including the degree of market orientation, the level of economic
development, the most important natural resources, and the unique areas
of specialization. It also characterizes major economic events and
policy changes in the most recent 12 months and may include a statement
about one or two key future macroeconomic trends.

Electricity - consumption: This entry consists of total electricity
generated annually plus imports and minus exports, expressed in
kilowatt-hours. The discrepancy between the amount of electricity
generated and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is
accounted for as loss in transmission and distribution.

Electricity - exports: This entry is the total exported electricity in
kilowatt-hours.

Electricity - imports: This entry is the total imported electricity in
kilowatt-hours.

Electricity - production: This entry is the annual electricity
generated expressed in kilowatt-hours. The discrepancy between the
amount of electricity generated and/or imported and the amount consumed
and/or exported is accounted for as loss in transmission and
distribution.

Elevation extremes: This entry includes both the highest point and the
lowest point.

Entities: Some of the independent states, dependencies, areas of
special sovereignty, and governments included in this publication are
not independent, and others are not officially recognized by the US
Government. "Independent state" refers to a people politically
organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory.
"Dependencies" and "areas of special sovereignty" refer to a broad
category of political entities that are associated in some way with an
independent state. "Country" names used in the table of contents or for
page headings are usually the short-form names as approved by the US
Board on Geographic Names and may include independent states,
dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty, or other geographic
entities. There are a total of 268 separate geographic entities in The
World Factbook that may be categorized as follows:

INDEPENDENT STATES

193 Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and
Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The
Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize,
Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil,
Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon,
Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic,