HARD NUMBERS

27,000: Despite confident predictions of its demise, Nigeria-based terrorist group Boko Haram remains active in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. The multinational fight with Boko Haram has killed 27,000 people and driven 2 million from their homes.

5.2: A survey of 48 developed and developing countries finds the global unemployment rate has fallen from 8 percent of the workforce in 2010 to just 5.2 percent in September 2018. That's the lowest level of unemployment globally since 1980.

4.4: Vladimir Putin has decreed that Russia become one of the world's five largest economies by 2024. To achieve this, Russia's GDP would have to grow by an average 4.4 percent per year between now and then. The World Bank estimates that Russia will average 1-1.5 percent GDP growth over this period. Hat tip to our friends at Bear Market Brief.

2: Poverty and population growth in Africa could double the number of African immigrants trying to reach Europe over the next decade unless there is much greater investment in job creation for young Africans living in rural areas, a senior UN official has warned. Africa's population is forecast to double—to 2.6 billion—by 2050. Does it take a threat to Europe to encourage investment in Africa?