Time Almanac 2008 carries more data than economist
the heads for all the countries are as:
for example
PAKISTAN
the map with surrounding countries
sub heads
official name
form of government
chiefs of state and government
capital
official language
official religion
monetary unit

DEMOGRAPHY
sub heads
area
population
density
urban
gender distribution
age break down
ethnic composition
religious affiliation
major cities
location

VITAL STATISTICS
sub heads
birth rate
death rate
natural increase rate per 1000 population
total fertility rate
life expectancy at birth

NATIONAL ECONOMY
sub head
budget
public debt
production
population economically active
GNP
house hold income and expenditure
tourism
land use

FOREIGN TRADE
sub heads
imports
exports

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION
subheads
transport
communication

EDUCATION AND HEALTH
subheads
educational attainment
literacy
health
food

MILITARY
subhead
total active duty personnel
military expediture as percentage of GNP

BACKGROUND

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

web resource
www.infopak.gov.pk

this is just a chapter for all the countries and devotes 1.5 of the pages in dictionary format with font size of about 8 for almost each of them, i.e considerable data under subheads;
plus people of the year time 2007
science and technology
who is who
a couple of current topics
flags
maps
world
and 1/3rd of the book is devoted to USA only

see today's paper in dawn books and authors section
this book topped the liberty list
and believe you me i m not getting a single penny of commission for marketing this (:

for economist get a review at stall
it ll be out by the first week of December
i guess almanac carries more than economist, as economist special is concise, can't say if that is equally good.

i am unable to type further notes as i just couldn't find time to study them at work, therefore the rest of stuff is in raw form, if just in case you want to know about some topic kindly ask, I'll try to work that out and let you know the sources and areas i used, sorry for delay as dial ups at suburbs are so pathetic, soon i ll give u my website collection of geography i 've separated my bookmarks into categories.
regards