Interest rates at their highest in decades, wars in Europe and the Middle East, elections in countries as important as America and India. No matter. The world economy delivered another strong performance in 2024; according to the IMF, global GDP will grow by 3.2%. Inflation has eased and employment growth remains solid. Stockmarkets have risen […]
For one thing, 2024 saw the second-weakest rise in nominal GDP since the 1970s Photograph: Getty Images Jan 17th 2025|Hong Kong The company at the heart of “Severance”, a celebrated TV show that just began its second season, features a department of “Macrodata Refinement”. Its workers must spot disconcerting numbers and lock them away in […]
SORTING COUNTRIES into rich and poor can be difficult. Measures such as GDP are affected by population size (more people generally mean more output). But adjusting for population alone is not enough. Dollar income per person does not account for differences in prices between countries (a Big Mac, for example, will set you back more […]
The 2024 World Risk Report is out, highlighting which countries are most at risk from natural disasters, and what can be done to prevent catastrophes and mitigate the effects. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought, frequent typhoons and floods: in the Philippines, natural disasters are almost a part of everyday life. Most recently, Typhoon Yagi, locally […]