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.

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says AI can be both a force for good and a tool for harm. “AI has either the possibility of…providing interventions and disruption, or it has the ability to also further harms, increase radicalization, and exacerbate issues of terrorism and extremism online.”

Demonstrators carry the dead body of a man killed during a protest a day after a general election marred by violent demonstrations over the exclusion of two leading opposition candidates at the Namanga One-Post Border crossing point between Kenya and Tanzania, as seen from Namanga, Kenya October 30, 2025.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Tanzania has been rocked by violence for three days now, following a national election earlier this week. Protestors are angry over the banning of candidates and detention of opposition leaders by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Illegal immigrants from Ethiopia walk on a road near the town of Taojourah February 23, 2015. The area, described by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as one of the most inhospitable areas in the world, is on a transit route for thousands of immigrants every year from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia travelling via Yemen to Saudi Arabia in hope of work. Picture taken February 23.
REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

7,500: The Trump administration will cap the number of refugees that the US will admit over the next year to 7,500. The previous limit, set by former President Joe Biden, was 125,000. The new cap is a record low. White South Africans will have priority access.

- YouTube

In an era characterized by rapid technological advancement, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence present both challenges and opportunities. At the 2025 Paris Peace Forum, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis engages in an insightful conversation with Dame Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Lisa Monaco, President of Global Affairs at Microsoft, discussing strategies for a secure digital future.

- YouTube

As AI adoption accelerates globally, questions of equity and access are coming to the forefront. Speaking with GZERO’s Tony Maciulis on the sidelines of the 2025 Paris Peace Forum, Chris Sharrock, Vice President of UN Affairs and International Organizations at Microsoft, discusses the role of technology in addressing global challenges.