rnment often finds its control over
resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically
based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor
states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in
India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central
government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies,
notably the EU. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult
political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs
in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek
employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an
already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution,
desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of
their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized
countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the
poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of
view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the
euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January
1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse,
poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and
cultural and political differences among the participating nations.
The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a
growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the
reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist
programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led
coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic
prospects. After the initial coalition victory, the complex
political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing
domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued
through 2007.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

GWP (gross world product): $65.61 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

GWP (gross world product): $54.62 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

5.2% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$10,000 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 4%
industry: 32%
services: 64% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

3.131 billion (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 40.2%
industry: 20.5%
services: 39.4% (2007 est.)

Unemployment rate:

30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many
non-industrialized countries; devel