(2006)The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has experienced major improvements in health over the past few decades.1 Today, on average, a girl born in Egypt is expected to live for 72 years—nearly 20 years longer than if she had been born in the early 1970s—owing in large part to a 70 percent improvement in infant mortality rates over the same time period.
The current growth of the population ages 65 and older is unprecedented in U.S. history and has important implications for policymakers.
(2012) Almost two of every three people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a rural area, relying principally on small-scale agriculture for their livelihood. Improving agriculture on small farms is critical to reducing hunger.
(2010) During the current U.S. recession, homeownership and mobility rates have dropped; poverty has increased; and commuting patterns have shifted toward greener, more cost-effective options.
The Population Reference Bureau's 2010 World Population Data Sheet focuses on a rapidly aging world, highlighting many countries' pressures to care for their elderly citizens.
(June 2009) Development is about improving the lives of people, and policy and fiscal decisions should rely on data that answer who these people are, where and how they live, and how their lives are changing.
(2011) Exactly 50 years ago, geographer Jean Gottmann coined the term "megalopolis" to describe the sprawling regional mega-city taking shape between Boston and Washington, D.C., gobbling up rural areas in its wake.
