United States yearbook - 1982 (1)

854 Comparative International Statistics
Economic associations.—The Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), a regional
grouping of Western European countries established in 1948 for the purpose of harmonizing
national economic policies and conditions, was succeeded on September 30, 1961, by the Organization
tor Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The member nations of the OECD are
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany,
Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, plus Yugoslavia
in special status category.
Quality and comparability of the data.—The quality and comparability of the data presented
here are affected by a number of factors:
(1) The year for which data are presented may not be the same for all subjects for a particular
country, or for a given subject for different countries, though the data shown are the most
recent available. All such variations have been noted. The data shown are for calendar years
except as otherwise specified.
(2) The bases, methods of estimating, methods of data collection, extent of coverage, precision
of definition, scope of territory, and margins of error may vary for different items within a
particular country, and for like items for different countries. Footnotes and headnotes to the
tables give a few of the major time-period and coverage qualifications attached to the figures;
considerably more detail is presented in the source publications. Many of the measures shown
are, at best, merely rough indicators of magnitude.
It should be noted, for example, that In interpreting the absolute levels of GNP and per
capita GNP, the market exchange rates used in converting national currencies to U.S. dollars
do not necessarily reflect the relative purchasing power of the various currencies.
As a consequence, it should not be concluded, for instance, that Switzerland’s individual
standard of living in 1981 was 21 percent higher than that of the U.S., or that the U.K.'s was
30 percent lower, as the statistics may imply. (See table 1526.)
(3) Figures shown in this section for the United States may not always agree with figures
shown in ths preceding sections. Disagreements may be attributable to the use of differing
original sources, a difference in the definition of geographic limits (the 50 States, conterminous
United States only, or the United States including certain outlying areas and possessions), or
to possible adjustments made in the United States figures by the United Nations or other
sources in order to make them more comparable with figures from other countries.
Conversion factors.—To facilitate comparison in terms of familiar units, some items shown in
metric units in the source have been converted to U.S. equivalents by means of the abbreviated
conversion factors shown below. Additional conversion factors appear on p. xii.
Conversion Factors
Metric units
U.S. equivalents
1 square kilometer..................................... 0.3861 sq. mite
1 metric ton (1,000 kilograms)................................. 1.1023 short tons
1 hectolitre......................... 26.4172 U.S. gallons
1 cubic meter................................ 35.3147 cubic feet