WHO published its World health statistics report 2025, revealing the deeper health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on loss of lives, longevity and overall health and well-being. In just two years, between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years—the largest drop in recent history— reversing a …
declining fertility: Low levels of fertility among Sri Lankan women will lead to a decline in the country's population after 2040, says a study by the Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka. The country's population is 20 million now. It will reach 20.1 million by 2011 and could attain its …
Humanity has just crossed a major landmark in its history with the majority of people now living in cities. Cities have long been known to be society's predominant engine of innovation and wealth creation, yet they are also its main source of crime, pollution, and disease. The inexorable trend toward …
A few decades back, the declining rhino population of Assam was a major conservation problem. But after the 2006 rhino census, the tables have turned. Assam's rhino population has gone up substantially. In Pobitora wildlife sanctuary, for example, there are now 81 animals
Ever since Deng Xiaoping extolled the virtues of wealth, China has been frogmarching towards affluence. I was invited by the Chinese government last month and had the opportunity to look at their agricultural sector and got an insight into the difference between what goes on in this country and what …
May you be the mother of a hundred sons.' That's a popular wedding blessing in many parts of India. It aptly captures a notorious feature of Indian society: son preference. This is accompanied by a cruel aversion for daughters. When the punishment is light, women in Indian live with monstrous …
viral cancer: The fusion of human cells is a normal process that leads, for instance, to the formation of muscle and bone. Viral infections can also cause cell fusion, but such cells are generally believed to die without consequences for the host. According to a recent study, however, cell fusion …
US appeals: The US has formally appealed against a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that subsidies paid to US cotton farmers are against the rules of global trade. WTO's decision on the US appeal would be final. The process normally takes about three months. In September 2004, the WTO had …
Northeast India occupies 8 per cent of the country's geographic area, and supports 3.8 per cent of India's total population (2001 census figures). The average population density of the Northeast is 149 persons per square kilometre (sq km), a figure far below India's population density (324 persons per sq km). …
The world's cities are burgeoning. Fifty years ago, New York was the only metropolis with a population of more than10 million. Today there are 19 such cities. At present, some three billion people live in cities and towns. Between 1990 and 1995, cities in the developing world grew by 263 …
North Koreans are dying at a rate that is more than 40 per cent higher than in 1994 when a series of devastating floods and famines hit the country, said Gro Harlem Brundtland, director general of World Health Organisation. She revealed that in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, the annual …
Around 30 per cent of pesticides marketed in developing countries do not meet internationally accepted quality standards, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO). These pesticides have an estimated market value of us $900 million annually. "The labeling often fails to provide data …
A special technology mission is being set up by the government for states that have unsatisfactory population control records. The states are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, Bihar and Rajasthan. C P Thakur, the Union health and family welfare minister, said that the mission will help in providing focused …
india's overall health care system performance has helped the country to the 112th position among World Health Organisation members, according to the World Health Report 2000 released in the latter part of June. India stands 133rd on the basis of per capita expenditure in the field of health. With these …
The future adequacy of freshwater resources is difficult to assess, owing to a complex and rapidly changing geography of water supply and use. Numerical experiments combining climate model outputs, water budgets, and socioeconomic information along digitized river networks demonstrate that (i) a large proportion of the world's population is currently …
WITH his newborn in his arms, 30-year-old Pooranmal stands helplessly outside Jaipur's J K Loan Hospital. The doctors have refused to operate upon his son. "There is no hope. They say my child is not going to live for long,' he says. The child was born on February 25, 2000, …
India is fast becoming the land of superlatives. For all the wrong reasons, of course. Be it August 15, 1999 (UN prediction), or May 11, 2000 (government of India estimates), the nation has reached the inevitable mark. At the time of Independence, the country's population was as low as 350 …
THE mythical clock has struck. A billion and ticking at the rate of 29 per minute, 1790 per hour... The rise in human numbers is accompanied by a host of problems. Knowledge of the carrying capacity of India's lands is extremely limited. There is no worthwhile study covering even the …
