Hard Numbers

20,800: The United States is on track to resettle only 20,800 refugees in fiscal year 2018, according to calculations by The Economist. That’s a 61% annual reduction, and the lowest number since 1980, when the modern system of refugee admissions was established.

318: Chinese companies have bought or invested in European assets amounting to at least $318 billion over the past 10 years, according to Bloomberg. American firms invested 45 percent less over the same period.

39.2: Africa spent $39.2 billion on defense in 2016 — but given its 1.2 billion population, that’s the lowest per capita military expenditure of any region in the world. Still, the continent faces numerous security challenges including transnational terrorism, local militancy, and clashes over resources that are becoming scarcer because of climate change.

5: At least five of the seven men who carried the coffin at Kim Jong-Il’s funeral have been executed, banned, or banished since his son Kim Jong-un came to power in 2011.

2: The blackouts in Puerto Rico caused by last year’s Hurricane Maria are the second largest power-outage ever on record, knocking out nearly 4 trillion customer hours. According to a study by Rhodium Group, only Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 was worse, knocking out more than 6 trillion customer hours in the Philippines.

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

A military confrontation between India and Pakistan in May nearly pushed the two nuclear-armed countries to the brink of war. On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down the complicated history of the India-Pakistan conflict, one of the most contentious and bitter rivalries in the world.

A combination picture shows Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Arkhangelsk Region Governor Alexander Tsybulsky in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, Russia July 24, 2025.
REUTERS/Leah Millis

In negotiations, the most desperate party rarely gets the best terms. As Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska today to discuss ending the Ukraine War, their diverging timelines may shape what deals emerge – if any.

The Caryn influencer artificial intelligence AI page is seen in this illustration photo taken in Warsaw, Poland on 05 December, 2023.
(Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto)

Since its inception, generative AI such as ChatGPT has run primarily in the cloud: large data centers run by large companies. In that home, AI is reliant on electricity-hungry computers, robust internet connections, and centralized data.