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.

Currency: This entry identifies the national medium of exchange and
its basic subunit.

Data code: This entry gives the official US Government digraph that
precisely identifies every land entity without overlap, duplication,
or omission. AF, for example, is the data code for Afghanistan. This
two-letter country code is a standardized geopolitical data element
promulgated in the Federal Information Processing Standards
Publication (FIPS) 10-4 by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology at the US Department of Commerce and maintained by the
Office of the Geographer and Global Issues at the US Department of
State. The data code is used to eliminate confusion and
incompatibility in the collection, processing, and dissemination of
area-specific data and is particularly useful for interchanging data
between databases. [2]Appendix F cross-references various country data
codes and [3]Appendix G cross-references various hydrographic data
codes.

Data codes - country: This information is presented in [4]Appendix F:
Cross-Reference List of Country Data Codes which includes the US
Government approved Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
codes, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) codes,
and Internet codes for land entities.

Data codes - hydrographic: This information is presented in
[5]Appendix G: Cross-Reference List of Hydrographic Data Codes which
includes the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) codes,
Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC; now a part of the
National Imagery and Mapping Agency or NIMA) codes, and Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA) codes for hydrographic entities. The US
Government has not yet approved a standard for hydrographic data codes
similar to the FIPS 10-4 standard for country data codes.

Date of information: In general, information available as of 1 January
2000, was used in the preparation of this edition.

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, while only a rough indicator of the
mortality situation in a country, accurately indicates the current
mortality impact o