the needs of U.S. government officials. The introductory sections explain the format and content adjustments made since previous editions, laying a foundation for understanding each included nation's unique features. For instance, the facts provided for countries like Afghanistan, Albania, and Algeria introduce vital statistics about their geography, populations, economies, and government types, highlighting historical contexts such as Afghanistan's civil war and Algeria's reliance on oil exports. This serves as a fundamental resource for policy-making and research related to international relations and comparative studies in the political and economic landscape. (This is an automatically generated summary.)