The Project Gutenberg EBook of The 2008 CIA World Factbook, by
United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
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Title: The 2008 CIA World Factbook

Author: United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

Release Date: June 25, 2009 [EBook #29233]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE 2008 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK ***

Produced by Al Haines

THE CIA WORLD FACTBOOK 2008

CONTENTS

Countries and Locations

Field Listings

Rank Orders

Appendixes

Notes and Definitions

History of the World Factbook

Contributors and Copyright Information

Purchasing Information

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What's New

- Country information has been updated as of 18 December 2008.

- In the People category, two new fields provide information on
education in terms of opportunity and resources. "School Life
Expectancy" is an estimate of the total number of years of schooling
(primary to tertiary) that a child can expect to receive, assuming
that the probability of his or her being enrolled in school at any
particular future age is equal to the current enrollment ratio at
that age. "Education expenditures" provides an estimate of the public
expenditure on education as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

- In order to help policymakers understand the nature and global
dimensions of the current financial crisis, The World Factbook has
added five new fields to the Economy category. "Central bank discount
rate" provides the annualized interest rate a country's central bank
charges commercial, depository banks for loans to meet temporary
shortages of funds. "Commercial bank prime lending rate" provides a
simple average of annualized interest rates commercial banks charge
on new loans, denominated in the national currency, to their most
credit-worthy customers. "Stock of money" also known as "M1," comprises
the total quantity of currency in circulation (notes and coins) plus
demand deposits denominated in the national currency, held by nonbank
financial institutions, state and local governments, nonfinancial
public enterprises, and the private sector of the economy. "Stock of
quas