Category Archives: India

Fossil Fuel Subsidies Globally

Fossil fuel subsidies are very common in developing nations. Subsidies cover the difference between the price at which fossil fuels are sold inside the country and their actual price in international markets, creating a huge fiscal burden (an estimated $400 billion annually) for the countries that provide them. Developing nations with fossil fuel subsidies include: Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Kuwait, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, China, India, Indonesia, etc.

Developed nations also provide subsidies in the form of tax breaks to the oil industry and other measures (estimated at a cost of $45 to $75 billion per year). Nations in this group include many OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) members.

For the interactive map, visit: National Geographic: The Great Energy Challenge: Fossil Fuel Burden on State Coffers

 

Male Gender Preference Globally

In this day and age, it is still surprising that in most parts of the world, there is still a preference for sons over daughters. It is even more surprising when you are talking about developed nations such as Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.

Other nations where the preference of sons overs daughters is extremely abnormal include China, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Malaysia among others.

Resource: Women Stats: Map – Son Preference and Sex Ratios

 

Expected Years of Schooling for Females Worldwide

The expected years of schooling for females varies from country to country.

Developed nations such as the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, etc., show the highest number of expected years of schooling (15 to 21 years) for girls. Other nations in this group include Argentina, Uruguay, Kazakhstan, Libya, and South Korea.

On the other hand, countries with the lowest number of expected years of schooling (0 to 8 years) for females include most African countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea.

Resource: The World Bank DataBank: Gender Statistics – Expected years of schooling for females

Paid Maternity Leave Worldwide

Many developed nations provide paid maternity leave to their female employees. This is not the case for the United States.

According to this visualization by the Huffington Post, the UK provides the highest number of paid maternity leave days, 280 with 90% pay. Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, and Spain, offer maternity leave with 100% pay.

In the U.S., parents are guaranteed their jobs for 90 days while on maternity or paternity leave, but without pay. Other countries that do not provide paid maternity leave include Lesotho, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea, all developing nations.

 

Mortality Numbers for Children Under Five

In 2011, 6.9 million children under five years old died around the globe from different causes ranging from pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea, HIV/AIDS, meningitis, to all kinds of injuries.

The number of deaths of children under five has decreased by 59% in the last forty years, from 16.9 million back in 1970 to 6.9 million in 2011. That is good news for the world in general; however, there are still regions in the planet where under-five mortality rates have changed hardly at all. That is the case of Africa, where countries with the highest under-five mortality rates include Sierra Leone, Somalia, Mali, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, and Angola. In other parts of the world, countries with high under-five mortality rates include Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Haiti and Bolivia.

Income is a critical factor influencing under-five mortality rates, as shown in the graph above. The larger the income per capita of a nation, the lower the mortality rate. Such is the case of developed economies like Luxembourg or Norway, in stark contrast with developing countries like Somalia or Sierra Leone, where income per capita is very low.

Source: Health Intelligence: Under-five Mortality dashboard

 

Journalism: A Dangerous Profession

Journalism is a very dangerous profession. Many journalists are killed every year around the world while covering everything from business and sports to revolutions, wars, political upheavals, corruption, human rights violations and more.

In 2012 alone, 103 journalists were killed around the globe. Motives were confirmed for 70 of them. The deadliest countries for journalists in 2012 were Syria (28 deaths), Somalia (12 deaths), Pakistan (7 deaths), and Brazil (4 deaths). The motives where the confirmed in these cases.

The way journalists are killed, range from crossfire or combat to murder. Impunity is a shocking 100% for murder cases. More detail in the chart below:

For additional information, including the list of the journalists killed in 2012, visit: Committee to Protect Journalists: 70 Journalists Killed in 2012/Motive Confirmed

 

Military Spending Worldwide

According to an article of The Guardian, in 2008 the defense budget of the United States was $607 billion, ten times that of China and the UK, fifteen times that of Germany, seventeen times that of Russia, and twenty five times that of India. In fact, the defense budget of the top nine countries combined (shown in the first graphic) adds up to $377 billion, or 62% of the military spending of the U.S. Those numbers would make the U.S. the top country in defense spending in the world.

But, if one looks at defense spending numbers as a percentage of the GDP, we have a different story. In that case, Myanmar becomes the top defense spender with a military budget of 26% of its GDP, followed by Jordan, Georgia and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. moves to number eight, with a military budget of 4% of its GDP. Large military spending by these nations is due to different factors. Some of these countries are dictatorships, some are monarchies. Others need to actively protect their borders from foreign aggression.

To read the article from The Guardian, visit: The Guardian: Data Store – Show and Tell, Information is beautiful: war games

 

Prostitution Policy by Country

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Prostitution is defined as the practice of providing sexual services to another individual in exchange for payment.

The legal status of prostitution varies from country to country. In some countries the practice is legal and regulated like in the case of Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Canada, Argentina, Indonesia and Singapore, to name a few. In others it is illegal, with extreme cases where it is punishable by death. In the United States prostitution is illegal, except for 11 counties in the state of Nevada. As seen in the map above, it is illegal in most countries.

Some countries have a limited legality policy such as in the case of Australia, where prostitution is legal in most of the country, except in Southern Australia where its practice is restricted. Other countries with limited legality include Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iceland, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.

There are no laws regarding prostitution in countries like Bulgaria, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Lesotho and Mozambique.

For more details visit: ProCon.org: 100 Countries and Their Prostitution Policies

 

The Global Public Debt Clock is Ticking

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Global public debt is increasing every second. This debt clock shows government debt, in dollar terms, for almost all countries. Governments with the highest debt include the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, India, China, and several western European nations.

Additional indicators such as public debt per person, public debt as percentage of GDP, total annual debt change, and country debt comparisons can be seen in the interactive map at: The Economist: The global debt clock

 

Terrorism Around the World

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) ranks 158 countries based on the impact of terrorism in each of these countries. The rankings goes from 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest impact of terrorism and 10 the highest impact of terrorism. For 2011, the countries ranked at the top are Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, followed by Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Thailand, Russia, the Philippines, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia and Syria.

The GTI uses four indicators to measure the impact of terrorism: number of incidents, number of deaths, injuries and property damage. A five year weighted average is also used in order to measure the lasting impact of terrorism in a particular country.

For more details see: Vision of Humanity – Global Terrorism Index