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, container
1,903, liquefied gas 675, livestock carrier 48, multifunction
large-load carrier 53, oil tanker 4,332, passenger 287,
passenger-cargo 114, railcar carrier 24, refrigerated cargo 1,023,
roll-on/roll-off cargo 1,047, short-sea passenger 465, specialized
tanker 77, vehicle carrier 460 (April 1995)
@World:Communications