Hard Numbers: Vietnam on the rise, China delays developing countries' debt, Americans wary of Chinese power, European woes

5: At a time when most national economies are reeling, one country is faring very well. After responding to the pandemic early and quickly, Vietnam, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, has recorded no deaths from COVID-19 and even is slated to grow by 5 percent this year. Meanwhile, large economies like the US, Japan, and Australia have officially entered recessions.

77: The Chinese government has agreed to temporarily delay debt repayment for at least 77 developing countries as part of a Group of 20 nations initiative aimed at alleviating low-income countries' economic pain amid the pandemic. This is on top of an earlier commitment by President Xi Jinping to give low-income countries around $2 billion to help fight the pandemic and recover afterwards. Details about the allocation of that money, however, are still murky.

50: Exactly half of Americans – 50 percent – believe that China's international standing will wane after the pandemic as a result of its dodgy handling of the initial outbreak, according to a new Pew study. Many Americans (62 percent) now agree with the statement that Chinese power is a major threat to US interests, a 14 point increase since the question was last posed in 2018.

14: The pandemic's impact on growth will be biggest in Europe, according to the OECD, a group of advanced countries. Spain, France, Italy and the UK will suffer most, with GDP in each contracting by at least 14 percent from the previous year. That's a collapse nearly twice as big as the projection for the global economy, which is set to shrink by 7.6 percent this year.

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

Since the onset of its war in Gaza, Israel has operated without meaningful consequences. In this week’s Quick Take, Ian Bremmer explains how that may be changing. Pressure from the UAE, Trump, and European governments could force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rethink unilateral strategies.

Shinjiro Koizumi, Sanae Takaichi, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Ichiro Aizawa, Toshimitsu Motegi and Takayuki Kobayashi at a campaign event of the Liberal Democratic Party candidates in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 24, 2025.
IMAGO/Future Image via Reuters Connect

The Liberal Democratic Party leadership election on Oct. 4 will likely be a race between the telegenic moderate Shinjiro Koizumi and the arch-conservative Sanae Takichi. The latter is vying to be the first female leader of Japan.

Ukraine’s battlefield has transformed into a high-tech war of attrition, with tens of thousands of drones swarming the skies at any given moment. Christopher Miller, chief Ukraine correspondent at the FT, joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to discuss how life has changed on the front line and in Ukraine’s cities

- YouTube

As the United Nations turns 80, the urgency to rethink global cooperation has never been greater. In a live broadcast from the UN headquarters and moderated by GZERO Media’s Global Chief Content Officer, Tony Maciulis, an expert panel gathered to discuss if AI and data can reshape a strained multilateral system to meet today’s crises.