branches: Army, Royal Navy (includes Royal Marines), Royal
Air Force

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 14,599,199 (2001
est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49:
12,139,930 (2001 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $36.884 billion (FY97)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.7% (FY97)

United Kingdom Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: Northern Ireland issue with Ireland
(historic peace agreement signed 10 April 1998); Gibraltar issue
with Spain; Argentina claims Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas);
Argentina claims South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands;
Mauritius and the Seychelles claim Chagos Archipelago
(UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory); Rockall
continental shelf dispute involving Denmark and Iceland; territorial
claim in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine
claim and partially overlaps Chilean claim; disputes with Iceland,
Denmark, and Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf
boundary outside 200 NM

Illicit drugs: gateway country for Latin American cocaine entering
the European market; major consumer of synthetic drugs, producer of
limited amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic precursor
chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin;
money-laundering center

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@United States

United States Introduction

Background: The United States became the world's first modern
democracy after its break with Great Britain (1776) and the adoption
of a constitution (1789). During the 19th century, many new states
were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the
North American continent and acquired a number of overseas
possessions. The two most traumatic experiences in the nation's
history were the Civil War (1861-65) and the Great Depression of the
1930s. Buoyed by victories in World Wars I and II and the end of the
Cold War in 1991, the US remains the world's most powerful
nation-state. The economy is marked by steady growth, low
unemployment and inflation, and rapid advances in technology.

United States Geography

Location: North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and
the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico

Geographic coordinates: 38 00 N, 97 00 W

Map references: North America

Area: total: 9,629,091 sq km

land: 9,158,960 sq km

wate