The statistical yearbook of the Vatican registers an overall increase of 1,285 million of baptized Catholics in 2015, with 49 percent living in the Americas. In five years, Catholics in Asia, and especially in Africa, have grown from 15.5 percent to 17.3 percent of the world‘s total. Of the world‘s Catholics, almost 49 percent live in Latin America, including the Caribbean. Europe is home to...

Copenhagen is found to be the ultimate smart city with Singapore trailing close behind in second place, according to the 2017 Smart Cities Index produced by European parking app EasyPark, The Danish capital is ranked at the top for scoring particularly high marks in terms of smart parking, smart buildings, robust business ecosystems and smartphone penetration. Cities like Stockholm, Zurich, ...

South Korea's Myeongdong has been ranked world’s 8th most expensive retail district with annual rents at $914 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s 2017 Main Streets Across the World retail report New York's 5th Avenue retained the most expensive main street in the world with annual rents at an average of $3,000 per square foot per year. Hong Kong's Causeway Bay ranked as Asia’...

South Korean youths scored the highest in terms of their collaborative problem-solving abilities at the Program for International Student Assessment 2015 test among 51 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. PISA is an international assessment of students’ abilities in reading, mathematics and science at age 15. In 2015, PISA examined for the first time h...

The most internal displacements are recorded in China, with 7.4 million people displaced in their own country due to conflict and disasters, followed by the Philippines (5.9 million) and India (2.4 million), according to a recent report of the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. The world is faced with a rising crisis of internally displaced people. Each year millions of peop...

Seoul ranked the seventh most popular city among foreign travelers in 2016, according to a report by financial services corporation Mastercard. The South Korean capital city moved up three notches from a year earlier, attracting 12.39 million foreign travelers. Bangkok topped the list with 19.41 million visitors, followed by London with 19.06 million, Paris with 15.45 million, Dubai with 14....

32 countries have booked their place for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, after Peru beat New Zealand last week to guarantee the final spot.

Earthquakes strike suddenly and without warning at any time of year, day or night. Supplies should be kept in an easy-to-carry emergency kit that you can either use at home or take with you if you have to evacuate.

After a year of stagnation the luxury market has returned to growth and will likely set a new record of 1.2 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion) in 2017, said a study released by consulting firm Bain and Company. The 5 percent growth in the overall market is likely to be matched in the personal luxury goods segment, which includes clothing, watches and leather goods, to reach 262 billion euros. Sa...

Seoul has been ranked as one of the world’s top cities for sustainable transport, according to the 2017 Sustainable Cities Mobility Index. Hong Kong took first place, followed by Zurich and Paris. European cities dominated the list, making up seven of the top 10. The data examined 100 cities across 23 indicators to give an indicative ranking of the mobility and sustainability of the systems ...

Healthier lifestyles and higher incomes helped increase life expectancy by 10 years in 35 nations in the past half a century, according to the Health at a Glance 2017 report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. Out of the OECD’s 35 member countries, life expectancy exceeded 80 years in 25 nations. The leading countries are Japan with life expectancy of 83.9 years, as ...

The global smartphone market has momentum going into the year-end holiday shopping season, according to the International Data Corporation. An estimated 373.1 million smartphones were shipped worldwide during the third quarter of this year, a 2.7 percent rise from the same period in 2016. The five top smartphone makers all shipped more units than they did in the same quarter last year. Sou...

The average annual salary of South Koreans ranked mid to low among major economies last year, with its growth rate over the past six years also hovering below the median, a report said. According to a report by Rep. Park Kwang-on of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, South Koreans earned an average of $29,125 in 2016, the 23rd-highest among the 34 member nations of the Organization for Econ...

South Korea’s Korean Air has been named the 8th best airline in the world, according to the international aviation website AirlineRatings.com. Air New Zealand claimed the top award for the fifth straight year followed by Qantas and Singapore Airlines. The data was based on 13 major criteria including passenger reviews, in-flight product offerings, safety, profitability, fleet age and environ...

Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump, at their summit meeting in Seoul on Tuesday, agreed to lift all restrictions currently imposed on the payload of S. Korean missiles, as part of measures to greatly expand South Korea’s military capabilities. That means that Seoul can develop its own weapons to eliminate N. Korea's strategic assets.