10% to 60%
typically (1996 est.)
note: national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from
stable prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World
countries

Labor force:
total : 2.24 billion (1992)
by occupation: NA

Unemployment rate: 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in
many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically
6%-12% unemployment (1996 est.)

Industries: dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in
computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical
equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a
small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly
adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development
of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating
already grim environmental problems

Industrial production growth rate: 5% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 4 billion kW (1994)

Electricity - production: 12.34268 trillion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 1,996 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: the whole gamut of crops, livestock, forest
products, and fish

Exports:
total value: $4.6 trillion (f.o.b., 1996 est.)
commodities : the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and
services
partners: in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries

Imports:
total value : $4.7 trillion (c.i.f., 1996 est.)
commodities: the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and
services
partners: in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries

Debt - external: $2 trillion for less developed countries (1996 est.)

Economic aid: worldwide traditional foreign aid $50 billion (1995
est.)

@World:Communications

Telephones: NA

Telephone system:
domestic : NA
international: NA

Radio broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA

Radios: NA

Television broadcast stations: NA

Televisions: NA

@World:Transportation

Railways:
total : 1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of
electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the
Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km
in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr
attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais
(SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line
broad gauge: 251,153 km
standard gauge: 710,754 km
narrow gauge: 239,430 km

Highways: