GlobalIssues.org Blog

The latest data covering global arms sales shows that sale of arms in 2007 increased to almost $60 billion, 70% of which went to developing countries. Updated graphs and charts on arms sales data are provided here. The arms trade is big business. The 5 permanent members of the UN...

According to the OECD, inequality in industrialized nations has increased in the last two decades. The gap between rich and poor has grown in more than three-quarters of rich countries since the mid-1980s, while the last 5 years also saw growing poverty and inequality in two-thirds of OECD countries. This...

As countries scramble to meet and address the deepening global financial crisis, what are the impacts for developing countries, and where will reforms and fundamental rethinking be needed? This update looks at some of these issues further.

Obesity is a growing problem around the world. This update includes additional statistics for global obesity and overweight estimates and includes an animation of how obesity in the United States has dramatically increased between 1985 and 2007.

The global financial crisis having started in wealthy countries is being felt around the world. Rich country governments rush to bail out failing institutions, many of which are responsible for the problems in the first place. By contrast, ordinary citizens and smaller businesses rarely get such protections. On the other...

The latest World Bank figures for world poverty reveals a higher number of people live in poverty than previously thought. For example, the new poverty line is defined as $1.25 a day. 1.4 billion people live on or below that line. Furthermore, almost half the world—over three billion people—live on...

Inequality is a major cause of death, a World Health Organization report notes. A 3-year study found that even in wealthier nations, average life span can vary by some 28 years and the poorer you are the more likely you are to die younger. The majority of the world does...

This web site has continued to grow. From July 2007 to end of June 2008, over 16 million pages were viewed on the site (up from about 14 million the previous year). During peak periods of the year, the site was getting, on average, some 60-70,000 page views per day....

To mark the 10 year anniversary the global issues web site was redesigned. This is actually something that I had wanted to do for a while, but the anniversary provided a good excuse to actually do it. The purpose of the redesign was two-fold: 1) I was always uncomfortable with...

Countries and regions such as the US and EU have claimed the impact of biofuels on the food crisis has been minimal and that instead demand from countries such as India and China are amongst the prime factors. However, a World Bank report finds that biofuels have forced global food...