For those who may not know, UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
As Wikipedia says: 'The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) monitors both the number and type of books published per country per year as an important index of standard of living and education, and of a country's self-awareness.
I agree that books would be an excellent measure of a country's intellectual and cultural awareness and achievement. Hell, who wouldn't agree to that?
You notice that Wiki lists 124 countries --- but, there are actually 196 countries on the earth; or so says About.Com, Geography. Really there are 193 country members of the United Nations with the remaining being called 'independent countries' like the Vatican City and Kosovo.
You will also notice that 'total' figure at the bottom of the list of 124 countries: 2,200,000.
Does that mean the total number of books published by the 124 countries for the years listed? I thought the number would be higher. What do you think?
Are the years listed by the countries the latest year data is available for those countries? And if so, why?
Why, in this day and age, can't they update this list yearly?
And lastly, do the 196 total countries (-) 124 countries in the list = 72 countries, that are not listed, mean that these 72 countries do not publish at all? (I seriously doubt it since I believe the Vatican even has its own press!)
Interesting little tidbits and a great list of colored country flags :)
Get the Writers Welcome Blog on your Kindle :)))
I agree that books would be an excellent measure of a country's intellectual and cultural awareness and achievement. Hell, who wouldn't agree to that?
Tonight's research brings forth a few interesting and fun facts (and questions, after we dissect the data a little).
Per Wikipedia:
In descending order of number of new titles per year, as of the latest year available, sometimes "new titles and editions":
United States (2011) 347,178 (new titles and editions) [2]
China (2012) 241,986 (414,005 total) [3]
United Kingdom (2011) 149,800 (new) [4]
Russian Federation (2012) 116,888 (total) [5]
India (2004) 82,537 (total; 21,370 in Hindi, 18,752 in English, and 42,415 in other Indian languages) [6]
Germany (2011) 82,048 (new) [4]
Japan (2012) 78,349 [7]
Iran (2010) 65,000 [8]
Spain (2011) 44,000 [4] (74,244 total[9])
Turkey (2011) 43,100 (total) [10]
France (2011) 41,902 (new) [4]
Italy (2011) 39,898 (new) [4]
South Korea (2012) 39,767 [11]
Poland (2010) 31,500 [12]
Taiwan (2010) 28,084 (43,258 total) [13]
Vietnam (2009) 24,589 [14]
Indonesia (2009) 24,000+ [14]
Argentina (2010) 22,781 (26,387 total) [15]
Brazil (2012) 20,792 (57,473 total) [16]
Canada (1996) 19,900 [17]
Malaysia (2011) 17,923 [18]
Romania (2008) 14,984 [19]
Ukraine (2004) 14,790 [20]
Hong Kong (2005) 14,603 [21]
Belgium (1991) 13,913 [22]
Finland (2006) 13,656 [23]
Thailand (2009) 13,607 [14]
Belarus (2009) 12,885 [24]
Denmark (1996) 12,352 [22]
Colombia (2010) 12,334 (13,294 total) [25]
Switzerland (2001) 12,156 [26]
Singapore (2007) 12,000+ [27]
Hungary (2012) 11,645 [28]
Netherlands (2010) 11,500 [29]
Czech Republic (1996) 10,244 [22]
Slovakia (2006) 9,400 [30]
