males age 15-49: 14,943,016 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 12,393,785 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$42,836.5 million (2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.4% (2003)

Transnational Issues United Kingdom

Disputes - international:
since Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum in
2003 against a "total shared sovereignty" arrangement, talks between
the UK and Spain over the fate of the 300-year old UK colony have
stalled; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater
autonomy; Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago
(British Indian Ocean Territory), and its former inhabitants since
their eviction in 1965; most reside chiefly in Mauritius, and in
2001 were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation; UK
continues to reject sovereignty talks requested by Argentina, which
still claims the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia
and the South Sandwich Islands; Rockall continental shelf dispute
involving Denmark and Iceland remains dormant; 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:
producer of limited amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic
precursor chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin
American cocaine, and synthetic drugs; money-laundering center

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

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@United States

Introduction United States

Background:
Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776
and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of
America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and
20th centuries, 37 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 stead