Good Weather for the Global Economy?

The Economist has released an interactive barometer that reports the perceived forecast for the global economy (as rated by more than 1,500 senior executives).  By clicking on dates on the line graph, the barometer will change to correspond to the global business outlook at the time.  By clicking on the regions to the right of the line graph, new bars will appear to represent the chosen region.  In addition, the interactive feature allows the user to select the confidence by selected industry.  The third tab entitled "In Focus" focuses on two questions:  "Is the euro crisis over?" and "How would you describe current regulation of the banks?"

The Economist has gleaned from this information that since the last quarter of the 2012 approval ratings concerning the global economy have risen from -11% to 7% in the first quarter of 2013.  This optimism carries over into the transport and tourism sectors of industry, but turns negative in the IT, technology and government sectors.  Finally, an overwhelming majority of respondents do not believe the euro crisis is over and around half respond that the current bank regulations have not gone far enough.

South Korea to Surpass Japan's GDP per Person

Although Japan was once the foremost nation in terms of economic growth, the Economist's daily chart suggests that this trend is changing. Countries like South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, who used to trail behind Japan in regards to GDP per person, are now quickly outpacing Japan. Even more remarkable, South Korea is expected to achieve a higher GDP per person measured at purchasing-power than Japan within five years. Singapore outpaced Japan in this category in 1993 and Taiwan passed Japan in 2010. However, the case of South Korea will be extraordinary, give that 32 years ago South Korea’s GDP per person was roughly a fourth of Japan’s.

Plastic Surgery

A recent post on the Economist's Graphic Detail blog discusses the rate of cosmetic plastic surgery in 2010, as reported by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.  The graph from the post ranks countries based on procedures per 1,000 people and categorizes the procedures as either "non-invasive" or "invasive."  South Korea topped the list at 16 procedures per 1,000, followed by Greece and Italy at 14 and about 13 respectively.  The US had the 6^th largest number of procedures done per 1,000 at approximately 10.5.  India and China had the fewest, at around 1 procedure per 1,000.    

The Importance of Being Rich

A recent post on the Economist’s Graphic Detail blog discusses the importance of wealth to Europeans based on the recently released results of the European Social Survey.  The survey asked respondents in 26 different European countries whether they believed a person who thought “it is important to be rich, have money and expensive things” was “like,” “somewhat/a little like,” or “not like” themselves.  Nations with respondents who least identified with such people included Sweden, which reported the lowest respondents saying such people were “like” them , and France, which had the highest number of those responding such people were “not like” them. Russia had the highest percentage of respondents who said that people who thought it was important to be rich were “like” them, at nearly 40%.

   

Cigarette Smokers Worldwide

A recent post on the Economist’s Graphic Detail blog includes a global map of cigarette smokers in 2010, as reported by the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation.  According to the post, cigarette consumption decreased in Western Europe by 26% from 1990 to 2010 but increased by 57% in the Middle East and Africa over the same time period.  Also worth noting is the large disparity between the percentage of males and females that smoke which, according to the post, is largest in China, where 50% of men smoke but only 2% of women smoke.

World's Nuclear Power Producers

The Economist’s Graphic Detail blog post earlier this week highlighted their nuclear energy interactive guide, which shows the nuclear electricity production, number of operational reactors, and the metric tons of uranium required for nuclear production of 30 countries currently using nuclear power.  According to the map, the US produces by far the largest amount of nuclear power at about 800 terawatt hours (TWh), with France following at a little over 400 TWh and Japan at 280 TWh. (It is important to note that this data was produced before the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, which has led to a shutdown of almost all of Japan's nuclear reactors.)

However, the map showing nuclear electricity as a percentage of total production shows the U.S. produces a relatively small proportion of their electricity through nuclear power (just under 20%).  France’s nuclear power makes up the largest percentage of their total electricity at 74.1%, followed by Slovakia at 51.8% and Belgium at 51.2%.