Hard Numbers

7: A no-deal Brexit would push the UK into recession and hit its economy seven times harder than the rest of the EU, the IMF forecast on Tuesday.

529 billion: Remittances (money sent home by immigrants) to low- and middle-income countries set a record in 2018, according to the World Bank. The total reached $529 billion, a sum greater than foreign investment in the developing world during the same period.

11: More evidence the US economy remains strong: According to official data released in March, the US economy had 7.6 million unfilled jobs at the end of January, but just 6.5 million people looking for work. That was the 11th straight month the number of US job openings topped the number of job seekers.

85: By 2050, up to 85 percent of the world's French speakers will live in Africa, according to estimates from an organization that monitors language statistics. That's up from about 44 percent of all French speakers today. The expected increase will come mainly from rising birth rates in French-speaking African countries but also higher rates of French language study in both English and Portuguese-speaking African countries.

More from GZERO Media

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As the candidates make their final arguments in the 2024 US Presidential Election, the economy is front and center on the minds of voters. Despite all signs indicating stable and above-trend growth in the US, many Americans feel uncertain about how well the economy is doing, said Robert Kahn, Managing Director of Global Macro-Geoeconomics at Eurasia Group.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks to the media during an International Monetary and Financial Committee press briefing on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024.
Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters

At the plenary session concluding the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s 2024 Annual Meetings in Washington, DC, on Friday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva made clear there was no time to rest. Although wealthy countries seem likely to achieve the much-vaunted “soft landing” — reducing inflation without a recession — geopolitical, climactic, and fiscal risks are putting great strain on the world’s most vulnerable economies.

Supporters attend a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, U.S., on Oct. 27, 2024.

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

With the US election just eight days away, it’s crunch time for the presidential campaigns. Republican candidate Donald Trump headlined a rally Sunday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, a state that last backed a Republican in 1984. Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, was in Pennsylvania, visiting a barbershop and a Puerto Rican restaurant

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is pictured during a media interview at the headquarters of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo on Oct. 27, 2024.

Kyodo via Reuters Connect

Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito lost their parliamentary majority on Sunday in an election dominated by economic and ethical issues.

Supporters of the Georgian Dream party wave Georgian and party flags from cars after the announcement of poll results in parliamentary elections, in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 26, 2024.
REUTERS/Zurab Javakhadze

Opposition coalitions in the country of Georgia and its pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili are accusing the incumbent Georgian Dream of stealing Saturday’s election, calling the results “falsified” and a “constitutional coup.”

The clock is ticking on efforts to help halt and reverse biodiversity loss, but there’s still time to help support the animals, plants, and ecosystems that are all necessary for a healthy planet. In order to protect biodiversity — every living organism and ecosystem from microbes to mangroves — citizens, companies, and countries all need to do their part. That’s why the Mastercard-led Priceless Planet Coalition is on a mission to restore 100 million trees and regenerate biodiversity-rich forests. Read more about the Coalition's approach and progress.

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Delegates at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings have been giving rosy outlooks to the press while the cameras are rolling, but GZERO Senior Writer Matthew Kendrick heard a different story in private settings. He told Tony Maciulis that the global outlook depends heavily on US policy continuity — which is highly unlikely under a second Trump administration — and successful efforts in China to revive its own floundering economy.

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This week World Bank announced a bold initiative to bridge the gender divide by creating more economic opportunity, broadening female leadership, and reducing gender-based violence in the next 5 years as 2030 approaches.