Another generational one in a lifetime summit has drawn to a conclusion, the Rio + 20 ‘The Future We Want’ has come and gone – however, twenty years on since the original 1992 Rio Earth Summit, can we conlude that the world is today a better place?

The Guardian, in collaboration with Kiln, this week brings you brings you an interactive guide to help better inform you on the progress made towards global sustainable development over the course of the last 20 years.

Take a moment to click below and review for yourself the the evidence on a range of factors including population, life expectancy, child mortality, ecological footprint, poverty, hunger, food production, GDP, social change, life satisfaction, battle deaths and biodiversity.

Judge for yourself whether collectively we’re making the world a better place for all!

Rio+20 interactive: is the world getting better or worse? – DECIDE NOW!

2011 goes down in the annals of history as globally, one of the must tumultuous on record over the course of the last 50 years. The Arab Spring and an economic crisis reverberating across the planet’s continents typify this upheaval, which has had profound implications for social cohesion worldwide.

New UNHCR data also reveals that in 2011 alone 800,000 new refugees were displaced worldwide. 2011 marks a record upsurge in the number of people forcefully displaced, with more people becoming refugees than at any time since 2000. This week, The Guardian’s Global Development team provided a digital and interactive breakdown of the above mentioned UNHCR data, a sample of which is provided below, along with a link to a map through which you can explore in greater detail these findings.

• Afghanistan still produces more refugees than any other country – 3,054,709 – followed by Iraq and Somalia
• The US and the UK produced as well as accepted refugees in 2011 – US: 3,778 (+24.9%) and UK: 150 (-2.2%)
• Côte d’Ivoire has seen a 270% increase in just one year, and Libya +89.9%
• 4.3m people were newly displaced
• In many countries, the majority of people “of concern” to the UNHCR are children aged under 18 – 72% in Eritrea, for example

EXPLORE THE REFUGEE MAP OF THE WORLD HERE!

REFUGEES DATA FROM THE UNHCR – 2011

Catch on the Huffington Post the latest epistle on current trends in international development from Marcelo Giugale, the World Bank’s Director of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Programmes for Africa.

This time round, Mr Giugale asks his readership, ‘What have economists learned about indigenous peoples?’ UNESCO estimates state that some 350 million people globally qualify as being officially ‘indigenous’.

According to Mr Giugale, indigenous peoples account for 5% of the world’s population, yet staggeringly constitute 10% of the World’s poor. Take a look at the below posted discussion to see how collectively, the international community can seek to reverse these trends, and delve further into the debate by reviewing World Bank policy brief on the economics of indigenous communities.

Marcelo Giugale: What Have Economists Learned About Indigenous Peoples?

Indigenous Peoples – Still among the poorest of the poor