RELIGIOUS BELIEFS Differences within religions are often as intense as differences between them.
LITERACY & EDUCATION More teachers are needed if the trend towards greater school enrolment is to continue.
URBANIZATION For the first time in history, most people live in cities.
DIVERSITY OF CITIES Cities reflect the diversity of the world.
INCOME Economic growth continues to outpace the growth in world population.
INEQUALITY While 2.6 billion people live in poverty, there are more billionaires than ever.
QUALITY OF LIFE Rich countries inevitably offer a high quality of life.
TRANSNATIONALS The revenues of the largest corporations outstrip those of many countries.
BANKS Despite everything, bankers continue to reap huge financial rewards.
CORRUPTION Corruption is pervasive, some countries run on it.
DEBT Debt has soared but not everybody, everywhere is equally in debt.
TOURISM Tourism is predicted to rise, bringing much- needed income to many smaller economies.
GOALS FOR DEVELOPMENT Development progress is real but patchy.
War & Peace
Rights & Respect
WARS IN THE 21ST CENTURY This is an era of growing peace, despite the wars that persist.
WARLORDS , GANGLORDS, & MILITIAS Armed conflicts fought between non-state armed forces are proliferating.
MILITARY MUSCLE Despite the global economic crisis, military spending remains buoyant.
THE NEW FRONT LINE Warfare has evolved and is now entering cyber space.
CASUALTIES OF WAR Data on war deaths are incomplete and contentious.
REFUGEES 30 million people are refugees from war and repression.
PEACEKEEPING After a period of rapid increase, the number of peacekeeping missions has started to decline.
GLOBAL PEACEFULNESS Understanding what makes societies peaceful is a significant step towards the world becoming more peaceful.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS The global trend is for more countries to become democratic.
RELIGIOUS RIGHTS Almost a quarter of the world’s states have formal links to a religion.
HUMAN RIGHTS In some countries the greatest menace citizens face comes from the state.