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The World Factbook 1996

About the online World Factbook
and Master Index
The online version of the Factbook is divided into four primary sections:
  1. Index documents:
    The Index documents form a table of contents for the World Factbook. They are designed to allow you to quickly find any document contained within the online Factbook. There are four forms of Index documents:

    1. Appendix and Reference Map Selectors:
      The Appendix and Reference Maps selectors are the index documents that bring you to one of the various Appendices or Reference Maps in the online World Factbook. The Appendix and Reference Maps selectors are stored in the root directory.
    2. Topical Indices:
      Topical selectors are the index documents that bring you to one of the various Regional Indices for a given topic covered in the World Factbook. There are Topical indices for All topics, Communications, Defense, Economy, Flags and Maps, Geography, Government, People, or Transportation. Topical Selectors are stored in the root directory.
    3. Regional Selectors:
      Regional selectors are the index documents that bring you to one of the various Table of Contents documents for the online World Factbook. If you have selected a specific topic to view from the factbook, then you will see the TOC for that topic. There are Regional selectors for all sections of the online World Factbook and for each the individual topics (Communications, Defense, Economy, Flag and Map, Geography, Government, People, or Transportation). Each Regional Selector also contains hyperlinks to the Appendix and Reference Maps selectors. Regional Selectors are stored in the root directory.
    4. Table of Contents:
      Table of Contents are the index documents that bring you to one of the Country documents in the online World Factbook. There are Table of Contents documents for every region and topic in the online World Factbook. Table of Contents documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory. In addition, Table of Contents documents are annotated with HTML "bookmarks", for easy reference by other HTML documents. A complete list of TOC documents is listed at the end of this document, and the following are examples of the constructs you use in your HTML document:

      • To create a link to the entry for Argentina in the TOC document for all countries and all sections, use factbook/global.htm#ar in your URL.
      • To create a link to the entry for Barbados in the TOC document for all North American countries and all sections, use factbook/namr.htm#bb in your URL.
      • To create a link to the entry for the Czech Republic in the TOC document for all countries and the Government sections, use factbook/gov.htm#ez in your URL.
      • To create a link to the entry for Djibouti in the TOC document for African countries and Economy sections, use factbook/eco-afr.htm#dj in your URL.

  2. Country documents:
    The Country documents are the primary contents of the World Factbook. There are entries for 268 countries, four oceans, and a cumulative entry for the world. For each entry in the Factbook, there are nine different types of documents in online version:

    1. Master documents:
      These documents contain the complete contents of all sections of the World Factbook for a particular country, ordered in the same manner as in the printed factbook (Map, Geography, People, Government, Economy, Transportation, Communications, and Defense). The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, en.htm is the document for Estonia) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory.
    2. Communications documents:
      These documents contain the Communications section of the World Factbook for a particular country. The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, fp-c.htm is the document for French Polynesia) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory.
    3. Defense documents:
      These documents contain the Defense section of the World Factbook for a particular country. The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, ga-d.htm is the document for The Gambia) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory.
    4. Economy documents:
      These documents contain the Economy section of the World Factbook for a particular country. The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, hu-e.htm is the document for Hungary) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory.
    5. Flag and Map documents:
      These documents contain hyperlinks to the Flag (as both a half-inch thumbnail and a "full size" 3 inch image, in both GIF and uncompressed TIFF formats) and Map (in GIF, PDF, and uncompressed TIFF formats) for a particular country. The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, ocin-f.htm is the document for the Indian Ocean) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory. The images are contained in their own subdirectories of factbook and the following is the list of these subdirectories:

      • factbook/thmb-gif contains the thumbnails of the flags in GIF format. The document name is based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country. For example, jo-t.gif is the GIF thumbnail of the flag for Jordan.
      • factbook/thmb-tif contains the thumbnails of the flags in TIFF format. The document name is based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country. For example, la-t.tif is the TIFF thumbnail of the flag for Laos.
      • factbook/flag-gif contains the full size flags in GIF format. The document name is based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country. For example, mx.gif is the full size GIF of the flag for Mexico.
      • factbook/flag-tif contains the full size of the flags in TIFF format. The document name is based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country. For example, ne.tif is the full size TIFF of the flag for Niue.
      • factbook/map-gif contains the maps in GIF format. The document name is based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country. For example, mu-150.gif is the GIF of the map for Oman.
      • factbook/map-pdf contains the maps in PDF format. The document name is based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country. For example, rp-map.pdf is the PDF of the map for the Phillipines.
      • factbook/map-tif contains the maps in TIFF format. The document name is based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country. For example, sz-150.tif is the TIFF of the map for Switzerland.

    6. Geography documents:
      These documents contain the Geography section of the World Factbook for a particular country. The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, tx-l.htm is the document for Turkmenistan) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory.
    7. Government documents:
      These documents contain the Government section of the World Factbook for a particular country. The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, uk-g.htm is the document for the United Kingdom) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory.
    8. People documents:
      These documents contain the People section of the World Factbook for a particular country. The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, vq-p.htm is the document for the Virgin Islands) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory.
    9. Transportation documents:
      These documents contain the Transportation section of the World Factbook for a particular country. The file names of these documents are based upon the two character data code (aka digraph) for the country (for example, zi-t.htm is the document for Zimbabwe) and the documents are stored in the factbook subdirectory.

  3. Appendices and Notes:

    4. There are eight Appendices to the World Factbook, all of which are stored in the root directory:

    1. Abbreviations for International Organizations and Groups (X24B)
    2. The United Nations System (26 KB)
    3. International Organizations and Groups (161)
    4. Abbreviations for Selected International Environmental Agreements (36 KB)
    5. Selected International Environmental Agreements (47 KB)
    6. Weights and Measures (57 KB)
    7. Estimates of Gross Domestic Product on an Exchange Rate Basis (22 KB)
    8. Cross-Reference List of Geographic Items (137 KB)

    There is also a section with Notes, Definitions, and Abbreviations (XX KB) used in the World Factbook and another section with Publication Information (XX KB) for the World Factbook.

