Table of Contents
About the author 8
Introduction 9
The problem with maps 16
Acknowledgements 17
Part 1 Who We Are 18
The States of the World: Most states are relatively recent creations 20
Population: Global population continues to grow but the rate of increase is slowing 22
Life Expectancy: Average life expectancy is higher than ever before and rising 24
Ethnicity and Diversity: People divided by ethnic difference live side by side in peace more often than they fight 26
Religious Beliefs: Difference within religions are often as intense as differences between them 28
Literacy & Education: More teachers are needed if the trend towards greater school enrolment is to continue 30
Urbanization: For the first time in history, most people live in cities 32
Diversity of Cities: Cities reflect the diversity of the world 34
Part 2 Wealth & Poverty 36
Income: Economic growth continues to outpace the growth in world population 38
Inequality: While 2.6 billion people live in poverty, there are more billionaires than ever 40
Quality of Life: Rich countries inevitably offer a high quality of life 42
Transnationals: The revenues of the largest corporations outstrip those of many countries 44
Banks: Despite everything, bankers continue to reap huge financial rewards 46
Corruption: Corruption is pervasive, some countries run on it 48
DEBT: Debt has soared but not everybody, everywhere is equally in debt 50
Tourism: Tourism is predicted to rise, bringing much-needed income to many smaller economies 52
Goals for Development: Development progress is real but patchy 54
Part 3 War & Peace 56
Wars in the 21st Century: This is an era of growing peace, despite the wars that persist 58
Warlords, Ganglords, & Militias: Armed conflicts fought between non-state armed forces are proliferating 60
Military Muscle: Despite the global economic crisis, military spending remains buoyant 62
The New Front Line: Warfare has evolved and is now entering cyber space 64
Casualities of War: Data on war deaths are incomplete and contentious 66
Refugees: 30 million people are refugees from war and repression 68
Peacekeeping: After a period of rapid increase, the number of peacekeeping missions has started to decline 70
Global Peacefulness: Understanding what makes societies peaceful is a significant step towards the world becoming more peaceful 72
Part 4 Rights & Respect 74
Political Systems: The global trend is for more countries to become democratic 76
Religious Rights: Almost a quarter of the world's states have formal links to a religion 78
Human Rights: In some countries the greatest menace citizens face comes from the state 80
Children's Rights: Although respect for children's rights is increasing, millions still stuffer terrible abuse 82
Women's Rights: Thought gender equality is advancing, women worldwide remain financially and politically disadvantaged 84
Gay Rights: Gay people experience varying degrees of acceptance from fellow citizens and authorities 86
Part 5 Health of the People 88
Malnutrition: Many of the world's poor suffer from diets deficient in calories and/or vital nutrients 90
Obesity: Many of the world's rich suffer from diets deficient in nutrients, but over-packed with unnecessary calories 92
Smoking: Between a third and a half of smokers die from tobacco-related diseases 94
Cancer: As countries become more prosperous, and their lifestyles and diets are changing, their cancer rate is rising 96
HIV/AIDS: Education and treatment are beginning to slow the rate of new HIV/AIDS infections and deaths 98
Mental Health: Poor countries lack the resources needed to treat mental and behavioural disorders 100
Living with Disease: Years of healthy life are lost to disease and disability 102
Part 6 Health of the Planet 104
Warning Signs: Things are changing in the natural world-and not many of the changes are to the good 106
Biodiversity: Efforts to slow the loss of species of animals and plants have not been successful so far 108
Water Resources: By 2025, two-thirds of the world population will have an inadequate supply of water 110
Waste: Waste, especially plastic waste, is a serious global problem on both land and sea 112
Energy Use: World energy use is increasing, especially in the most rapidly developing economies 114
Climate Change: The build-up of carbon emissions has reached a critical point 116
Planetary Boundaries: There are limits beyond which human impact on the Earth's balanced ecosystems will have as yet unknown consequences 118
Part 7 Vital Statistics 120
World Tables 122
Notes & Sources 138
Index 143
