Hard Numbers

2: China reportedly exaggerated both its nominal and real growth rates by an average of about 2 percentage points per year between 2008 to 2016. If correct, the Chinese economy is about 12 percent smaller today than suggested by official figures. This is yet another warning that international confidence in an economy likely to one day become the world's largest will face serious challenges when a sharp downturn frightens investors.

3.8 million: North Korea's food production fell to its lowest level in more than a decade last year, according to UN and Red Cross officials. A heat wave, a typhoon, and floods diminished the food harvest by 9 percent in 2018. As a result, about 3.8 million North Koreans urgently need humanitarian help.

12 million: US shale has been the world's largest source of new oil supplies over the past eight years. Since 2011, US crude oil production has doubled from 6 million to 12 million barrels per day. In September 2018, the US moved past Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world's leading oil producer.

89: This week, the European Commission announced that the migration crisis is officially over. In 2018, the UN refugee agency documented 116,647 people crossing the Mediterranean to try to reach Europe, an 89 percent drop from the height of the crisis three years ago.

More from GZERO Media

A miniature statue of US President Donald Trump stands next to a model bunker-buster bomb, with the Iranian national flag in the background, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, on June 19, 2025.
STR/NurPhoto

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will decide whether to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities “in the next two weeks,” a move that re-opens the door to negotiations, but also gives the US more time to position military forces for an operation.

People ride motorcycles as South Korea's LGBTQ community and supporters attend a Pride parade, during the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, in Seoul, South Korea, June 14, 2025.
REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon

June is recognized in more than 100 countries in the world as “Pride Month,” marking 55 years since gay liberation marches began commemorating the Stonewall riots – a pivotal uprising against the police’s targeting of LGBTQ+ communities in New York.

Port of Nice, France, during the United Nations Oceans Conference in June 2025.
María José Valverde

Eurasia Group’s biodiversity and sustainability analyst María José Valverde sat down with Rebecca Hubbard, the director of the High Seas Alliance, to discuss the High Seas Treaty.

Housing shortages in the US and Canada have become a significant problem – and a contentious political issue – in recent years. New data on housing construction this week suggest neither country is making enough progress to solve the shortfalls. Here’s a snapshot of the situation on both sides of the border.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a meeting of northeastern U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., June 16, 2025.
REUTERS/Sophie Park

While the national level drama played out between Donald Trump and Mark Carney at the G7 in Kananaskis, a lot of important US-Canada work was going on with far less fanfare in Boston, where five Canadian premiers met with governors and delegations from seven US states.

- YouTube

What’s next for Iran’s regime? Ian Bremmer says, “It’s much more likely that the supreme leader ends up out, but the military… continues to run the country.”