Gross domestic product: see GDP
Gross national product: see GNP
Gross world product: see GWP
GWP: This entry gives the gross world product (GWP) or aggregate value of all final goods and services produced worldwide in a given year.
Heliports: This entry gives the total number of established helicopter takeoff and landing sites (which may or may not have fuel or other services).
Highways: This entry includes the total length of the highway system as well as the length of the paved and unpaved components.
Historical perspective: This entry at the beginning of a country profile contains a brief summary of the background information necessary to understand the current situation in a country. The entry appears for only a few countries at the present time, but may be added to more countries in the future.
Illicit drugs: This entry gives information on the five categories of illicit drugs- narcotics, stimulants, depressants (sedatives), hallucinogens, and cannabis. These categories include many drugs legally produced and prescribed by doctors as well as those illegally produced and sold outside of medical channels. Cannabis (Cannabis sativa) is the common hemp plant, which provides hallucinogens with some sedative properties, and includes marijuana (pot, Acapulco gold, grass, reefer), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, Marinol), hashish (hash), and hashish oil (hash oil). Coca (mostly Erythroxylum coca) is a bush with leaves that contain the stimulant used to make cocaine. Coca is not to be confused with cocoa, which comes from cacao seeds and is used in making chocolate, cocoa, and cocoa butter. Cocaine is a stimulant derived from the leaves of the coca bush. Depressants (sedatives) are drugs that reduce tension and anxiety and include chloral hydrate, barbiturates (Amytal, Nembutal, Seconal, phenobarbital), benzodiazepines (Librium, Valium), methaqualone (Quaalude), glutethimide (Doriden), and others (Equanil, Placidyl, Valmid). Drugs are any chemical substances that effect a physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral change in an individual. Drug abuse is the use of any licit or illicit chemical substance that results in physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral impairment in an individual. Hallucinogens are drugs that affect sensation, thinking, self-awareness, and emotion. Hallucinogens include LSD (acid, microdot), mescaline and peyote (mexc, buttons, cactus), amphetamine variants (PMA, STP, DOB), phencyclidine (PCP, angel dust, hog), phencyclidine analogues (PCE, PCPy, TCP), and others (psilocybin, psilocyn). Hashish is the resinous exudate of the cannabis or hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). Heroin is a semisynthetic derivative of morphine. Mandrax is a trade name for methaqualone, a pharmaceutical depressant. Marijuana is the dried leaves of the cannabis or hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). Methaqualone is a pharmaceutical depressant, referred to as mandrax in Southwest Asia. Narcotics are drugs that relieve pain, often induce sleep, and refer to opium, opium derivatives, and synthetic substitutes. Natural narcotics include opium (paregoric, parepectolin), morphine (MS-Contin, Roxanol), codeine (Tylenol with codeine, Empirin with codeine, Robitussan AC), and thebaine. Semisynthetic narcotics include heroin (horse, smack), and hydromorphone (Dilaudid). Synthetic narcotics include meperidine or Pethidine (Demerol, Mepergan), methadone (Dolophine, Methadose), and others (Darvon, Lomotil). Opium is the brown, gummy exudate of the incised, unripe seedpod of the opium poppy. Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) is the source for the natural and semisynthetic narcotics. Poppy straw concentrate is the alkaloid derived from the mature, dried opium poppy. Qat (kat, khat) is a stimulant from the buds or leaves of Catha edulis that is chewed or drunk as tea. Quaaludes is the North American slang term for methaqualone, a pharmaceutical depressant. Stimulants are drugs that relieve mild depression, increase energy and activity, and include cocaine (coke, snow, crack), amphetamines (Desoxyn, Dexedrine), phenmetrazine (Preludin), methylphenidate (Ritalin), and others (Cylert, Sanorex, Tenuate).
Imports: This entry includes three subfields. Total value is the total US dollar amount of imports on a c.i.f. or f.o.b. basis. Commodities is a rank ordering of imported products starting with the most important and sometimes includes the percent of dollar value. Partners is a rank ordering of trading partners starting with the most important and sometimes includes the percent of dollar value.
Independence: For most countries, this entry gives the date that 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.