Customer Reviews

The Economist Pocket World in Figures, 2002 Edition

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Few statistical compilations are as consistently useful and interesting as The Economist Pocket World in Figures. I have bought each annual edition since the early 1990s and count it as the single most useful reference source available to managers. The Pocket World is produced by the same group that publishes the weekly Economist magazine and expensive but invaluable country reports from the Economist Intelligence Unit. That lineage guarantees (as much as anything could) the timeliness and accuracy of data. The first part of the Pocket World lists 'world rankings' for over 170 countries using around 200 different measures. These include all the standard economic, population and financial measures as well as interesting comparisons on trade, quality of life measures, creativity and research indices and consumption data. A little cross-referencing produces useful and original information. Match (for example) per-capita book purchases (page 88) against computer ownership levels (page 86) and you can produce a linear regression that should be music to Amazon's heart!

The second part of the book has country profiles providing a two-page statistical breakdown for each of the world's 60 major economies. Spending some time comparing and contrasting the data gives the reader a greater depth of understanding about the factors that set nation's destinies. The sections on age distribution and birth rates, for example, clearly show the different national challenges raised for Japan (with the world's highest median age) and for many troubled African states where close to half the population is under fifteen.

For anyone interested in world affairs this is an essential book. It is an endlessly fascinating source of data and a reliable base from which to build an understanding of economic and demographic trends.

On a regular basis, the Economist, one of the most respected news periodicals in the world, publishes this handy guide of facts and figures. This covers many of the 'vital statistics' of nations, multinational and non-governmental international organisations, and key political and economic topics worldwide, all compiled by the world-class Economist Intelligence Unit, who regularly publish reports for government and business leaders all over the world.

The first section of the book is on World Rankings. This covers important areas in geography, population, urban density, economics and living standards, financial and monetary issues, agriculture, business, transport, education levels, health and over social topics. You can find out here which country has the largest percentage of farmers (it isn't Hong Kong or Singapore), which country has the largest outstanding debt (think big -- big countries have big debts), and even which countries have the highest percentages of beer and wine drinkers, smokers, and music lovers (so you'll know where to party).

The second section of the book has an alphabetical listing of the countries of the world, with all of their vital stats spread across two pages -- demographics, economic stats, financial and trade data, exchange rates (generally), capital, geographic data, and more. The really suprising thing in this listing is that nowhere does it give the principle language of the country -- given the comprehensive nature of the data, one would think that a line or two regarding languages spoken would be a natural piece of data to include.

Also, this is not a complete listing of nations -- this includes only major nations, with a Eurocentric tilt. None of the Central American countries are included; there is a definite lack in Caribbean, African, and Asian countries also. However, to include all the nations would make this a jumbo-sized book, not a pocket guide. As it is, they have been selective, and while one might quibble with some of their choices, it is still a very handy and authoritative guide.