Population Double

Zambia

The current Zambian growth rate would result in the country's population doubling by 2035 and poses a challenge to authorities to put in place policies that will be commensurate with the population growth, said the Ministry of Finance and National Planning. The country's population had expanded at an average rate of 2.8 percent per year between the years 2000 and 2010 and at this rate it would double reaching 26 million in 24 years.

Costly Living

Angola

Luanda in Angola is the world's most expensive city for expatriates for the second year running. Mercer's 2011 Cost of Living Survey ranks worldwide cities by how expensive they are to live in for expats. N'Djamena in Chad is third. The survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

 Human Rights

China

China is drafting a new national human rights action plan for the next four years to improve the country's human rights record, people's wellbeing and expand democracy. The National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-15), the country's second document of the kind, will set "comprehensive and systematic" goals in various fields of human rights and measures to achieve the goals, said Wang Chen, Minister of the State Council Information Office.

Food Aid

Ethiopia

An estimated 4.5 million Ethiopians are in need of food assistance, an increase of 40 percent, said Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia's State Minister of Agriculture. He said nearly $400 million is needed to fill the country's food gap and Ethiopia needs to distribute 380 tons of food. The drought is centered in the triangle where Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia meet.

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Numbers

9.6%

China's GDP up in first six months of 2011

132.02 tons

China's gold output from January to May

23%

Predicted inflation level for Kenya in 2012

1.8 million

The number of children working in Madagascar's economic sector