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The Earth and it's only Moon
The Earth and it's only Moon image: NASA / Public Domain
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World Geography & Nature Facts & Figures
World Population & Health Facts & Figures
More World Facts & Figures
The World's Interior
The World's Continents
Recent World Features
References
World Geography & Nature
Total Surface Area: 510,072,000 sq km / 197,712,000 sq miles [1]
Total Land Area: 148,940,000 sq km / 57,510,000 sq miles (29.1% of Planet Earth) [1]
Recognised Countries:
Full List
203 (193 widely-recognised & 10 partially-recognised states) [2]
Overseas Dependencies:
Full List
59
Disputed Territories:
Full List
43
Largest Continent:
Full List
Asia - 44,579,000 sq km / 17,212,000 sq miles (29.5% of total World landmass) [1]
Largest Country:
World Top 50
Russia - 17,098,242 sq km / 6,601,668 sq miles
Smallest Country:
Vatican City - 0.44 sq km / 0.17 sq miles
Largest Ocean:
Full List
The Pacific Ocean - 155,557,000 sq km / 60,060,000 sq miles [3]
Highest Mountain:
World Top 10
Mount Everest - 8,848 metres / 29,029 ft - Nepal / China
Longest River:
World Top 10
The Nile - 6,650 km / 4,135 miles - Egypt / Sudan / Uganda / Ethiopia
Largest Lake:
World Top 20
The Caspian Sea - 371,000 sq km / 143,000 sq miles - Azerbaijan / Iran / Kazakhstan / Russia / Turkmenistan

Our World, the Earth - the 5th largest planet in our Solar System - is currently the only planet in the entire Universe that is proven to contain life, and some Scientists believe that it is also the only planet which is even capable of supporting life of any type. Apparently, this is because it is the only planet proved to have water on it's surface, along with food and carbon, the necessary ingredients required for life to exist. A little over 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water, and the very first simplistic forms of life are believed to have evolved from there.

It is also believed that we humans began to inhabit the Earth from about 200,000 years ago, after evolving from other species, but the planet itself is about 4.5 billion years old. Life began to develop from about 3.5 billion years ago, and nowadays it is home to an estimated 100 million different living species. Living things can flourish safely on our planet due to it's magnetic field, which is possibly controlled by the core of the planet, and which blocks harmful radiation from outer space. Other major protection for all of Earth's many life forms comes from the ozone layer, which was developed by a combination of our earliest living organisms, along with the basic elements that were present before life began on Earth.

World Population & Health
World Population: 6,706,993,152 [4]
Most Populous Country: China - 1,338,405,928 [5]
Most Populous City:
World Top 100
Shanghai - 15,968,867 - China [6]
Most Populous Metro Area:
...
Life Expectancy:
67.2 years [7]
Infant Mortality Rate: ...
Largest HIV Population:
Full List
South Africa - 5,700,000 [8]
Highest FGM Prevalence:
Full List
Somalia - 97.9% of 15-49 yr old females have had Female Genital Mutilation [9]
More World Facts & Figures
Highest GDP:
World Top 50
United States - US$14,441,425,000,000 (IMF) [10] / US$14,204,322,000,000 (World Bank) [11]
Most Corrupt Country:
Full List
Somalia - 1st out of 180 countries in the World [12]
Least Corrupt Country: New Zealand - 180th out of 180 countries in the World [12]
Tallest Building:
World Top 10
Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 818 metres / 2,684 feet - 160 floors [13]
Most Nuclear Weapons:
Full List
Russia - 13,000 warheads (4,718 operational warheads) [14]
Most Depleted Uranium:
Full List
United States - 480,000 tonnes [15]
The World's Interior

The make-up of the interior of the planet is a little hard to prove, although scientists and our schoolbooks confidently tell us that the planet gets denser as you go in deeper. The official line also declares that the crust itself only makes up about 1% of the total volume, and it is thought to be about 6km thick under the oceans, and about 30-50km thick where land is present. Inside that crust is a thin layer called the Lithosphere, and that is surrounded by a 3,000 km thick mostly-solid layer called the mantle which makes up about 84% of the Earth's volume. In the very centre of the planet is the core, which is believed to be made up from almost 90% iron - with solid iron in the inner core and liquid iron in the outer core, and some nickel in both sections too - and this section accounts for about 15% of the planets total volume.

