Terrain: highest elevation is Mt. Everest at 8,848 meters and lowest depression is the Dead Sea at 392 meters below sea level; greatest ocean depth is the Marianas Trench at 10,924 meters
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% meadows and pastures: 24% forest and woodland: 31% other: 34%
Irrigated land: NA sq km
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
natural hazards: large areas subject to severe weather (tropical
cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis,
volcanic eruptions)
international agreements: 23 selected international environmental
agreements included under the Environment entry for each country and
in Appendix E: Selected International Environmental Agreements
@World:People
Population: 5,733,687,096 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 31.6% (female 882,809,689; male 928,121,801)
15-64 years: 62% (female 1,752,393,539; male 1,802,004,124)
65 years and over: 6.4% (female 209,437,234; male 158,246,581) (July
1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.5% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 24 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)