The UN Population Division database delivers an overall picture of immigration in the Arab World. Aggregating all Arab countries gives a number of 20.9 million immigrants (thus including intra-regional migrants from one Arab country to another). An alternative source could be national data of the countries of destination. The resulting figure is lower than that of the UN. In the 14 Arab countries that have published immigration data, the aggregated number of immigrants 13 million. For the same 14 countries, the UN estimate is 18.8 million immigrants, i.e. 1.45 times higher. If the Palestinian Territories and Jordan where the discrepancy is explained by UNRWA refugees being counted as immigrants by the UN are excluded from the comparison, 12 countries give an aggregated number of immigrants of 12,288 million to be compared with 14,983 provided by the UN (22% higher than national figures). The gap between the two sources (2.7 million) is partly, but not entirely, explained by the fact that UNHCR refugees are counted in migration statistics by the UN, but not by national sources.
Top Sugar Producers
More than 100 countries produce sugar, 74% of which is made from sugar cane grown primarily in the tropical and sub-tropical zones of the southern hemisphere, and the balance from sugar beet which is grown mainly in the temperate zones of the northern hemisphere. Generally, the costs of producing sugar from sugar cane are lower than those in respect of processing sugar beets. Currently 69% of the world’s sugar is consumed in the country of origin whilst the balance is traded on world markets.
n The five largest exporters in 2005/06, Brazil, the EU, Australia, Thailand and South Africa, are expected to supply approximately 76% of all world free market exports.
n Global sugar production in 2005/06 is estimated as 147.7 million tons, 79% of which is produced by the world’s top ten sugar producers.
Exports of information and communications equipment
Growth of exports has been particularly high for the countries that started with a low base in 1996 — Hungary, Iceland, the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic, Turkey and Poland. Germany and especially South Korea stand out as countries which started the period with substantial ICT exports and which have seen them grow rapidly between 1996 and 2005.
By the end of the period, the OECD countries could be divided into three groups — United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea with high exports of ICT goods, a middle group consisting of the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Mexico, France and Ireland and the remainder with relatively low values of ICT exports. As noted above, however, some of these, such as the four Central European countries, are rapidly increasing the value of their ICT exports.
Among the five non-member countries, growth of ICT exports has been slow and steady for all except China which has experienced spectacular growth in exports of ICT goods. Between 1996 and 2004, the value of ICT exports from China have been growing at an average rate of 33% per year and in 2004, China’s ICT exports surpassed those of the United States.
Bottled Water Consumption
Per Capital
Global consumption of bottled water has been growing over the past five years despite the fact that in a many places, including Europe and the US, there are more regulations governing the quality of tap water than bottled water. Although the US leads the world in the consumption of bottled water, at 26 billion liters in 2004, the bottled water craze is a global phenomenon. According to Beverage Marketing Corporation, worldwide consumption reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, an increase of 57% in five years. On a per capita basis, Italians are the biggest consumers of bottled water, at nearly 184 liters in 2004 — the equivalent of more than two glasses a day. Second and third place in per capita consumption are Mexico and the United Arab Emirates, at 169 and 164 liters respectively. Belgium (including Luxembourg in the statistics) and France are close, with consumption just under 145 liters per person annually.
