The Global Gender Gap Report 2014
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Through the Global Gender Gap Report 2014, the World Economic Forum quantifies the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracks their progress over time. While no single measure can capture the complete situation, the Global Gender Gap Index presented in this Report seeks to measure one important aspect of gender equality: the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy and politics.
Latest blog posts >>
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How the cyber world can support Ukraine
Saturday 19th of March 2022
Since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2014, most media reporting has centred on conflict within the physical world. Less attention has been paid to the very real cyber-component of the struggle.
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A cyber risk balance sheet can protect your organization. Here’s how
Friday 18th of March 2022
Every day, we read new headlines about cybercrime or hear reports of a new data breach, and all data indicates that the number of hackers is growing. When one considers the exponential growth of data and network-connected sensors and combines this with the power of AI, automation, augmented reality, implantable medical devices, and autonomous vehicles – it becomes immediately clear that this problem must be put on a different trajectory.
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IRC’s David Miliband: Ukraine, the humanitarian challenge and the ‘reboot’ refugee support needs now
Friday 18th of March 2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered what experts have called the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War Two. Millions have fled to Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and a host of other countries in a matter of days, not months. And the numbers are continuing to rise.
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What else does Russia export, beyond oil and gas?
Friday 18th of March 2022
Russia’s response to international sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine has been to order a halt to exports of more than 200 products. But what exactly does Russia export and where do its shipments go?
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How to contain the cascading impacts of war in ‘Europe’s breadbasket’
Friday 18th of March 2022
At a time when Ukrainian farmers normally start spring field work, many have instead been using their tractors to haul away abandoned Russian tanks and troop carriers.
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Gen Z cares about sustainability more than anyone else – and is starting to make others feel the same
Friday 18th of March 2022
Generation Z shows the most concern for the planet’s well-being and influences others to make sustainability-first buying decisions, according to new research.
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4 innovative ways to reuse plastic waste
Friday 18th of March 2022
Plans this month to create a legally binding global treaty to reduce plastic pollution could not have come quickly enough. Some 11 million tonnes of plastic waste flow into our oceans every year, according to figures cited by the United Nations. Without action, this amount could triple by 2040.
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Explainer: Carbon insetting vs offsetting
Friday 18th of March 2022
The world is on track for a global temperature rise of 2.7°C by the end of the century. With less than a decade to halve our emissions, the pressure on the public and private sector to lower their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is mounting by the day.
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AI and drones are revolutionizing farming across Asia
Friday 18th of March 2022
As a child, Manit Boonkhiew watched his grandparents plough their rice farm near Bangkok with water buffaloes, and harvest by hand. His parents switched to tractors and threshers, while he now uses a zippy drone to spray pesticide in his field.
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Is China softening its policy response to COVID-19?
Friday 18th of March 2022
Contrary to the conventional view that China has pursued an invariably stringent (and therefore unsustainable) zero-COVID policy, evidence from newly available data on the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) reveals a rather different picture at a regional level.
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Is it time for residential solar to shine?
Friday 18th of March 2022
This week I saw an ad on Instagram that read “Have you had an energy bill like this? <picture of an annual energy bill doubling from April 1st> Install Solar and AVOID energy price increases”.
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This is how US inflation has skyrocketed since the pandemic
Friday 18th of March 2022
Consumer prices in the United States continued to rise in February of 2022 after inflation had hit a 40-year high in January. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was up 7.9 percent compared to a year ago, while the core index excluding more volatile food and energy prices increased 6.4 percent over the last 12 months. The January and February readings were the highest since February and January of 1982, respectively, fueling fears that inflation is out of control. The sharp increase is despite the fact that the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not fully felt in the current release yet.
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Female labour-force participation in the US has stalled. Is anywhere doing better?
Friday 18th of March 2022
Over the course of the past three decades, female labor force participation has progressed in many places, but remains behind the rates for male participation in the labor market. In the U.S., the growth of female labor force participation stalled, while South Korea is still showing extreme gaps between male and female participation despite past gains.
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Sleeping giant: The large climate risk of Europe’s thawing peatlands
Friday 18th of March 2022
Large swathes of northern Europe and western Siberia may become “climatically unsuitable” for carbon-rich permafrost peatlands within a few decades, even under moderate warming scenarios, a new study warns.
