Democracy and Standards

50%  of the countries that allow same-sex marriage are in Western Europe. Cuba and Mexico legalised same-sex marriage in 2022, Chile in 2021, Ecuador in 2019 and Costa Rica in 2018 (in effect since 2020). It has been legal in Colombia since 2016, in Brazil since 2013 and Argentina since 2010. South Africa is the only place on the African ...

Far from bridging the digital divide, 5G has widened the connectivity gap between high-income and low-income regions, according to thevInternational Telecommunication Union. 5G networks covered 55% of the world’s population at the end of 2025, but access is highly uneven. In high-income countries, over 80% of the population has 5G coverage, while in low-income countries, less than 5% do. The ...

27% of respondents from 30 countries named financial and political corruption as one of the three most pressing issues in their country at the end of the year 2025,  according to Ipsos’ What Worries the World survey, with corruption trailing  only crime/violence, inflation, poverty/inequality and unemployment as one of the top five concerns on people’s minds. Indonesia and Hungary topped ...

Iran ranks poorly in international indices on democracy, corruption, and press and internet freedom, occupying some of the lowest positions. Iran ranks 176th out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index 2025. In The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2024, Iran ranks 154th out of 167 countries, making it an authoritarian regime. In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2025, Iran ...

The share of wealth owned by the 1% of richest people in the US hit a record of 31.7% in Q3., according to figures  published in late January by the Federal Reserve. Q2 of 2025 and Q4 of 2024 had already seen new all-time highs set at or above 31%, as the wealth of the super-rich tends to recover quicker ...

A recent Ipsos survey of 25,000 people across 30 countries shows Asians are on average more optimisic for the future of their countries than people from the rest of the world. When asked whether they believe things in their country are headed in the right direction or off on the wrong track, 82 percent of respondents in Singapore said they ...

While confidence in government and tech  companies is eroding, according to a Statista Consumer Insight survey, some sectors retain public confidence . Healthcare providers are the most trusted institutions, with 38% of British respondents expressing confidence in them, followed by 24% in the U.S. and 17% in Germany. But only 15%  of  Brits say they trust the government, and a ...

The United States has fallen to its lowest-ever rank in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI). In 2025, the U.S. fell down one spot to 29th place (out of 182) with a score of 64/100 on a 0 to 100 scale, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 completely clean. This ranking puts the country on the same level as ...

A week after the Maduro Snatch, while people are debating its legality, the EU has come up with a statement stopping short of condemning it, while 74% of Republicans said they supported it when YouGov posed the question last week. Meanwhile President Trump has told reporters that the only limit on his power is “my own morality.”  

Over 122 million people are now forcibly displaced globally, a figure that includes refugees, asylum-seekers and those internally displaced by conflict, persecution or climate disasters, accordingbto the UN. This year has seen record levels of internal displacement, rising humanitarian needs and the highest-ever recorded death toll of migrants in transit.  The Gaza Strip’s refugee camps in Palestine – currently facing ...