A merchant ship is a vessel that carries goods against payment of freight; it is commonly used to denote any nonmilitary ship but accurately restricted to commercial vessels only.
A register is the record of a ship's ownership and nationality as listed with the maritime authorities of a country; also, it is the compendium of such individual ships' registrations. Registration of a ship provides it with a nationality and makes it subject to the laws of the country in which registered (the flag state) regardless of the nationality of the ship's ultimate owner.
Military: This category includes the entries dealing with a country's military structure, manpower, and expenditures.
Military branches: This entry lists the names of the ground, naval, air, marine, and other defense or security forces.
Military expenditures—dollar figure: This entry gives current military expenditures in US dollars; the figure is calculated by multiplying the estimated defense spending in percentage terms by the gross domestic product (GDP) calculated on an exchange rate basis not purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. The figure should be treated with caution because of different price patterns and accounting methods among nations, as well as wide variations in the strength of their currencies.
Military expenditures—percent of GDP: This entry gives current military expenditures as an estimated percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Military manpower—availability: This entry gives the total numbers of males and females age 15-49 and assumes that every individual is fit to serve.
Military manpower—fit for military service: This entry gives the number of males and females age 15-49 fit for military service. This is a more refined measure of potential military manpower availability which tries to correct for the health situation in the country and reduces the maximum potential number to a more realistic estimate of the actual number fit to serve.
Military manpower—military age: This entry gives the minimum age at which an individual may volunteer for military service or be subject to conscription.
Military manpower—reaching military age annually: This entry gives the number of draft-age males and females entering the military manpower pool in any given year and is a measure of the availability of draft-age young adults.