  4. Reference Maps:

    5. In the back of The World Factbook are a series of Reference Maps. The online version of the Factbook contains quarter page size GIF images (stored in the rmap-gif subdirectory), full size TIFF images (stored in the rmap-tif subdirectory), and full size PDF images (stored in the rmap-pdf subdirectory) of each map. The following is a list of the maps included in the 1996 edition of the Factbook (all maps are either 4¼" x 5½" [GIFs] or 8½" x 11" [TIFFs and PDFs] "portrait" layout, except as noted):

    1. Political Map of the World, January 1997 (GIF and TIFF - 3¼" x 5½", PDF - 22½" x 40", landscape)
      || View GIF (75 KB) | | Download TIFF (1129 KB) | | Download PDF (8951 KB) ||
      || View GIF (75 KB) || Download TIFF (1129 KB) || Download PDF (8951 KB) ||

    2. North America
      || View GIF (112 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (1990 KB) ||
      || View GIF (112 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (1990 KB) ||

    3. Central America and the Caribbean (GIF and TIFF - 4¼" x 5¼", PDF - 11" x 14", landscape)
      || View GIF (86 KB) | | Download TIFF (1433 KB) | | Download PDF (1351 KB) ||
      || View GIF (86 KB) || Download TIFF (1433 KB) || Download PDF (1351 KB) ||

    4. South America
      || View GIF (97 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (984 KB) ||
      || View GIF (97 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (984 KB) ||

    5. Europe
      || View GIF (126 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (1815 KB) ||
      || View GIF (126 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (1815 KB) ||

    6. Bosnia and Herzegovina
      || View GIF (91 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (718 KB) ||
      || View GIF (91 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (718 KB) ||

    7. Middle East
      || View GIF (110 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (1006 KB) ||
      || View GIF (110 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (1006 KB) ||

    8. Africa
      || View GIF (120 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (1291 KB) ||
      || View GIF (120 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (1291 KB) ||

    9. Asia
      || View GIF (122 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (1778 KB) ||
      || View GIF (122 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (1778 KB) ||

    10. Commonwealth of Independent States (GIF and TIFF - 4¼" x 5¼", PDF - 8½" x 10½", landscape)
      || View GIF (113 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (1420 KB) ||
      || View GIF (113 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (1420 KB) ||

    11. Southeast Asia
      || View GIF (92 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (1287 KB) ||
      || View GIF (92 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (1287 KB) ||

    12. Oceania (GIF and TIFF - 3½" x 5", PDF - 11" x 14", landscape)
      || View GIF (66 KB) | | Download TIFF (1150 KB) | | Download PDF (1160 KB) ||
      || View GIF (66 KB) || Download TIFF (1150 KB) || Download PDF (1160 KB) ||

    13. Arctic Region
      || View GIF (31 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (2274 KB) ||
      || View GIF (31 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (2274 KB) ||

    14. Antarctic Region
      || View GIF (81 KB) | | Download TIFF (1478 KB) | | Download PDF (1062 KB) ||
      || View GIF (81 KB) || Download TIFF (1478 KB) || Download PDF (1062 KB) ||

    15. Standard Time Zones of the World (GIF and TIFF - 3" x 5¼", PDF - 12" x 21", landscape)
      || View GIF (75 KB) | | Download TIFF (1043 KB) | | Download PDF (2667 KB) ||
      || View GIF (75 KB) || Download TIFF (1043 KB) || Download PDF (2667 KB) ||

Table of Contents documents and their corresponding file names Region of the World
All Africa Asia Australian and Oceania Europe
Topical sections of the online World Factbook All global.htm afr.htm asia.htm oce.htm eur.htm
Communications com.htm com-afr.htm com-asia.htm com-oce.htm com-eur.htm
Defense def.htm def-afr.htm def-asia.htm def-oce.htm def-eur.htm
Economy eco.htm eco-afr.htm eco-asia.htm eco-oce.htm eco-eur.htm
Flag and Map fmp.htm fmp-afr.htm fmp-asia.htm fmp-oce.htm fmp-eur.htm
Geography geo.htm geo-afr.htm geo-asia.htm geo-oce.htm geo-eur.htm
Government gov.htm gov-afr.htm gov-asia.htm gov-oce.htm gov-eur.htm
People peo.htm peo-afr.htm peo-asia.htm peo-oce.htm peo-eur.htm
Transportation trn.htm trn-afr.htm trn-asia.htm trn-oce.htm trn-eur.htm

Table of Contents documents and their corresponding file names (continued) Region of the World
North America Oceans South America World
Topical sections of the online World Factbook All namr.htm ocn.htm samr.htm wrld.htm
Communications com-namr.htm com-ocn.htm com-samr.htm com-wrld.htm
Defense def-namr.htm def-ocn.htm def-samr.htm def-wrld.htm
Economy eco-namr.htm eco-ocn.htm eco-samr.htm eco-wrld.htm
Flag and Map fmp-namr.htm fmp-ocn.htm fmp-samr.htm fmp-wrld.htm
Geography geo-namr.htm geo-ocn.htm geo-samr.htm geo-wrld.htm
Government gov-namr.htm gov-ocn.htm gov-samr.htm gov-wrld.htm
People peo-namr.htm peo-ocn.htm peo-samr.htm peo-wrld.htm
Transportation trn-namr.htm trn-ocn.htm trn-samr.htm trn-wrld.htm