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The United States, Canada, and Iran account for over 50% of the world’s 1,802 active oil rigs in 2024, with Nigeria ranking 15th globally with 31 rigs
  • The United States remains the undisputed leader with 589 active rigs, accounting for nearly a third of all rigs worldwide in 2024.
  • Canada (162 rigs) and Iran (117 rigs) follow as the second and third highest contributors to global drilling activity.
  • Middle Eastern producers dominate the top 10, with Kuwait (80), UAE (73), Saudi Arabia (70), Iraq (62), and Oman (50) collectively operating 335 rigs.
  • Nigeria ranks 15th globally with 31 active rigs, making it one of only two African nations in the global top 20.
  • The top 10 countries account for over 75% of the world’s active rigs, reflecting the continued concentration of drilling infrastructure in a handful of key oil-producing regions.

India leads global banana production with 36.6M tonnes in 2024 as Nigeria ranks 4th among top producers with 7.3M tonnes
  • India dominates global banana output with 36.6 million tonnes, accounting for over a third of total production among the top 10 countries.
  • China (11.7M) and Indonesia (9.34M) round out the top three, contributing significantly to Asia’s dominance in banana farming.
  • Nigeria ranks 4th globally, producing 7.3 million tonnes, slightly ahead of Ecuador and Brazil.
  • Africa is well represented, with Nigeria, Angola, and Tanzania collectively contributing 15.86 million tonnes, or about 16% of the top 10 output.

By 2054, India is projected to remain the world’s most populous country, growing by 17.1% from 2024 to reach 1.69 billion people
Key Takeaways:
  • India is projected to remain the world’s most populous country in 2054, reaching 1.69 billion, an increase of 246 million from 2024.
  • China’s population is expected to decline to 1.22 billion by 2054, marking a 14.1% decrease.
  • Nigeria is projected to rise to 5th place globally, with a population of 374 million, a 62% increase from 2024.
  • The United States remains the only high-income country in the top five, with a projected population of 384 million.
  • Pakistan is expected to climb from 5th to 3rd place, adding 138 million people by 2054.
  • Three African countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) are expected to rank among the top 10 most populous nations.
  • Russia is projected to see a population decline of 6.9%.

By 2100, seven African nations are expected to rank among the world’s 15 most populous countries, with Nigeria’s population projected to more than double
Key Takeaways:
  • India is projected to remain the world’s most populous country in 2100, with 1.5 billion people, a 4.5% increase from 2024.
  • China’s population is expected to fall sharply by 55.1% to 638.7 million, less than half of its 2024 population.
  • Pakistan's population is expected to nearly double by 2100.
  • Nigeria is projected to become the world’s fourth most populous country by 2100, with a population of more than 470 million.
  • Seven of the 15 most populous countries in 2100 are expected to be in Africa.
  • The United States is projected to rank sixth globally by 2100 from its current third position, despite a 22.2% expected population increase from 2024.
  • Together, the top 15 countries are expected to account for 57.9% of the global population by 2100.
  • The total world population is projected to reach 10.19 billion by the end of the century.

The United States of America hosts over 3,700 data centres, 8× more than any other country as of May 2025
  • The U.S. dominates globally with 3,757 data centers, more than 8× any other country in the top 10.
  • Germany and the U.K. follow distantly with 443 and 428 data centres, respectively.
  • No African country makes the top 10, emphasising the infrastructure gap.
  • Africa's top three show modest but notable progress: South Africa ranks 36th (49 data centres), Kenya 54th (18), and Nigeria 56th (16).

The U.S. holds the largest IMF quota at 82.99 billion SDRs, exceeding the combined shares of Japan and China
  • The United States holds the largest IMF quota by far, with 82,994.2 billion SDRs, accounting for 17.42%, more than double the quota of any other country.
  • Japan, China, and Germany follow as the next largest contributors, each holding between 5.5% and 6.5% of total quota shares.
  • European countries (Germany, France, the U.K., Italy) collectively maintain a strong presence, together accounting for nearly 17.21%, almost equal to the U.S. alone.
  • Emerging economies like India and Russia have relatively modest shares (2.75% and 2.71%, respectively) despite their growing roles in global economic affairs, indicating an imbalance between global influence and IMF voting power.

The US gold reserve of over 8,000 tonnes is higher than Germany's and Italy's gold reserves combined
Key takeaways:
  • The United States holds the largest national gold reserves in 2024, totalling 8,133.46 tonnes.
  • Western European countries in the top ten list collectively hold 9,892.76 tonnes of gold reserves.
  • China, India, and Japan are the only Asian countries in the top 10, together holding 4,001.71 tonnes.
  • The Russian Federation is the leading gold reserve holder in Central and Eastern Europe, with 2,332.74 tonnes.
  • All countries in the top ten list maintain at least 600 tonnes of gold reserves.
  • The total gold reserve held by the top ten countries amounted to 24,360.67 tonnes.

China tops the global reserves chart in 2024, holding nearly three times Japan’s reserves and having 5.53% of its total reserves as gold reserves
Key takeaways:
  • China leads all nations with total reserves of $3.46 trillion while holding 5.53% of its share in gold reserves.
  • The top 15 countries collectively hold a total reserve of $10.78 trillion.
  • Despite being the global leader in gold reserves, the United States ranks third in total reserves.
  • The largest share of the United States' total reserves is from its gold reserve holdings of 74.97%.
  • Countries in the top fifteen list hold at least $236.9 billion each in total reserves.
  • The United States, France, and Italy have more than 70% of their total reserve holdings in gold.

The top sources of asylum seekers in the United States (2024)
Key takeaways:
  • The top 11 nations accounted for 73% of the total asylum seekers in 2024, with each nation contributing more than 100,000 asylum seekers.
  • Venezuela (620,074) ranks first as the source country with the most asylum seekers in 2024.
  • Latin American countries dominate the top 11 list, with eight out of the eleven countries originating from the region.
  • Asian countries (China and India) make up a smaller share of the leading asylum-seeking populations.
  • Venezuela is the sole country of origin with an asylum seeker count exceeding 600,000 in 2024.

Sources of refugees in the United States as of 2024
Key Takeaways:
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has documented over 435,000 refugees in the U.S. in 2024.
  • China and Afghanistan stand as the leading sources of refugees, with 60,044 and 46,137 individuals identified as refugees from these countries respectively.
  • The top eleven countries of origin have each recorded more than 10,000 refugees in the United States.
  • Central American nations (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) accounted for 19.9% of refugees in the US.

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