Toyako, Japan - The 2008 Group of Eight summit is taking place July 7-9 on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido in the town of Toyako. DELEGATES: With more than 2,000 delegates in total, it is the largest G8 summit ever.
Besides the leaders of the G8 nations of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States attending, there are the government leaders of seven African nations - Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania - and representatives from the so-called "developing countries" of China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Also in attendance are representatives from Australia, Indonesia and South Korea.
AGES: Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda from Japan and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi are at 71 the oldest G8 leaders. The youngest is Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev at 42.
Japan's Prime Minister Fukuda's wife Kiyoko is 64, and the oldest among the eight first ladies. President Nicolas Sarkozy's new wife Carla Bruni is the youngest at 40.
HEIGHT: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the tallest G8 leader at 182 centimetres while President Dmitry Medvedev is the shortest at 157 cm.
MEDIA: There are approximately 4,000 journalists covering the summit from a specially built 2.8 billion yen (25.92 million dollars), media centre. One hundred antennas were put up for mobile phones.
SITE: The world leaders are staying at the luxurious Hotel Windsor, 620-metres high and overlooking Lake Toya.
SECURITY: There are more than 20,000 police providing security.
COST: The total cost of the three-day summit was estimated at 60 billion yen.
FOOD: Fifty chefs from 23 local hotels are creating special meals using 105 different local products.
NGOs: More than 140 non-government organizations are holding an alternative summit in the provincal capital Sapporo.
