Central America – Page 2 – Desdemona Despair

Graphic showing the years in which the gender gap will be closed in various world regions, as measured in the year 2023. In Latin America, the gap is estimated to close in 53 years. In East Asia and the Pacific, the gap is estimated to close in 189 years. Graphic: World Economic Forum

June 27, 2023

It could take 131 years for the world to close the gender gap – “Not only are millions of women and girls losing out on economic access and opportunity, but these reversals also have wide-ranging consequences for the global economy”

By Alicia Wallace 20 June 2023 Minneapolis (CNN) – Progress on achieving global gender equality is languishing. A new report from the World Economic Forum estimates that women won’t attain parity with men for another 131 years. In other words, not until 2154. The overall gender gap — a measurement of equality across the realms of the economy, politics, […]

Change Over Time in (a) US Life Expectancy and (b) US Life Expectancy Gap and Rank Relative to Populous Countries (Population>500000), 1950-2021. Phase 1=1950–1954; phase 2=1955–1973; phase 3=1974–1982; phase 4=1983–2009; phase 5=2010–2019; phase 6=2020–2021. Bars plot the difference in life expectancy between the United States and the populous country (population >500000) with the highest life expectancy in the given year. The country with the highest life expectancy was Norway in 1950–1962 and 1976–1977, Sweden in 1963 and 1965–1975, the Netherlands in 1964, Japan in 1978–2007, Macao in 2008–2010, and Japan in 2011–2021. The line graph plots US rank relative to other populous countries, with higher rank denoting lower US life expectancy. Source: Author’s calculations based on UN data. Graphic: Steven H. Woolf MD, MPH, 2023 / AJPH

June 3, 2023

U.S. has been falling behind on life expectancy for decades – Between 1933 and 2021, 56 countries achieved higher life expectancy than U.S. – “Americans are sicker and die earlier than people in dozens of countries”

By Olivia Trani 1 June 2023 (VCU) – When it comes to public health, the United States is at a disadvantage compared with other developed countries. Americans experience more illness, have less access to health care and pay more for health services than citizens in other high-income countries. Americans also die earlier – and have been doing so […]

Map showing early warning hunger hotspots, June-November 2023. Hunger was set to worsen in 18 “hotspots” worldwide including Sudan, where fighting put people at risk of starvation, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a report published on Monday, 29 May 2023. Sudan, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Mali were elevated to the highest alert level, joining Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. Graphic: UN FAO

June 3, 2023

UN agencies warn of rising hunger risk in 18 “hotspots” – “Not only are more people in more places around the world going hungry, but the severity of the hunger they face is worse than ever”

29 May 2023 (UN News) – Hunger is set to worsen in 18 “hotspots” worldwide including Sudan, where fighting is putting people at risk of starvation, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a report published on Monday. Sudan, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Mali have been elevated to the highest alert level, joining Afghanistan, Nigeria, […]

People jostle each other to buy subsidized sacks of wheat flour in Quetta, Pakistan, Thursday, 12 January 2023, after a recent price hike of flour in the country. An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China - including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia and Laos - found the debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. Photo: Arshad Butt / AP Photo

May 21, 2023

China’s loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse – “In a lot of the world, the clock has hit midnight”

By Bernard Condon 18 May 2023 (AP News) – A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China. An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted […]

State of press freedom worldwide 2013-2023. Changes in 180 countries and territories evaluated by RSF since 2013. In 2023, the situation was “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In other words, the environment for journalism was “bad” in seven out of ten countries, and satisfactory in only three out of ten. Graphic: RSF

May 9, 2023

2023 World Press Freedom Index – Journalism threatened by fake content industry – The environment for journalism is “bad” in seven out of ten countries, satisfactory in only three out of ten

3 May 2023 (RSF) – According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index – which evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) – the situation is “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In […]

EIU Democracy Index 2022, global map by regime type. The average global index score stagnated in 2022. Despite expectations of a rebound after the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions, the score was almost unchanged, at 5.29 (on a 0-10 scale), compared with 5.28 in 2021. The positive effect of the restoration of individual freedoms was cancelled out by negative developments globally. The scores of more than half of the countries measured by the index either stagnated or declined. Western Europe was a positive outlier, being the only region whose score returned to pre-pandemic levels. Graphic: EIU

February 3, 2023

EIU Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine – “Overall the story is one of stagnation. This is a dismal result given that in 2022 the world started to move on from the pandemic-related suppression of individual liberties that persisted through 2020 and 2021”

1 February 2023 (EIU) – The Democracy Index, which began in 2006, provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories. This covers almost the entire population of the world and the vast majority of the world’s states (microstates are excluded). The Democracy Index is based on five […]

A graveyard that has been washed into the sea due to coastal erosion at Monkey River, a coastal village in south-east Belize. Photo: Andrea Ocampo / UN Video

January 30, 2023

Saving a Belize village from man-made erosion – “I don’t want to see more graves go to the sea”

8 January 2023 (UN News) – “My grandma and my grandfather are now washed out in the sea,” says Mario Muschamp, gazing out at the coast near his close-knit Creole community. “You know, their graves are gone. That really hurts.” This is the reality for the inhabitants of Monkey River, who have watched on, powerless, […]

Map showing Biodiversity Intactness Index for the year 2020 at 0.25° resolution. The global average is 77 percent. Data: Natural History Museum, 2022. Graphic: WWF / ZSL

October 27, 2022

WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 reveals devastating 69 percent average drop in wildlife populations since 1970 – “We have cut away the very foundation of life and the situation continues to worsen”

TORONTO, 12 October 2022 (WWF-Canada) – Monitored wildlife populations — mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish — have seen a devastating 69 per cent drop on average since 1970 according to WWF’s Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022. The report highlights the stark outlook of the state of nature and urgently warns governments, businesses and the public to take […]

Colombian natives and activists during a protest in Bogotá, Colombia, on 23 August 2019. Photo: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP / Getty Images

October 21, 2022

Countries where the most people are killed defending the environment

By Angelo Young 15 October 2022 (24/7 Wall St.) – As the world comes to the realization of the profound damages human beings are causing to natural environments worldwide, groups across the globe have long been trying to protect the local land and environment. In some places, these struggles are not always peaceful, and last […]

Prevalence of undernourishment (left axis) and number of undernourished people (right axis), 2005-2021. World hunger rose further in 2021, following a sharp upturn in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The persistence of the pandemic and its enduring consequences, which exacerbated existing inequalities, have contributed to further setbacks in 2021 toward achievement of the Zero Hunger target by 2030. Between 702 and 828 million people in the world faced hunger in 2021. Considering the middle of the projected range (768 million), hunger affected 46 million more people in 2021 compared to 2020, and a total of 150 million more people since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Graphic: FAO

July 6, 2022

UN report: World hunger rose again in 2021, with 2.3 billion people severely or moderately hungry – “This year’s report should dispel any lingering doubts that the world is moving backward in its efforts to end hunger”

By Edith M. Lederer 6 July 2022 UNITED NATIONS (AP) – World hunger rose in 2021, with around 2.3 billion people facing moderate or severe difficulty obtaining enough to eat — and that was before the Ukraine war, which has sparked increases in the cost of grain, fertilizer and energy, according to a U.N. report […]