Haley - again, the detailed profile of Japan is a useful start, with details given in the various links from the opening page.

Bertpot - hi, we don't have data on the total number of passports issued by country, but, yes, anyone travelling outside his or her country of origin needs a passport as a document of identity while travelling in different countries with different systems of identity and laws.

The controversy around South Africa's HDI is centered in the fact that disparities between the different population groups within the country are extremely high. For example, while the infant mortality rate among the poor black population groups is comparable to rates in poor underdeveloped countries like Bangladesh, among the upper class white population groups it is as low as in the OECD countries.

The protests began after the announcement that Faure Gnassingbe had won the presidential election, by a margin of 1.3 million votes (60 percent) to opposition candidate Bob Akitani’s 841,000 (38 percent). The election was marred by violence and allegations of vote-tampering.

The military installed Faure Gnassingbe as president shortly after his father, Gnassingbe Eyadéma, died of a heart attack on February 5. Mr. Eyadéma spent 38 years in power and had been Africa's longest-ruling dictator prior to his death. Many fear Gnassingbe is only a pawn of his father's political machine, which has left the country of 5 million people in economic disarray. Gnassingbe agreed to an election under international pressure.

The leader of Akitani’s party and Frau Gnassingbe agreed before the election that whoever won would form a government of national unity. But Akitani’s party has since called for a new election and said it was very unlikely his party would follow through on the pledge.

A spokeswoman for the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had 127 observers in Togo, declared that the elections had been fair, saying votes uncounted amid violence in the capital city were not enough to cause concern.

For complete info on AIDS in the USA, including history, see the Avert website.

Switzerland has the highest number of hospital beds per population while Germany has the most number of per capita acute care hospital beds. Italy has the highest number of physicians for its population, while Japan reports the highest number of consultations per physician.

The president will also propose the extension of an existing tax credit for hybrid and fuel cell vehicles to include fuel-efficient clean diesel vehicles, and call for more international cooperation in the development of energy technologies.

The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. has reached $2.21, 23 percent higher than a year ago, says the American Automobile Association. At the same time, consumer confidence declined for the third straight month in April and fell to a five-month low.

After a meeting between Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the president’s ranch on April 25, a Saudi spokesman said high gas prices were partly the result of a lack of refining capacity in oil importing nations rather than being solely due to a shortage of supply.

Saudi Arabia is not offering any immediate steps to help relieve high gas prices, other than pledging to boost oil production by 1.5 million barrels a day by the end of the decade. Daily production by OPEC rose 700,000 barrels to 30.4 million this month, with most of the oil coming from Saudi Arabia.

On the other hand, Gross National Product (GNP) is the total of incomes earned by residents of a country regardless of where the assets are located. In other words, the income earned by a American-owned business in Mexico would be considered part of the U.S. GNP, not Mexico’s.

So, small countries such as Luxembourg and Bermuda, which are often used as tax shelters by companies nominally based there, have a large GDP per capita because large amounts of money flow through the country and into the hands of foreign owners. Their GNP is likely much lower.

Considering their size, Monaco, Jersy and Liechtenstein don't really do so badly, just not as well as some others. The difference probably has to do with differences in taxes and banking laws.

It is also the eight-highest in the world in oil production, at close to three million barrels per day. In 2003, Venezuela’s net oil exports were approximately 2.25 million barrels per day, about 1.4 million barrels of which go to the United States. Domestic oil refining capacity is 1.28 million barrels per day.

Venezuela also has proven natural gas reserves of 148 trillion cubic feet, the second largest in the Western Hemisphere (behind the United States).

The divorce rate in the United States is 4.95 per 1000 people per year. This means that approximately 1,437,000 people (718,500 couples) will divorce each year (1968 couples per day).

The divorce rate in the United States per population is the highest in the world. This is partly due to the marriage rate which is also the highest in the world (more marriages will potentially lead to more divorces).

To take the marriage rate into consideration when comparing divorce rates, the number of divorces per 100 marriages should be consulted. For the United States this rate is 49%, Lower than Belarus 68%, The Russian Federation 65%, Sweden 64%, Latvia 63%, Ukraine 63% The Czech Republic 61%, Belgium 56%, Finland 56%, Lithuania 55% The United Kingdom 53% and Moldova 52%.

The main religions in Canada are Roman Catholic 46% and Protestant 36%. Other major religious groups include: Christian Orthodox 1.49%, Christian (other)2.42%, Muslim 1.80%, Jewish 1.02%, Buddhist 0.93%, Hindu 0.92%, Sikh 0.86%, Other Eastern religions 0.12%, Other religions 0.20% and no religious affiliation 15.21%.

In the United States the largest religion is Christianity 77.30% (Protestant 53%, Catholic 23% Other Christian 1.3%) Other major religious groups include Judaism 1.38%, Islam 0.54%, Buddhism 0.53%, Hinduism 0.37%, Unitarian / universalist 0.31%, Wiccan/Pagan/Druid 0.11%, Spiritualist 0.04%,
Native American religions 0.05%, Baha'i 0.04%, New age 0.02%, Sikhism 0.03%, Scientology 0.03%, Humanist 0.02%, Deity 0.02%, Taoist 0.02%, Eckankar 0.01% and no religious affiliation 14.18%

The main religions in Mexico are nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5%.

As religious statistics are usually based on self identification and do not necessarily reflect religious service attendance or participation in other religious activities.

For further information on religion in North America see the religions page in the religion category.