ibility in the collection, processing,
and dissemination of area-specific data and is particularly useful for
interchanging data between databases.

Diplomatic representation: The US Government has diplomatic relations
with 184 nations, including 178 of the 185 UN members (excluded UN
members are Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, former Yugoslavia,
and the US itself). In addition, the US has diplomatic relations with
6 nations that are not in the UN - Holy See, Kiribati, Nauru,
Switzerland, Tonga, and Tuvalu.

Economic aid: This entry refers to bilateral commitments of official
development assistance (ODA) and other official flows (OOF). ODA is
defined as financial assistance which is concessional in character,
has the main objective to promote economic development and welfare of
LDCs, and contains a grant element of at least 25%. OOF transactions
are also official government assistance, but with a main objective
other than development and with a grant element less than 25%. OOF
transactions include official export credits (such as Ex-Im Bank
credits), official equity and portfolio investment, and debt
reorganization by the official sector that does not meet concessional
terms. Aid is considered to have been committed when agreements are
initialed by the parties involved and constitute a formal declaration
of intent.

Entities: Some of the nations, dependent areas, areas of special
sovereignty, and governments included in this publication are not
independent, and others are not officially recognized by the US
Government. "Nation" refers to a people politically organized into a
sovereign state with a definite territory. "Dependent area" refers to
a broad category of political entities that are associated in some way
with a nation. Names used for page headings are usually the short-form
names as approved by the US Board on Geographic Names. There are 266
entities in The World Factbook that may be categorized as follows:

NATIONS
184 -- UN members (excluding the former Yugoslavia, which is still
counted by the UN)
7 -- nations that are not members of the UN--Holy See, Kiribati,
Nauru, Serbia and Montenegro, Switzerland, Tonga, Tuvalu

OTHER
1 -- Taiwan

DEPENDENT AREAS
6 -- Australia--Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos
(Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald
Islands, Norfolk Island
2 -- Denmark--Faroe Islands, Greenland
16 -- France--Bas