UTC is calculated by the Bureau
International des Poids et Measures (BIPM) in Sevres, France. The BIPM
averages data collected from more than 200 atomic time and frequency
standards located at about 50 laboratories worldwide. UTC is the basis
for all civil time with the Earth divided into time zones expressed as
positive or negative differences from UTC. UTC is also referred to as
"Zulu time." See the Standard Time Zones of the World map included with
the Reference Maps.

Country data codes: see Data codes

Country map: Most versions of the Factbook provide a country map in
color. The maps were produced from the best information available at
the time of preparation. Names and/or boundaries may have changed
subsequently.

Country name: This entry includes all forms of the country's name
approved by the US Board on Geographic Names (Italy is used as an
example): conventional long form (Italian Republic), conventional short
form (Italy), local long form (Repubblica Italiana), local short form
(Italia), former (Kingdom of Italy), as well as the abbreviation. Also
see the Terminology note.

Crude oil: See entry for oil.

Currency (code): This entry identifies the national medium of exchange
and, in parenthesis, gives the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) 4217 alphabetic currency code for each country.

Current account balance: This entry records a country's net trade in
goods and services, plus net earnings from rents, interest, profits,
and dividends, and net transfer payments (such as pension funds and
worker remittances) to and from the rest of the world during the period
specified. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis,
i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

Data codes: This information is presented in Appendix D: Cross-
Reference List of Country Data Codes and Appendix E: Cross-Reference
List of Hydrographic Data Codes.

Date of information: In general, information available as of 1 January
2007, was used in the preparation of this edition.

Daylight Saving Time (DST): This entry is included for those entities
that have adopted a policy of adjusting the official local time
forward, usually one hour, from Standard Time during summer months.
Such policies are most common in mid-latitude regions.

Death rate: This entry gives the average annual number of deaths
during a year per 1,000 population at midyear; also known as crude
death rate. The death rate