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Mobile payment in Africa is more popular than you may think – here’s why
Friday 18th of March 2022
During the pandemic, several African governments encouraged their populations to use mobile payments in order to limit the spread of the virus, notably by waiving fees for this type of transaction. Kenya, a pioneer in the development of mobile money in Africa, is surely the country where this method of payment is most successful.
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Universities show that remote work could be damaging for women
Friday 18th of March 2022
If one possibly positive thing came out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the impetus it gave to letting people work from home.
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Ukraine: How the global fertilizer shortage is going to affect food security
Friday 18th of March 2022
We are currently witnessing the beginning of a global food crisis, driven by the knock-on effects of a pandemic and more recently the rise in fuel prices and the conflict in Ukraine. There were already clear logistical issues with moving grain and food around the globe, which will now be considerably worse as a result of the war. But a more subtle relationship sits with the link to the nutrients needed to drive high crop yields and quality worldwide.
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Special Agenda Dialogue on the Humanitarian Situation in Ukraine
Friday 18th of March 2022
Join this session to hear first-hand accounts from key international organizations on the humanitarian situation unfolding in and outside of Ukraine, and learn more about how governments and businesses can support those affected by the war.
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Celebrating smiles for World Oral Health Day
Friday 18th of March 2022
Oral diseases affect close to 3.5 billion people worldwide. At least 10% of the global population suffer from severe periodontal (gum) diseases. Oral cancer, meanwhile, is one of the three most common cancers in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Economics news: The stories to read this week
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Global financial conditions have reached their tightest since May 2009, according to a widely watched Goldman Sachs index, potentially signalling a world economic slowdown.
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How much energy does the EU import from Russia?
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Europe is heavily dependent on Russia for its oil and gas. In 2021, two-fifths of the gas Europeans burned came from Russia. And over a quarter of the EU’s imported crude oil comes from Russia.
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Black carbon is changing the colour of Antarctica’s snow. What is it and where does it come from?
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Snow is turning black in Antarctica, and increasing numbers of tourists and research trips could be to blame, scientists say.
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Without universal AI literacy, AI will fail us
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Much has been said about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform how we live, work, and interact with each other.
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These AI tools are teaching themselves to improve how they classify images
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Huge amounts of data are needed to train machine-learning models to perform image classification tasks, such as identifying damage in satellite photos following a natural disaster. However, these data are not always easy to come by. Datasets may cost millions of dollars to generate, if usable data exist in the first place, and even the best datasets often contain biases that negatively impact a model’s performance.
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Why are side hustles becoming a growing trend in India?
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Shubham Chabra, a Delhi-based IT professional, doesn’t want the remote work phenomenon to end. What the 29-year-old enjoys most about it is the time he now gets to focus on photography, his passion.
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A new rainbow-coloured fish has been discovered in the Maldives
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Out in the azure waters and colorful corals of the Maldives, a resplendent, rainbow-hued fish has become the first to be named and described by a Maldivian researcher.
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As sea levels rise, coastal megacities will need more than flood barriers
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Many of the world’s poorest people live in regions most susceptible to flooding. In northeast India, some residents have been forced to rebuild their homes at least eight times in the past decade. In Africa, the continent’s largest city, Lagos in Nigeria, may become unliveable due to severe floods, while a recent flood caused by tropical storm Ana affected hundreds of thousands of people across the south of the continent.
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A woman is most likely to be your boss in these countries
Thursday 17th of March 2022
If you are working in Togo, Nigeria, Jordan or a number of countries included in the below list, it is actually more likely that your boss is a woman than a man. This is according to numbers released by the International Labor Organization. Togo led the pack with more than 70 percent of all managerial positions filled by women in 2017. But the numbers also show that only 13 out of all countries reporting these figures to the ILO between 2016 and 2020 have achieved gender parity in leadership positions.
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When you eat is just as important as what you eat, new study shows
Thursday 17th of March 2022
Eating is an essential part of human life and it turns out that not only what we eat but when we eat can impact our brains. Irregular eating times have been shown to contribute to poor mental health, including depression and anxiety, as well as to cardio-metabolic diseases and weight gain.
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Google Trends highlights the dramatic drop off in NFT searches
Thursday 17th of March 2022
While many of us have been forced to at least try to understand what an NFT is over the last year or so, the latest figures from Google Trends suggest that this research has not led to a sustained interest in the topic. For those that haven’t as yet attempted to get to grips with the phenomenon, here’s Wikipedia to the rescue: “A non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded. Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio.”
