poverty – Page 3 – Desdemona Despair

Rough rice prices from the Chicago Board of Trade, 19 April 2018 - 19 April 2023. Graphic: CNBC

April 19, 2023

Global rice shortage in 2023 is set to be the biggest in 20 years – “At the global level, the most evident impact of the global rice deficit has been, and still is, decade-high rice prices”

By Lee Ying Shan 18 April 2023 (CNBC) – From China to the U.S. to the European Union, rice production is falling and driving up prices for more than 3.5 billion people across the globe, particularly in Asia-Pacific – which consumes 90% of the world’s rice. The global rice market is set to log its largest […]

Average age at death in U.S. counties, 2020. Data: CDC Death Records. The U.S. is experiencing the greatest gap in life expectancy across regions in the last 40 years. Americans born in certain areas of Mississippi and Florida may die 20 years younger than their peers born in parts of Colorado and California. Graphic: Jeremy Ney / American Inequality

April 15, 2023

Americans are dying younger, and where you live makes a big difference – Americans born in Mississippi and Florida may die 20 years younger than their peers born in Colorado and California

By Jeremy Ney 12 April 2023 (TIME) – The average U.S. life expectancy has hit its worst decline in 100 years and America’s standing is dismal among peer nations. But the average obscures a more complex story. The United States is facing the greatest divide in life expectancy across regions in the last 40 years. Research from American […]

Maternal mortality rates, by race and Hispanic origin: United States, 2018–2021. In 2021, 1,205 women died of maternal causes in the United States compared with 861 in 2020 and 754 in 2019. The maternal mortality rate for 2021 was 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with a rate of 23.8 in 2020 and 20.1 in 2019. Graphic: CDC

April 4, 2023

Maternal deaths in the U.S. spiked in 2021, CDC reports – “There is just no reason for a rich country to have poor maternal mortality”

By Selena Simmons-Duffin and Carmel Wroth 16 March 2023 (NPR) – In 2021, the U.S. had one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the country’s history, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report found that 1,205 people died of maternal causes in the U.S. in 2021. That […]

Ni-Vanuatu are continuing to rebuild after twin cyclones struck the island nation in February 2023. Photo: Trix Roberts

March 30, 2023

UN backs landmark Pacific-led resolution clearing way for International Court of Justice advisory opinion on climate obligations

By Prianka Srinivasan, Fred Hooper and Melissa Maykin 29 March 2023 (ABC) – The United Nations has adopted a landmark resolution asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to deliver an opinion on climate change and the legal consequences countries face for harming the environment. It is the culmination of a four-year push led by […]

Aerial view of cars immersed in floodwaters on 11 January 2023 in Planada, California. The Central Valley town of Planada was devastated by widespread flooding after a severe atmospheric river event moved through the area earlier in the week. The San Francisco Bay Area and much of California continued to be drenched by powerful atmospheric river events that brought high winds and flooding rains. The storms toppled trees, flooded roads, and cut power to tens of thousands. Storms lined up over the Pacific Ocean and brought more rain and wind through the end of the week. Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

February 28, 2023

“A town of Hispanics left in the dark”: Rural California town of Planada flooded, now forgotten – “We are traumatized and scared. What is the county going to do to take care of its rural communities?”

By Jessica Garrison 14 February 2023 PLANADA, California (Los Angeles Times) – Once the levee broke, the water rose so quickly that in the few minutes it took Erica Lopez Bedolla to decide to evacuate and gather her children and a few necessities, it had surged from her ankles to her knees. What followed that […]

Total household debt in the United States, 2004-2022. Total household debt rose by $394 billion, or 2.4 percent, to $16.90 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. Credit card balances increased by $61 billion to reach $986 billion, surpassing the pre-pandemic high of $927 billion; mortgage balances rose to $11.92 trillion, auto loan balances to $1.55 trillion, and student loan balances to $1.60 trillion. The share of current debt transitioning into delinquency increased for nearly all debt types. Graphic: FBNY Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax

February 27, 2023

U.S. household debt hit record $16.9 trillion in Q4 2022, as consumers loaded up their credit cards – “It’s triple trouble for credit card borrowers”

By Alicia Wallace 17 February 2023 Minneapolis (CNN) – Americans continued to add to their debt at the end of last year — and grew their credit card balances at record rates, according to data released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Total US household debt hit a record $16.9 trillion during the fourth […]

Avoidable deaths per 100,000 population (standardized rates) in OECD nations, 2000-2020. Avoidable deaths per 100,000 population in the U.S. are higher than the OECD average. Graphic: The Commonwealth Fund

January 31, 2023

U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating spending, worsening outcomes – “Americans are more likely to die younger, and from avoidable causes, than residents of peer countries”

By Munira Z. Gunja, Evan D. Gumas, and Reginald D. Williams II 31 January 2023 (The Commonwealth Fund) – In the previous edition of U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, we reported that people in the United States experience the worst health outcomes overall of any high-income nation.1 Americans are more likely to die younger, and […]

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, […]

Percentage of OECD countries experiencing higher-than-average inflation, 1970-2022. The global inflation shock that began in the United States in 2021 and took hold worldwide in 2022 will have powerful economic and political ripple effects in 2023. It will be the principal driver of global recession, add to financial stress, and stoke social discontent and political instability everywhere. Today’s historically high inflation comes from multiple sources. First was the Covid-19 pandemic, which prompted governments to cushion the fall in incomes with extraordinary fiscal and monetary stimulus at the same time that it disrupted global supply. Then, just as the United States and Europe were coming out of the pandemic thanks to vaccines, China doubled down on its zero-Covid policy, locking down the global economy’s most important manufacturing and shipping hubs. Finally, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s sanctions in response put a strain on the global supply of energy, food, and fertilizer. This unprecedented confluence of overlapping shocks pushed inflation to levels most countries hadn’t seen in nearly 50 years. Graphic: Eurasia Group

January 22, 2023

Eurasia Group’s Top Risks for 2023 – “The risks this year are the most dangerous we’ve encountered in the 25 years since we started Eurasia Group”

By Ian Bremmer and Cliff Kupchan 3 January 2023 (Eurasia Group) – Russia has no way to win in Ukraine. The European Union is stronger than ever. NATO rediscovered its reason for being. The G7 is strengthening. Renewables are becoming dirt cheap. American hard power remains unrivaled. Midterms in the United States were decidedly normal […]

FAO Food Price Index in real terms, 1961-2022. In 2022, the U.N. organization’s Food Price Index hit the highest level since its records began in 1961, according to FAO data. Data: UN FAO. Graphic: James P. Galasyn

January 6, 2023

Global food prices in 2022 hit record high amid drought, war

ROME, 6 January 2023 (AP) – Global prices for food commodities like grain and vegetable oils were the highest on record last year even after falling for nine months in a row, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said, as Russia’s war in Ukraine, drought and other factors drove up inflation and worsened hunger worldwide. The FAO […]