Customer Reviews

The Economist Pocket World in Figures 1999

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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An outstanding annual publication. I use this more frequently than any other book. For anyone engaged in work, trade, research or policy at other than the purely local level this is a goldmine of useful and quotable information.

This is the best value for having global figures handy, and is one tenth the cost of the other great reference work, the Fitzroy Dearborn Book of World Rankings. Perhaps even more to the point, this book has something the other one does not: country by country data (although one could always go to the CIA World Factbook online for similar data as well as biographic listings). Having said that, it does not have the full range of detail that is offered by the other, such as domestic water shortages and energy consumption. This book has Internet and music charts--but none of the charts are comprehensive, generally listing top and bottom countries, not all countries. Bottom line: this is the best value for a portable book about global figures relevant to political economy.