Scientists also believe that the inside of our planet is active, and that therefore this creates the volcanoes and movement of the tectonic plates, which cause our continents to move gradually over vast amounts of time. The geological layers which we believe to be present reflect what we think about the make-up of the inside of the other solid planets too, but in reality, humans have only physically been about 4km under the surface (gold mines in South Africa), we have only ever drilled down to a distance of 1.7 km under the seafloor, and our deepest penetration ever by drilling under land was 12.262 km (7.62 miles) down the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia.

The Earth's inner layers - core, mantle, crust
[1] Inner Core
[2] Outer Core
[3] Lower Mantle
[4] Upper Mantle
[5] Lithosphere
[6] Crust
image: Mats Halldin / Chabacan (license)
Whilst the depth we have reached may seem massive to us, it only accounts for about 25% of the depth under both the undersea crust (1.7 km of 5-10 km) and land crust (12.262 km of 30-50 km). And the distance of well over 3,000 km to the centre of the core, dwarf's where we have gotten to physically, so we really must rely on our scientists having guessed correctly for all of this time, because we actually have no visual or physical proof available to either prove or discredit these beliefs.
The World's Continents
Map showing location of the World's Continents

Depending on differing criteria, there can be considered from four to seven separate continents on our planet. The most popular ways of distinguishing the continents are the 7-Continent Model (Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Antarctica), the 6-Continent Model with Europe and Asia combined (Eur-Asia, North America, South America, Africa, Oceania, Antarctica), and the 6-Continent Model which includes the America's as one single continent (Europe, The Americas, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Antarctica).

Continent Profiles: Africa / Asia / Europe /
North America / Oceania / South America

Continents listed by Area, and % of global landmass

Recent World Features
Female Genital Mutilation In The World Largest Lakes In The World Largest Continents In The World
Overseas Territories In The World Disputed Territories In The World Recognised Countries In The World
References
[1] "CIA - The World Factbook" Total surface area & total land area for the world.
[2] "List Of Geographic Names, also includes non-recognised states and some territories too" UN (United Nations). The countries highlighted in bold text are the fully internationally-recognised countries, and the remainder are a mixture of partially-recognised states, territories and dependancies.
[3] "International Hydrographic Organization" - All facts & figures quoted are dictated by the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans all ending at the 60° Southern line of latitude, as advised by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
[4] "World Population Estimate for 1st of July 2008" (XIST.org). See total at bottom of page. XIST bases it's figures on the CIA World Factbook.
[5] "Chinese Population Clock" Mainland China Reading taken on May.24.2009 @ 00.00hrs GMT: 1,330,847,828. Figures from Chinese territories of Macau & Hong Kong are then also added. Hong Kong population officially estimated at 7,008,900 on December.31.2008, and Macau population officially estimated at 549,200 on December.31.2008.
[6] "World: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population" All statistics © Stefan Helders, www.world-gazetteer.com
[7] "World Population Prospects, The 2006 Revision" UN (United Nations) Estimates for life expectancy for 2005-2010. These are the revised 2006 figures.
[8] "UNAIDS Interactive map" 2008 Report on the global AIDS epidemic, July 2008, UNAIDS. In the menu on the left, click on "HIV infection & AIDS Epidemic by country", then click "People living with HIV in 2007". You will then be able to view the statistics for each country by scanning over the interactive map of the World.
[9] "Countries where female genital mutilation has been documented" - PDF File/see page 29 - the latest available figures by the United Nations. This report is a section of the United Nations UNIFEM report "Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An Interagency Statement".
[10] "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2009" These are the latest figures to be released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as of the 1st of October 2009, and are based on the total GDP for each country for the whole of 2008.
[11] "World Bank Gross Domestic Product Figures For 2008" These are the latest available figures which were released by the World Bank as of the 1st of October 2009, and are based on the total GDP for each country for the whole of 2008.
[12] "Corruption Perceptions Index 2009" Released on the 17th of November 2009, these are the yearly CPI Index scores for the 180 countries which it evaluates. The CPI rating is based on 13 different independent surveys, however, not all surveys are used for all countries.
[13] "Official World's 200 Tallest High-rise Buildings" (Emporis.com)
[14] "Status of World Nuclear Forces 2009" Federation of American Scientists - All numbers are estimates and are updated when new information becomes available. Current update: October.02.2009 - last retrieved by BlatantWorld.com on January.05.2010
[15] "World Depleted Uranium Inventory" WISE Uranium Project - This is the most accurate and up-to-date list out there for depleted Uranium stocks around the World. This list has last been updated by WISE Uranium Project on the 21st of April 2008, and was last retrieved by Blatant World.com on January.07.2010
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