A new report from the Pew Research Center shows that Islam experienced the largest growth of any religious group between 2010 and 2020, with an increase of 347 million people. Researchers attribute this primarily to birth rates rather than religious conversion. The study found that Muslims remain concentrated in high-growth regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East-North Africa, while the largest increase occurred in the Asia-Pacific region.⁠
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Christianity added 122 million people over the same period but declined as a share of the global population. Pew reports that many people who were raised Christian no longer identify with any religion, especially in Europe, North America, and Oceania. The religiously unaffiliated now make up 24.2% of the global population and represent the third largest group after Christians and Muslims.⁠
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Other findings include a 19 million decline in the global Buddhist population, largely due to disaffiliation in East Asia. Hindu populations grew through migration, particularly in the Middle East-North Africa and North America. The world’s Jewish population increased by about one million to 15 million people, with nearly half residing in Israel. Pew researchers used over 2,700 data sources across 201 countries to produce the study.⁠
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Global military spending rose to $2.72 trillion in 2024, up 9.4% from the previous year and marking the fastest annual increase since the end of the Cold War, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The war in Ukraine and broader geopolitical tensions drove growth across all regions, with Europe and the Middle East seeing particularly steep increases.⁠
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Russia spent an estimated $149 billion on its military in 2024, a 38% jump from 2023, while Ukraine spent $64.7 billion—34% of its GDP and the highest military burden globally. SIPRI noted, “Ukraine currently allocates all of its tax revenues to its military,” raising concerns about long-term sustainability.⁠
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The United States accounted for 37% of total global military spending, reaching $997 billion in 2024. That figure represented 66% of all NATO defense expenditures. SIPRI reported that over 100 countries increased military budgets in 2024, often cutting other spending areas in the process.⁠
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The Trump administration has admitted 49 white South Africans to the U.S. as refugees, citing “government-sponsored racial discrimination,” according to a senior State Department official. ⁠
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Most of the group are Afrikaners from farming communities. President Donald Trump ordered their resettlement through an executive action titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” claiming they face violence and economic exclusion. ⁠
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The move comes amid an ongoing dispute over South Africa’s land reform efforts. In 2017, an audit found that white South Africans—who make up about 7% of the population—own roughly 75% of individually held farmland.⁠
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A 2025 law allows limited expropriation without compensation, which the Trump administration framed as targeting whites. South African officials say the policy is intended to address the legacy of apartheid, during which the Afrikaner-led government denied Black South Africans land rights, political representation, and basic freedoms under a formal system of racial segregation that lasted from 1948 to 1994.⁠
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South Africa’s government rejected Trump’s refugee designation, calling the persecution claims “completely false” and politically motivated. “There is no data at all that backs that there is persecution of white South Africans,” said Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola. ⁠
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Critics in the U.S., including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, questioned why this group was prioritized while refugee programs for people fleeing war and famine remain suspended. ⁠
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Breaking News: “Nigeria under Tinubu has highest number of “extremely poor people globally” - World Bank reveals !!! 🚴🏿‍♀️🚴🏿‍♀️🚴🏿‍♀️💨

Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu has the highest number of extremely poor people globally, says the World Bank’s Africa’s Pulse report of April 2025.

“Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest extreme poverty rate globally, and a large share of the poor is concentrated in a few countries,” the report stated.

According to a chart in the report, Nigeria accounts for 19 per cent of extremely poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa, while the Democratic Republic of Congo has 14 per cent, Ethiopia 9 per cent, and Sudan 6 per cent.

It added, “About 80 per cent of the world’s estimated 695 million extreme poor resided in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024, compared to 8 per cent in South Asia, 2 per cent in East Asia and the Pacific, 5 per cent in the Middle East and North Africa, and 3 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

A further breakdown by Peoples Gazette shows that Nigeria’s 19 per cent of the 560 million extremely poor in Sub-Saharan Africa represents 106 million people. This also amounts to 15.25 per cent of the world’s estimated 695 million extremely poor.

The report lists Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and war-torn Sudan as the four countries “within Sub-Saharan Africa, with half of the 560 million extreme poor in 2024.”

The World Bank also predicted a grim future for Nigeria, stating that more Nigerians will be plunged into poverty under Mr Tinubu’s watch by 2027.

This comes a month before Mr Tinubu’s second year in office. He assumed office on May 29, 2023, announcing fuel subsidy removal and later, exchange rate unification.

Barely a week ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Mr Tinubu’s economic policies are yet to yield tangible benefits for Nigerians, as poverty and food insecurity remain widespread.

The IMF said though reforms introduced by the Tinubu-led government “have put the Nigerian economy in a better position to navigate this external environment,” the country still faces economic uncertainty.