Debt—external: This entry gives the total amount of public foreign financial obligations.
Dependency status: This entry describes the formal relationship between a particular nonindependent entity and an independent state.
Dependent areas: This entry contains an alphabetical listing of all nonindependent entities associated in some way with a particular independent state.
Diplomatic representation: The US Government has diplomatic relations with 184 independent states, including 178 of the 185 UN members (excluded UN members are Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, former Yugoslavia, and the US itself). In addition, the US has diplomatic relations with 6 independent states that are not in the UN—Holy See, Kiribati, Nauru, Switzerland, Tonga, and Tuvalu.
Diplomatic representation from the US: This entry includes the chief of mission, embassy address, mailing address, telephone number, FAX number, branch office locations, consulate general locations, and consulate locations.
Diplomatic representation in the US: This entry includes the chief of the foreign mission, chancery address, telephone number, FAX number, consulate general locations, consulate locations, honorary consulate general locations, and honorary consulate locations.
Disputes—international: This entry includes a wide variety of situations that range from traditional bilateral boundary disputes to unilateral claims of one sort or another. Information regarding disputes over international terrestrial and maritime boundaries has been reviewed by the US Department of State. References to other situations involving borders or frontiers may also be included, such as resource disputes, geopolitical questions, or irredentist issues; however, inclusion does not necessarily constitute official acceptance or recognition by the US Government.
Economic aid—donor: This entry refers to net official development assistance (ODA) from OECD nations to developing countries and multilateral organizations. ODA is defined as financial assistance that is concessional in character, has the main objective to promote economic development and welfare of LDCs, and contains a grant element of at least 25%. The entry does not cover other official flows (OOF) or private flows.
Economic aid—recipient: This entry, which is subject to major problems of definition and statistical coverage, refers to the net inflow of Official Development Finance (ODF) to recipient countries. The figure includes assistance from the World Bank, the IMF, and other international organizations and from individual nation donors. Formal commitments of aid are included in the data. Omitted from the data are grants by private organizations. Aid comes in various forms including outright grants and loans. The entry thus is the difference between new inflows and repayments.
Economy: This category includes the entries dealing with the size, development, and management of productive resources, i.e., land, labor, and capital.