Mexico (2010) 9,075 (25,348 total)[31]
Egypt (2000) 9,022 [32]
Australia (2004) 8,602 [33]
Austria (1996) 8,056 [22]
Portugal (1996) 7,868 [22]
Israel (2006) 6,866 [34]
Greece (2002) 6,826 [35]
South Africa (1995) 5,418 [36]
Chile (2011) 5,326 (5,720 total) [37]
Sri Lanka (1996) 4,115 [38]
Peru (2006) 4,101 [39]
Sweden (2010) 4,074 (30,857 total)[40]
Saudi Arabia (1996) 3,900 [38]
Pakistan (2012) 3,811 (total; 2,943 in Urdu and 868 in English and European languages)[41]
Lebanon (2005) 3,686 [42]
Myanmar (1993) 3,660 [38]
New Zealand (2003) 3,600 [43]
Ecuador (2010) 2,854 (4,164 total) [44]
Afghanistan (1990) 2,795 [38]
Venezuela (2003) 2,061 [26]
Luxembourg (2001) 2,000 [26]
Latvia (1996) 1,965 [22]
Iceland (2007) 1,533 [45]
Philippines (1996) 1,507 [38]
Cuba (2003) 1,488 [26]
Costa Rica (2003) 1,315 [26]
Nigeria (1991) 1,314 [36]
Kazakhstan (1996) 1,226 [38]
Syria (2004) 1,138 [46]
Uzbekistan (1996) 1,003 [38]
Cyprus (1996) 930 [38]
Morocco (1996) 918 [36]
Tunisia (1996) 720 [36]
Dominican Republic (2003) 705 [26]
Algeria (1996) 670 [36]
Uruguay (2003) 605 [26]
Bolivia (2003) 584 [26]
Georgia (1998) 581 [38]
Azerbaijan (1996) 542 [38]
Jordan (1996) 511 [38]
Panama (2003) 506 [26]
Turkmenistan (1994) 450 [38]
Guatemala (2003) 446 [26]
Kyrgyzstan (1998) 420 [38]
Malta (1995) 404 [22]
Fiji (1994) 401 [47]
Armenia (1996) 396 [38]
Paraguay (2003) 390 [26]
Albania (1991) 381 [22]
Nicaragua (2003) 306 [26]
Kenya (1994) 300 [36]
United Arab Emirates (1993) 293 [38]
Honduras (2003) 290 [26]
Uganda (1996) 288 [36]
Mongolia (1992) 285 [38]
El Salvador (2003) 250 [26]
Ethiopia (1991) 240 [36]
Zimbabwe (1992) 232 [36]
Vatican City (1996) 228 [22]
Qatar (1996) 209 [38]
Kuwait (1992) 196 [38]
Tanzania (1990) 172 [36]
Botswana (1991) 158 [36]
Tajikistan (1996) 132 [38]
Papua New Guinea (1991) 122 [47]
Madagascar (1996) 119 [36]
Malawi (1996) 117 [36]
Palestine (1996) 114 [38]
Namibia (1990) 106 [36]
Eritrea (1993) 106 [36]
Brunei Darussalam (2009) 91 [14]
Laos (1995) 88 [38]
Benin (1994) 84 [36]
Mauritius (1996) 80 [36]- Réunion (1992) 69 [36]
Democratic Republic of the Congo (1992) 64 [36]
Andorra (1994) 57 [22]
Suriname (1996) 47 [17]
Guyana (1996) 42 [17]
Monaco (1990) 41 [22]
Bahrain (1996) 40 [38]
Ghana (1992) 28 [36]
Libya (1994) 26 [36]
Angola (1995) 22 [36]
Mali (1995) 14 [36]
Gambia (1996) 14 [36]
Burkina Faso (1996) 12 [36]
Oman (1996) 7 [38]
TOTAL: approximately 2,200,000
You will also notice that 'total' figure at the bottom of the list of 124 countries: 2,200,000.
Does that mean the total number of books published by the 124 countries for the years listed? I thought the number would be higher. What do you think?
Are the years listed by the countries the latest year data is available for those countries? And if so, why?
Why, in this day and age, can't they update this list yearly?
And lastly, do the 196 total countries (-) 124 countries in the list = 72 countries, that are not listed, mean that these 72 countries do not publish at all? (I seriously doubt it since I believe the Vatican even has its own press!)
Interesting little tidbits and a great list of colored country flags :)
Get the Writers Welcome Blog on your Kindle :)))
No comments:
Post a Comment