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This is how the conflict between Ukraine and Russia could impact climate change
Thursday 17th of March 2022
The Russia-Ukraine crisis is already a human catastrophe. And it could also prove disastrous for climate action by slowing the global energy transition.
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A cleaner future for coal power plants and coal-reliant communities
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
At the B20 launch earlier this year, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia emphasized his country’s potential for 418GW of renewable energy production. In a country where up to 60% of the energy mix is from coal, he added that his government is getting ready to retire up to 5,5GW of coal generation capacity, while cautiously exploring how this transition could adversely affect Indonesian people’s lives.
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Food systems can lead the way to net zero, if we act now
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
The food and agriculture sector can lead the world on the path to net zero, despite facing uncertainty, but it must be on the agenda at COP27 – and we have to act now.
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Ukraine: war, refugees and an energy system under attack
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
It’s hard to know where to start talking about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact it is having. But we’re going to try and in this episode of Radio Davos we look at how Ukraine’s energy sector is coping – keeping heat and power to millions of traumatised people.
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10 lessons from the first 2 years of COVID-19
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic. Since then, more than six million lives around the world have been lost to the disease, and daily life has been upended in countless ways. Some countries are now regaining a degree of normality, though the threat of another variant-induced wave of disease remains. Two years on, we reflect on ten things the world has learned through the course of the pandemic.
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What are the economic costs of containing rising COVID-19 cases in China?
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
China posted a steep jump in daily COVID-19 infections on 15th March, with new cases more than doubling from a day earlier to hit a two-year high, raising concerns about the rising economic costs of its tough measures to contain the disease.
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Workers who need training the most aren’t getting it – here’s why
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
New research from MIT Sloan professor Paul Osterman shows that workers who need the most employer-provided training aren’t getting it.
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New report suggests shocking state of global internet connectivity
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
A decent internet connection – essential for many basic tasks in the COVID-19 era – is out of reach for 90 per cent of people in low- and middle-income countries, a report has warned.
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3 common coral species could survive climate change better than once believed, scientists say
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
Coral reefs are known to be extremely vulnerable to the rising global temperatures that are the result of human-caused climate change. According to a new 22-month study, three common coral species in Hawaii may be more resilient to rising ocean temperatures than once thought, and could withstand a temperature increase up to the Paris Agreement tipping point of an average of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, NBC News reported.
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These are the top reasons why US workers quit their jobs in 2021
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic set off nearly unprecedented churn in the U.S. labor market. Widespread job losses in the early months of the pandemic gave way to tight labor markets in 2021, driven in part by what’s come to be known as the Great Resignation. The nation’s “quit rate” reached a 20-year high in November 2021.
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Humpback whales are no longer considered endangered in Australia – but is this a good thing?
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
These last 60 years have been completely monumental for Australia’s marine life. Over the last six decades, humpback whale populations have drastically increased by several thousands, thanks to authorities cracking down on poachers. However, certain environmental groups are concerned that numbers may plummet again as an unfortunate result of the ongoing climate crisis, and rising ocean temperatures. So, will humpback whales remain from the endangered species list for the long haul?
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Inflation continues to climb in US after hitting 40-year high
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
Consumer prices in the United States continued to rise in February of 2022 after inflation had hit a 40-year high in January. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was up 7.9 percent compared to a year ago, while the core index excluding more volatile food and energy prices increased 6.4 percent over the last 12 months. The January and February readings were the highest since February and January of 1982, respectively, fueling fears that inflation is out of control. The sharp increase is despite the fact that the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not fully felt in the current release yet.
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Survey: Has the pandemic ended and who gets to decide?
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
It’s been two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID outbreak a pandemic, and since then, people around the world have been asking the same thing: when will it end? This seems like a simple question, but historical analysis shows that “the end” of a disease is rarely experienced in unison by everyone affected.
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This starchy wondercrop could help alleviate food insecurity
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
Could a little-known plant that resembles the banana help end food insecurity?
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3 ways your company can improve resilience and counter fatigue
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
If resilience is defined as the capacity to spring back after adversity, I admit that all the springing has me feeling fatigued — and I know I’m not alone.
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How farmers can improve soil health and feed the planet: an expert explains
Wednesday 16th of March 2022
Soil is the foundation of all life on earth. Although our lives depend on it, we often overlook the importance of soil health. Threatened by land-use change, intensive agriculture, climate change and desertification, soil health is declining at an alarming rate and could be reaching a point of no return.
