- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Economist Books; Revised edition edition (11 Sep 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1861975554
- ISBN-13: 978-1861975553
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 10.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,824,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"'Everything the armchair globetrotter needs to know about the world' Daily Telegraph"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
* 'Everything the armchair globetrotter needs to know about the world' Daily Telegraph
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
On a regular basis, the Economist, one of the most respected news periodicals in the world, publishes this handy guide of facts and figures. This covers many of the 'vital statistics' of nations, multinational and non-governmental international organisations, and key political and economic topics worldwide, all compiled by the world-class Economist Intelligence Unit, who regularly publish reports for government and business leaders all over the world.
The first section of the book is on World Rankings. This covers important areas in geography, population, urban density, economics and living standards, financial and monetary issues, agriculture, business, transport, education levels, health and over social topics. You can find out here which country has the largest percentage of farmers (it isn't Hong Kong or Singapore), which country has the largest outstanding debt (think big -- big countries have big debts), and even which countries have the highest percentages of beer and wine drinkers, smokers, and music lovers (so you'll know where to party).
The second section of the book has an alphabetical listing of the countries of the world, with all of their vital stats spread across two pages -- demographics, economic stats, financial and trade data, exchange rates (generally), capital, geographic data, and more. The really suprising thing in this listing is that nowhere does it give the principle language of the country -- given the comprehensive nature of the data, one would think that a line or two regarding languages spoken would be a natural piece of data to include.
Also, this is not a complete listing of nations -- this includes only major nations, with a Eurocentric tilt. None of the Central American countries are included; there is a definite lack in Caribbean, African, and Asian countries also. However, to include all the nations would make this a jumbo-sized book, not a pocket guide. As it is, they have been selective, and while one might quibble with some of their choices, it is still a very handy and authoritative guide.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the kind of book that everyone should have on their shelf. Throughout life we constantly have statistics thrown at us, and this book collects and clarifies the more important world data.
I have been told that Japanese have the highest life expectancy on countless occasions, yet this book corrects me; that honour goes to Andorra (83.5 compared to Japan's 81.6). People always claim that British people are alcoholics - in terms of $ per head spent on alcohol the top three are Finland ($458.7), UK ($901.8) and the dubious honour of most alcoholic country goes to Ireland - a whopping $1,335.5 per head! If you find this information interesting then this book is for you!
The second half of the book is completely different, and is basic data on each country. It is neither as complete a list nor as exhaustively detailed as the CIAs 'The World Factbook', but for lots of information such as population, capital and inflation it is more than adequate.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes information, or who has to deal with political or economic debate. Plus having a single source of information for each country is very useful when meeting new friends from around the world!
Format:Hardcover
This edition still contains unnecessary errors that with due diligence by staff and editor could have been avoided.
P29 list of countries by highest PPP has Bahamas at 50th with 44.2 and also at 51st with 43.0. P35 Biggest visible traders has Chile at 10th with 3.56%, ten times its actual share. P71 Most used road networks has Indonesia in second place between Hong Kong and Singapore which is ludicrous.
Finally p44 Largest aid recipients has Israel at 44th with $479 million-it receives at least ten times that amount each year from the United States alone.
P29 list of countries by highest PPP has Bahamas at 50th with 44.2 and also at 51st with 43.0. P35 Biggest visible traders has Chile at 10th with 3.56%, ten times its actual share. P71 Most used road networks has Indonesia in second place between Hong Kong and Singapore which is ludicrous.
Finally p44 Largest aid recipients has Israel at 44th with $479 million-it receives at least ten times that amount each year from the United States alone.
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