Bermuda has the world's highest marriage rates and among the lowest divorce rates, according to the Economist magazine and also retains its place in the club of the world's most affluent and consumerist nations.

But it is also listed among the top six nations with the highest incidence of AIDS per capita . And it has comparatively more people in prison than almost every other country in the world - including China, Cuba and South Africa.

The rankings are contained in the latest edition of the Economist Pocket World in Figures, an annual publication.

Using data compiled from a variety of sources, the publication contains dozens of tables which ranks countries' performance according to a number of social, economic and other indicators.

Bermuda comes sixth for the incidence of AIDS as of November 15 last year, with 540.6 cases per 100,000 population. The African nation of Congo-Brazzaville tops the list with 1,421.6 per 100,000 of its population. In second and third place are Namibia and the Bahamas with 1,142.9 and 1,039.6 respectively.

Statistics on AIDS depend on the efficiency of the reporting system in place and the quality of the medical system and is likely to be under-reported in many countries.

According to the Economist, Bermuda shares first place with Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore in the list of countries with the highest urban population. All four are reported to have 100 percent of its population living in urban areas.

Belgium and Kuwait come next at 97 percent.

While Bermuda does not make it onto lists of countries with the highest crime statistics, its prison population statistics are quite dire when compared to the rest of the world. At 447 prisoners per 100,000 population the Island's lock up rate is the seventh highest in the world. Topping that list is the United States with 702 people in prison per 100,000 of its population. The US is followed closely by Russia (635) and former Soviet Republics Belarus and Kazakhstan with 577 and 494 respectively. Martinique (490) and Bahamas (478) come fifth and sixth.

Cuba, long vilified for intolerant hardline policies, comes at the bottom of the list of 22 countries with a penchant for locking up its citizens. The communist nation has 297 prisoners per 100,000 of its population.

China, with close to one and a half million people in prison, is not on the list.

The good news for Bermuda comes with statistics on affluence, marriage and divorce rates. According to the Economist, which says its data is based on the latest available figures, Bermuda has the highest marriage rate in the world - with 15.7 marriages per 1,000 population. The Island is followed closely by Barbados, Cyprus and the United Kingdom with 13.5, 11.0, and 10.7 marriages per 1,000 population respectively.

And Bermuda shares eleventh place with Chile, Libya and Macau when it comes to the lowest divorce rates - with just 0.6 divorces per 1,000 population recorded. Topping the lowest divorce rates table is Colombia, Guatemala and Nicaragua with just 0.2 divorces per 1,000 population.

Bermuda leads the world in the number of telephone lines per 100 people (85.7). Coming second and third are Norway (72.9) and Luxembourg (72.4) respectively.

And 43.7 percent of Bermuda's population own computers, putting it at eighth place and ten spots above the United Kingdom where only 33.8 percent of the population own computers. Topping that list is the United States, Sweden and Switzerland with 58.5, 50.7 and 50.3 percent respectively.

At $41,000 per head Bermuda's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is second only to Luxembourg's $42,930. Switzerland comes third with 36,310.

But Bermuda's high cost of living relegates it to ninth place in the list of countries with the highest purchasing power. The list, which computes "purchasing power parity" estimates by making cost of living adjustments and using the United States as a benchmark, is topped by Luxembourg, the United States and Switzerland respectively.

The country with the lowest GDP is Ethiopia which rakes in just $100 per person annually. GDP is defined as the sum of all economic output within a country.