by the developed countries

External debt: $1 trillion for less developed countries (1993 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 5% (1994 est.)

Electricity:
capacity: 2,773,000,000 kW
production: 11.601 trillion kWh
consumption per capita: 1,937 kWh (1993)

Industries: industry worldwide is 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, and the
technological gap between the industrial nations and the
less-developed countries continues to widen; the rapid development of
new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already
grim environmental problems

Agriculture: the production of major food crops has increased
substantially in the last 20 years; the annual production of cereals,
for instance, has risen by 50%, from about 1.2 billion metric tons to
about 1.8 billion metric tons; production increases have resulted
mainly from increased yields rather than increases in planted areas;
while global production is sufficient for aggregate demand, about
one-fifth of the world's population remains malnourished, primarily
because local production cannot adequately provide for large and
rapidly growing populations, which are too poor to pay for food
imports; conditions are especially bad in Africa where drought in
recent years has intensified the consequences of overpopulation

Economic aid: $NA

@World:Transportation

Railroads:
total: 1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of
electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the
Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km
in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr
attained by France's SNCF TGV-Atlantique line
broad gauge: 251,153 km
standard gauge: 710,754 km
narrow gauge: 239,430 km

Highways:
total: NA
paved: NA
unpaved: NA

Ports: Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi
(Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama

Merchant marine:
total: 25,364 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 435,458,296
GRT/697,171,651 DWT
ships by type: barge carrier 39, bulk 5,202, cargo 8,121, chemical
tanker 911, combination bulk 293, combination ore/oil 290, containe