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How universities can support student mental health and wellbeing
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
Mental health and wellbeing issues on university campuses are on the rise. In just six years, student anxiety in higher education institutions jumped from 17% to 31%, according to a study by the Healthy Minds Network and the American College Health Association. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the issue to the forefront. University students, in 2020, reported rapid spikes in anxiety and depression, with 60% of students saying the pandemic has made it harder to access mental health care.
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How inclusive innovation could transform food systems – and help to end world hunger
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
By 2030, it’s estimated the world will be home to 8.5 billion people. By then, the United Nations (UN) hopes to have ended world hunger, achieved food security and improved nutrition – all while ensuring farming practices are sustainable.
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The surprising stickiness of the “15-minute city”
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
This article was originally published in Common Edge.
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The rise of remote work means we need better ‘intercultural skills’ – this is what that means
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
The outbreak of COVID-19 imposed social distancing requirements across the world, increasing virtual interactions, especially in a work context. The need to keep in contact during the pandemic has meant virtual meetings have become the new normal. Consequently, not only has international cooperation between governments and the scientific community increased as a result of the pandemic, but so has international and remote work. In this new reality, companies must create the best conditions possible for employees to accomplish their goals remotely.
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These are the COVID-19 habits that could be here to stay
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
The World Health Organization officially declared COVID a pandemic on March 11 2020. Now, two years later, there’s light for some at the end of the tunnel. In many wealthier countries, which have benefited from several rounds of vaccination, the worst of the pandemic is over.
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This is the impact robots will have on developing economies
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
Ever-more ubiquitous automation technologies present the economies that adopt them with an apparent trade-off between firm-level productivity gains (Acemoglu et Restrepo 2020, Koch et al. 2019) and adverse employment impacts due to the labour-saving nature of automation (Acemoglu and Restrepo 2020, Dauth et al. 2017). This trade-off has so far been documented in countries at a relatively advanced stage of automation.1
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US workers want more pay and better perks, so more than half are considering switching jobs
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
In a survey last June, Prudential Financial found that about a quarter of US respondents planned to leave their employer once the risk of the pandemic had decreased. Well, here we are—covid restrictions in the US are lifting, offices are reopening—and sure enough, 22% of participants in Prudential’s newest survey say they are already hunting for a new role.
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How does potato milk compare nutritionally to other plant-based milks?
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
It seems like almost every plant-based food is being turned into “milk” these days, the latest being potato milk.
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The $100bn industry that’s poised to take an electric leap of faith
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
The $100 billion Western rental car industry, flush with cash from a profitable pandemic, is gradually getting its electric show on the road, and Chinese-made vehicles are poised to play a starring role.
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Climate change is transforming Europe’s birds
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
A new study has found that the climate crisis is causing major disruptions to European birds, from shifting their nesting dates to decreasing their chick numbers to even changing their general body sizes.
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This is how solar panels can be kept clean – without using water
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
Solar power is expected to reach 10 percent of global power generation by the year 2030, and much of that is likely to be located in desert areas, where sunlight is abundant. But the accumulation of dust on solar panels or mirrors is already a significant issue — it can reduce the output of photovoltaic panels by as much as 30 percent in just one month — so regular cleaning is essential for such installations.
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Forests don’t just reduce climate change – they can improve our mental and physical health as well
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
During the pandemic, as researchers looked to wet markets and the animal trade in search of the source of COVID-19, there was a renewed concern for how the natural world might be impacting public health. An increasing number of experts and government officials pointed to agriculture, urbanization and other forms of land use change as raising the likelihood that new diseases might jump from animals to humans.
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How the cost of losing a job varies across different countries
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
Studying the consequences of job loss can help us understand the extent to which labour markets efficiently reallocate unemployed workers to new jobs. Using a dataset that combines administrative records from seven countries with diverse labour market institutions, this column finds that the consequences of losing one’s job vary across countries. Workers in Denmark and Sweden experience the lowest earnings declines following job loss, while workers in Italy, Spain, and Portugal experience losses three times as high. Labour market institutions have the potential to mitigate these differences.
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3 innovators in Africa growing food as a force for good
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
Failing crops and flooding are among the climate impacts affecting lives and food security in Africa and forcing people to migrate.