HARD NUMBERS

90: The World Health Organization has found that more than 90 percent of the world’s young people, around 1.8 billion children, are exposed to toxic air pollution today. That’s a time bomb for health implications in many countries around the world.

70: A large majority (70 percent) of Mexicans who participated in a referendum on whether to continue building a new international airport voted to scrap the project. The only problem: just one percent of Mexico’s electorate participated in the vote, which was backed by President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador but not officially sanctioned by the government.

1.25: Today, Uganda is home to 1.25 million refugees, or about 3 percent of its total population, making it one of the world’s most welcoming countries. Rural Ugandans, whose experience of displacement after a brutal civil war in the 80s, have been remarkably accepting of those fleeing violence in neighboring South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Kongo, and Burundi.

1: Around 70 percent of U.S. firms operating in southern China are considering either delaying or ending investments there as trade tensions between Washington and Beijing grow, according to a new American Chamber of Commerce survey. Of these firms, only 1 percent say they have plans to establish new manufacturing bases in North America.

2/3: Since 1990, China has accounted for two-thirds of those lifted out of poverty globally.  It has also contributed just under two-thirds to the global increase in military spending over the same period.

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Hamas militant stands guard, as heavy machinery operates at the site where searches are underway for the bodies of hostages killed after being seized by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, October 17, 2025.
REUTERS/Stringer

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As the US economy continues to defy expectations, Eurasia Group Managing Director of Global Macro Robert Kahn says the key question is whether a slowdown has been avoided or merely delayed. “The headline here is the impressive resilience of the US, maybe also the global economy over the last six months,” Kahn tells GZERO Media’s Tony Maciulis on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank–IMF Annual Meetings.