, reported to Congress in 1955
that: "The National Intelligence Survey is an invaluable publication
which provides the essential elements of basic intelligence on all
areas of the world. There will always be a continuing requirement for
keeping the Survey up-to-date." The Factbook was created as an annual
summary and update to the encyclopedic NIS studies. The first
classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first
unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was
terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer
components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the
public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The
1996 edition was printed by GPO, and the 1997 edition was reprinted by
GPO. The year 2001 marks the 54th anniversary of the establishment of
the Central Intelligence Agency and the 58th year of continuous basic
intelligence support to the US Government by The World Factbook and its
two predecessor programs.

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Contributors and Copyright Information

In general, information available as of 1 January 2001 was used in the
preparation of this edition.

The World Factbook is prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency for
the use of US Government officials, and the style, format, coverage,
and content are designed to meet their specific requirements.
Information is provided by Antarctic Information Program (National
Science Foundation), Bureau of the Census (Department of Commerce),
Bureau of Labor Statistics (Department of Labor), Central Intelligence
Agency, Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs, Defense
Intelligence Agency (Department of Defense), Department of State, Fish
and Wildlife Service (Department of the Interior), Maritime
Administration (Department of Transportation), National Imagery and
Mapping Agency (Department of Defense), Naval Facilities Engineering
Command (Department of Defense), Office of Insular Affairs (Department
of the Interior), Office of Naval Intelligence (Department of Defense),
US Board on Geographic Names (Department of the Interior), US
Transportation Command (Department of Defense), and other public and
private sources.

The Factbook is in the public domain. Accordingly, it may be copied
freely without permission of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The official seal of the CIA, however, may N