring in the same year. The infant mortality rate is often used an
indicator of the level of health in a country.

Inflation rate-consumer price index: This entry furnishes the annual
percent change in consumer prices compared with the previous year's
consumer prices.

International disputes: see Disputes-international

International organization participation: This entry lists in
alphabetical order by abbreviation those international organizations
in which the subject country is a member or participates in some other
way.

International organizations: This information is presented in Appendix
C: International Organizations and Groups which includes the name,
abbreviation, address, telephone, FAX, date established, aim, and
members by category.

Introduction: This category includes two entries-Current issues and
Historical perspective. At present it appears in only a few country
profiles, but may be added to others in the future.

Irrigated land: This entry gives the number of square kilometers of
land area that is artificially supplied with water.

Judicial branch: This entry contains the name(s) of the highest
court(s) and a brief description of the selection process for members.

Labor force: This entry contains the total labor force figure and a
rank ordering of component parts by occupation.

Land boundaries: This entry contains the total length of all land
boundaries and the individual lengths for each of the contiguous
border countries.

Land use: This entry contains the percentage shares of tota