The 1997 CIA World Factbook

Notes and Definitions

There have been some significant changes in this edition. A schema or Guide to Country Profiles has been added. The new maps and flags accompanying each country profile are in color. The country name Zaire has been officially changed to Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congo is now referred to as Republic of the Congo. New reference maps of the United States, Ethnolinguistic Groups in Afghanistan, and Central Africa have been included. Introduction is a new category with two entries—Current issues and Historical perspective that now appear in only a few country profiles, but will be added to all countries in the future. The Area—comparative entry was separated from the Area entry. The lowest point and highest point information has been removed from the Terrain entry and put into a new entry called Elevation extremes. The former Environment entry has been replaced by three new entries—Natural hazards, Environment—current issues, and Environment—international agreements. US diplomatic representation has been renamed Diplomatic representation from the US in order to parallel the Diplomatic representation in the US entry. The former Airports entry has been split into three separate entries—Airports, Airports—with paved runways, and Airports—with unpaved runways. The Defense category has been renamed Military. The Branches entry has been renamed Military branches. The former Manpower availability entry has been replaced by four new entries—Military manpower—military age, Military manpower—availability, Military manpower—fit for military service, and Military manpower—reaching military age annually. The former Defense expenditures entry has been replaced by two new entries—Military expenditures—dollar figure, and Military expenditures—percent of GDP. Transnational Issues is a new category that now includes only two existing entries (Illicit drugs and Disputes—international) but additional entries will be considered in the future.