ater
bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers). Water area is the sum of the
surfaces of all inland water bodies, such as lakes, reservoirs, or
rivers, as delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines.

Area - comparative: This entry provides an area comparison based on
total area equivalents. Most entities are compared with the entire US
or one of the 50 states based on area measurements (1990 revised)
provided by the US Bureau of the Census. The smaller entities are
compared with Washington, DC (178 sq km, 69 sq mi) or The Mall in
Washington, DC (0.59 sq km, 0.23 sq mi, 146 acres).

Background: This entry usually highlights major historic events and
current issues and may include a statement about one or two key future
trends.

Birth rate: This entry gives the average annual number of births
during a year per 1,000 persons in the population at midyear; also
known as crude birth rate. The birth rate is usually the dominant
factor in determining the rate of population growth. It depends on both
the level of fertility and the age structure of the population.

Budget: This entry includes revenues, expenditures, and capital
expenditures. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis,
i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

Capital: This entry gives the name of the seat of government, its
geographic coordinates, the time difference relative to Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC) and the time observed in Washington, DC, and, if
applicable, information on daylight saving time (DST). Where
appropriate, a special note has been added to highlight those countries
that have multiple time zones.

Central bank discount rate: This entry provides the annualized
interest rate a country's central bank charges commercial, depository
banks for loans to meet temporary shortages of funds.

Climate: This entry includes a brief description of typical weather
regimes throughout the year.

Coastline: This entry gives the total length of the boundary between
the land area (including islands) and the sea.

Commercial bank prime lending rate: This entry 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.

Communications: This category deals with the means of exchanging
information and includes the telephone, radio, television, and Internet
host entries.

Communications - note: This ent