The World Factbook
The World Factbook is an annual publication by the
Central Intelligence Agency of the
United States with basic
almanac-style information about the various countries of the world. The factbook gives a two- to three-page summary of the
demographics,
geography, communications, government, economy, and
military capability, of 272 U.S.-recognized countries, dependencies, and other areas in the world.
As
The World Factbook is prepared by the CIA for the use of
U.S. government officials, the style, format, coverage and content are primarily designed to meet their specific requirements.
Encyclopedia
The World Factbook is an annual publication by the
Central Intelligence Agency of the
United States with basic
almanac-style information about the various countries of the world. The factbook gives a two- to three-page summary of the
demographics,
geography, communications, government, economy, and
military capability, of 272 U.S.-recognized countries, dependencies, and other areas in the world.
As
The World Factbook is prepared by the CIA for the use of
U.S. government officials, the style, format, coverage and content are primarily designed to meet their specific requirements. However, it is frequently used as a resource for student papers, web sites and various non-governmental publications. As a work of the U.S. government, it is considered to be in the
public domain.
Sources the CIA uses
In researching the
Factbook, the CIA uses the following sources listed below.
Besides these listed sources, other public and private sources are consulted as well.
...
Copyright
Because the
Factbook is in the
public domain, people are free to redistribute and modify it in any way they like, without permission of the CIA. However, the CIA requests that they be cited when the
Factbook is used.
The official seal of the CIA, however, may not be copied without permission as required by the CIA Act of 1949 . Misuse of the official seal of the CIA could result in civil and criminal penalties:
- Federal law prohibits use of the words "Central Intelligence Agency," the initials "CIA," the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency, or any colorable imitation of such words, initials, or seal in connection with any merchandise, impersonation, solicitation, or commercial activity in a manner reasonably calculated to convey the impression that such use is approved, endorsed, or authorized by the Central Intelligence Agency.
Many Internet sites have used information and images from the CIA World Factbook.
Frequency of updates and availability
Before November 2001,
The World Factbook website was only updated yearly. Since then, the
Factbook website is updated biweekly; the printed book still updated annual. . Generally, information currently available as of January 1 of the current year is used in preparing the
Factbook. .
The government edition of the Factbook
As of 2006,
The World Factbook is available on the
World Wide Web and in print. The WWW version gets an average of 6 million visits in a single month; it can also be downloaded. . A printed version is available and is released around the middle of the year . This version is sold to the public via the Superintendent of Documents and the
National Technical Information Service; US government officials can generally query about
Factbook purchases from their department or CIA liaison channel. In past years, the
Factbook was available for
CD-ROMs ,
microfiche,
magnetic tape, and
floppy disks.
The Potomac Books reprint
Since 1992, Potomac Books, Inc. ) has published a reprint of
The World Factbook to, in their words, "extend the limited audience" the official government publication of the
Factbook has . In publishing the reprint, the publisher admits the
Factbook is a valued source. Because of this, Potomac Books publishes their reprint in order to make it available to the taxpayers that fund the government, along with bookstores and libraries. The publisher makes no copyright claim on the reprint itself.
Entities in the Factbook
As of September 2006,
The World Factbook consists of
272 entities. These entities can be divided into four categories. They are:
Independent countries
This is a list of independent countries. The CIA defines an
independent country as people "politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory". . In this category, there are
193 entities:
Gabon
, officially the Gabonese Republic, is a country in west central Africa [i]. ...
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ...
Guinea, officially the
Republic of Guinea , is a nation in West Africa [i], formerly known as French Guinea [i]...
Throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic [i] importance because of its centr ...
...
...
Others
This is a list of other places set apart from the list of independent countries. There are
two entities in this category:
Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty
This category is a list of places affiliated with another country. They are currently
65 entities in this category. They may be subdivided into categories using the country they are affiliated with:
Australia: six entities
The
Territory of Christmas Island is a small, non self-governing Territory [i] of Australia [i] locate ...
