There are nearly 600 million women aged 15-24 worldwide, with 90% living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), making them a significant share of the global population.
37 countries grant women less than half of the legal rights of men, affecting 500 million women, while globally, women enjoy less than two-thirds of the legal rights available to men.
Closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship could boost global GDP by over 20%, and eliminating the gap within a decade could double the global growth rate.
Women hold just 1 in 5 corporate board positions, partly because less than 20% of countries require gender-sensitive public procurement, excluding them from a $10 trillion-a-year opportunity.
Women earn only 77 cents for every $1 paid to men, while 92 countries lack equal pay laws. Additionally, 20 countries prohibit women from night work and 45 ban women from “dangerous” jobs.
By 2030, an estimated 8% of the world’s female population (342.4 million women and girls) will still live on less than $2.15 a day, with 220.9 million in sub-Saharan Africa.
Climate change could push 158.3 million more women and girls into poverty by 2050, which is 16 million more than men and boys under a worst-case scenario.
By 2020, food insecurity was projected to impact 236 million more women and girls, compared to 131 million more men and boys.
By 2050, women will still spend 2.5 times more hours per day on unpaid care work than men. If valued monetarily, women’s unpaid labor could exceed 40% of GDP in some countries.
The International Women's Day (IWD) 2025 theme, "Accelerate Action," calls on everyone—individuals, businesses, and governments—to break barriers and speed up progress toward gender equality.
The United Nations Secretary-General, in his IWD address, emphasizes the importance of heeding the voices of women and girls globally, advocating for action over apathy to advance gender equality.
Source:
World Bank Group, United Nations, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)
From 1970 through the early 2000s, Egypt’s debt interest payments hovered mostly under $1.5 billion, with fluctuations tied to global oil shocks and debt rescheduling.
Payments remained relatively moderate, ranging between $0.7–$1.0 billion annually.
Following Egypt’s 2016 IMF programme and rising external borrowing, payments jumped dramatically, climbing from $1.53 billion in 2016 to $6.13 billion in 2022.
Interest payments hit an all-time high of $9.47 billion in 2023, underscoring the heavy burden of Egypt’s rapid debt accumulation and exposure to global financing costs.
Russia is the volume leader with 37.3M carats, nearly 1.5× Botswana’s 25.1M carats.
Botswana punches above its weight: though producing 33% fewer carats than Russia, its output value almost matches Russia's due to higher value per carat price.
Eight of the top 10 producers are African (Botswana, Angola, DR Congo, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Lesotho).
Low-volume producers like Namibia (2.4M ct → $1.2B) highlight how smaller deposits can yield high-value diamonds.
Egypt and South Africa dominate Africa’s space presence, with 14 and 13 satellites respectively, accounting for nearly one-third of the continent’s total.
Nigeria (7), Algeria (6), and Morocco (5) form the next tier, highlighting North and West Africa as emerging hubs in satellite development.
The majority of other African countries with satellites, including Rwanda, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Djibouti and Angola, have two satellites each.
Out of 54 African nations, only 18 have any satellites in orbit, underscoring the vast disparity in space investment and technological capacity across the continent.
