Of the remaining 27 articles common to both, three have been abridged in BE20 while six are more detailed. The others have somewhat the same scope but are in part paraphrased. Alternativkultur is no longer a headword. Articles on the subject of debt and the environment are notable in BE20 in their scope. Only a few illustrations have been brought up to date in BE20.
Drawings have to a large extent remained the same.
Dates in tables have been brought up to the most recent status, and some new tables have been included. The maps at the beginning of articles about countries have not been enlarged, but they have been made more attractive. Literature references have generally been updated, in some cases up to 1995, but for some topics scarcely treated before a number of obsolete references have not been updated. The most recent revision of gyptologie dates from 1986, for the Allg u 1984, and so on. The publisher has done his best to produce a standard, basic encyclopedia, though the product is not without gaps.