Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: London’s languages, US cities' economic boom, Asia’s concrete jungles, Addis Ababa's bike love

Students from the Youth Strike 4 Climate movement during a climate change protest on Parliament Square in Westminster, London. Reuters
Make us preferred on Google

300: London — a city where a large chunk of the population is foreign born — is home to the world's most internationally diverse student body. More than 300 languages are spoken by London's school students, many of whose families immigrated from South Asia, Africa and Europe.


70: In the decade following the 2008 global financial crisis (which left more than 11 million Americans unemployed within months), America's largest cities — including San Francisco, Boston, and New York — accounted for over 70 percent of the country's job growth. By contrast, unemployment is still at pre-2008 levels in many American rural areas and small towns.

39: Public green spaces like parks and nature reserves, which many city dwellers have flocked to in COVID-19 times, are a luxury in most of Asia's crowded urban centers. In the region's 22 major cities, average green space per capita is only 39 square meters (420 square feet), about half of the figure in Africa and more six times smaller than the per capita average in Latin America.

800: Many big city governments struggle with traffic congestion, but in developing economies the problem is often exacerbated by poor infrastructure. The answer isn't always to build more roads: Addis Ababa has an ambitious plan to build 800 kilometers (490 miles) of bike and pedestrian lanes by the end of the decade.

More For You

US oil companies fill their coffers
Lottie Tellyn
While the average American household has spent $1,100 more on gas and diesel since the start of the Iran war, oil companies have been profiting from higher fuel prices. The same 50 US oil and gas companies made less than $47 billion in profits over the same period in 2025. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump boasted that the US was making a [...]
Afghanistan’s poppy problem
Will Fitzpatrick
As Afghan farmers struggle with high operating costs and low crop prices, more are taking a risk by illegally growing poppy to feed their families. Poppy is a key ingredient in opium – which can then be used to make heroin – and Afghanistan has long been a major producer. Before the Taliban banned cultivation in 2022, the country supplied more [...]
Fuel costs halt three-year cruise around the world
Lottie Tellyn
Ship owner Villa Vie Residences told passengers the cruise would end its journey early in Cambodia because refueling costs have jumped more than 300% since the start of the Iran war. Some passengers have now flown home, while others are still waiting in the port city of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The ship, Odyssey, was one of the few designed for [...]
One year since the El Fasher massacre
Will Fitzpatrick
Sudan marks a grim anniversary this week. Tens of thousands still remain missing after the RSF’s siege of El Fasher. The RSF also remains in control of the city, and the civil war continues to drag on with seemingly no end in sight. To mark the occasion, the British government has sanctioned 15 Sudanese military leaders from both the Sudanese [...]