Cities of the World represents a compilation of government reports and
original research on the social, cultural, political, and industrial
aspects of the nations
and cities of the world. Most of the country profiles included here are
based on official personnel briefings issued as Post Reports by the
U.S. Department of State. The Post Reports are designed to acquaint
embassy personnel with life in the host country. Consequently, the
reports concentrate on cities in which the U.S. government has
embassies or consulates. To increase coverage of other important
cities, the editors have added information on a large number of cities—
31 of which are new to this edition—not reported on by the Department
of State.