Background Stats: compare key data on Laos & Malaysia
Definitions
- First human settlement > Date: Date or period of the first known or suspected human settlement within each geographic location listed. For further descriptions, please refer to notes.
- First human settlement > Notes: Description of the first known or suspected human settlement within each geographic location listed. For the date or period of the described settlement, please refer to the according date stat.
- First human settlement > Place: Location of the first known or suspected human settlement in each country.
- Full name: Full names (translated to english) of the United Nations member states, as of 2014. For a list of full names in the respective original languages of each country, check this link.
- Independence day date: Date.
- Land border length: The length of each country's land border. Islands are listed as having a 0.0 km.
- National anthems: National anthem.
- Neighboring countries and territories: The countries and territories neighboring each country. "L" means they share only a land border and "M" means they have only maritime boundaries. A blank means they share both.
- Number of maritime boundary neighbours: Number of states and territories with which each country shares a maritime border. Two countries separated from each other by a body of water have a maritime border with each other.
- Overview: A geopolitical overview of every sovereign country in the world, briefly examining their recent history and place on the global stage. The texts are taken from the BBC News website.
SOURCES: Wikipedia: List of countries and islands by first human settlement (The list); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states; Wikipedia: List of national independence days (List); Wikipedia: List of countries and territories by land borders (Land borders) (Note: land border lengths will vary depending on the scale by which they are measured, and therefore these figures without a source accompanied by an explanation of how they were measured and at what scale makes comparisons impossible; for more information see coastline paradox .); Wikipedia: List of national anthems (Anthems of United Nations member states) ("List of Member States" . United Nations . Retrieved 2011-07-21 .); Wikipedia: List of countries and territories by land and maritime borders; British Broadcasting Corporation 2014
