Our daily journey around the world

🌎 Global birthrates are dropping faster than anticipated. Recent data shows global fertility rates are currently around the point needed to keep population constant (~2.1 children per woman in developed countries), and may have already fallen below that level for the first time in human history. Birth rates around the world have steadily decreased since a recent peak of ~5 children per woman in 1963, with the decline seen across all levels of income, education, and labor-force participation.

🇦🇶🛢️ Russia reportedly found vast oil and gas reserves in the Antarctic. In a UK government committee hearing last week, several experts presented evidence that Russia has mounted expeditions to Antarctica for years in search of oil, despite such activity being banned under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. The experts also said Russia has discovered 511 billion barrels of oil on the continent – over 10x the US’ total proven oil reserves.

🇺🇳 The UN updated its data regarding deaths in Gaza. The revised totals, which first appeared on a UN office website last week, suggest the proportion of women and children killed in Gaza is lower than the previously reported 70%. Per the data, 40% of the 24,686 identified fatalities were men, 32% were children, 20% were women, and 8% were elderly. The UN office said the new figures relate to all “fully documented cases” out of an estimated 34,622 deaths, and also told The Guardian the revised figures were produced by Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry – similar to previous estimates – and hadn’t been verified.