China became the leading trade partner of Brazil, India and South Africa in 2009.

CANADIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The number of unemployed people in the Arabic-speaking world — from Morocco to the Gulf nations — exceeds 20 million. In the absence of job growth, those numbers could increase to over 100 million unemployed by 2020.

ARAB LABOR ORGANIZATION

The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) had 301 billionaires by March 2011 — 108 more than they had the previous year.

FORBES

In the United States, which harvested 416 million tons of grain in 2009, about 29% of all grain went to ethanol distilleries to produce fuel for cars. That's enough to feed 350 million people for a year.

EARTH POLICY INSTITUTE

In South Africa, about two out of five people of working age, or just 41%, are employed — compared with an emerging-market average of 56%.

SOUTH AFRICAN FINANCE MINISTRY

With personal wealth of $74 billion, Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim Helu is the world's richest man. His fortune equals 8.5% of Mexico's GDP. In contrast, the $1.5 trillion held by the 413 U.S. billionaires adds up to less than 11% of U.S. GDP.

REUTERS

The percentage change in the average value of a U.S. home since 2006 is -25%. This compares to -25.9% from 1929 to 1933.

ZILLOW.COM

The United States will have to spend $23 billion over each of the next 20 years to maintain water infrastructure at levels that meet health and environmental standards.

OECD

In its heyday, General Motors employed over 600,000 people. These days, Facebook serves 500 million customers with a staff of just 2,000 people.

THE ECONOMIST

In 2010, GDP growth in South America topped 6.6%. The only country to register negative growth on the continent is Venezuela.

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

The starting salary for EU civil servants is €4,350 a month — and top earners make €16,000 per month. These salaries are not subject to tax.

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Germany's Siemens has 12% of its 30,000 R&D workers in Asia, up from 7% five years ago.

FINANCIAL TIMES

In March 2011, a company called Zen Car launched an electric-vehicle car-sharing scheme in Brussels. About 30 cars are in circulation, with about 15 charging stations around the city.

FAST COMPANY

Russia's GDP stands at $1.5 trillion (at current prices), giving it the tenth-largest economy in the world. Its GDP is slightly larger than India’s — although less than half the size of Germany’s.

IMF

Indonesia is about to become a middle-income country, with GDP per capita above $3,000. This is expected to bring 100 million people to middle-class status by 2020.

FINANCIAL TIMES

Under a proposal submitted by the Civil Affairs Ministry to China's State Council, adult children would be required by law to regularly visit their elderly parents. If they do not, parents can sue them.

WALL STREET JOURNAL

About 70% of Japanese farmers are older than 60 years old, while only 15% are younger than 50.

JAPANESE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Israel wastes only about a tenth of its water. If every country were equally water efficient, the world's water problem would be much less pressing. Israel makes widespread use of low-volume irrigation such as drip feed and microsprinklers.

THE ECONOMIST

SHRINKING CROP YIELDS For the first time since before the Green Revolution, crop yields are growing more slowly than the world population. Between 1961 and 1990, wheat yields were rising at nearly 3% a year. During that period, the world's population was growing by an average of 1.8% a year. Between 1990 and 2007, population growth slowed down to 1.4%, but the rise in annual wheat yields slackened to 0.5%. The growth in rice yields between the two periods halved. Yields of wheat and rice — mankind's two most important crops — are now almost flat. SOURCE: THE ECONOMIST

"Several million unemployed college graduates are far more dangerous to a modernizing regime like China than hundreds of millions of poor peasants."

FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, SENIOR FELLOW AT THE FREEMAN SPOGLI INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY

There were four elements present three minutes after the Big Bang. Because of the extreme temperature, hydrogen, helium, lithium and beryllium existed only as bare atomic nuclei. About 300,000 years later, things had cooled enough to form atoms.

DISCOVER