Prime Numbers

Boomtown 2025: A Special Report

By 2025, 136 new cities -- all from the developing world -- will take their place among the world's leading urban centers. But these new engines of global economic growth hold some surprises.

BY RICHARD DOBBS, JAANA REMES, CHARLES ROXBURGH | MARCH 24, 2011

A Tale of Two Armies

Standing up the Afghan and Iraqi forces so America's can stand down.

BY MICHAEL O'HANLON, IAN LIVINGSTON | MARCH/APRIL 2011

Unemployment: Just How Bad Is It?

For American job seekers, it's the autumn of their discontent. Unfortunately, they have some worldwide company. Here's FP's guided tour of the grim numbers.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | NOVEMBER 2010

Megacities

FP's guide to the coming urban age.

BY RICHARD DOBBS | SEPT. / OCT. 2010

The Pirate Den

Inside the modern business of wreaking havoc on the high seas.

BY BRIDGET COGGINS | JULY/AUGUST 2010

The Almanac of Al Qaeda

FP's definitive guide to what's left of the terrorist group.

BY PETER BERGEN, KATHERINE TIEDEMANN | MAY/JUNE 2010

Big Senders

People all over the world are still traveling to other countries to find work, only the job opportunities aren't where they used to be.

BY J. HUMBERTO LOPEZ , DILIP RATHA, SANKET MOHAPATRA | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010

Prime Numbers: Doped

The disaster drugs: heroin and cocaine.

BY BEAU KILMER, PETER REUTER | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009

How High Will It Go?

How the price of oil might superspike once again.

BY THE MCKINSEY GLOBAL INSTITUTE | SEPT. / OCT. 2009

Sex Matters

Low birthrates aren't the result of economic growth and political stability; they're a prerequisite.

BY MALCOLM POTTS, MARTHA CAMPBELL | JULY/AUG 2009

Prime Numbers: Sushinomics

FP examines the global economic impact of sushi.

BY DANIEL PAULY | MARCH 1, 2009

Prime Numbers: Change Is in the Air

The failing industry: the future of airlines.

BY WILLIAM SWELBAR | OCTOBER 15, 2008

Prime Numbers: Rings of Gold

Who's cashing in on the Olympic gold?

BY BRAD R. HUMPHREYS | JUNE 16, 2008

Prime Numbers: The Plastic Revolution

The rise of the credit card.

BY RONALD J. MANN | FEBRUARY 19, 2008

Prime Numbers: A Matter of Life or Meth

FP takes a look at the booming Meth industry.

BY RICHARD A. RAWSON, BETH A. RUTKOWSKI | OCTOBER 11, 2007

Prime Numbers: Pain at the Pump

The impact of high gasoline prices.

BY GERHARD METSCHIES | JUNE 11, 2007

Prison Planet

The global prison population is on the rise, with upwards of 9 million people now doing time. Countries are now locking up more of their citizens than ever before. This troubling trend has left jails severely overcrowded, costs booming, and countless prisoners waiting years for justice.

BY ROY WALMSLEY | APRIL 18, 2007

Prime Numbers: Iraq's Sticker Shock

FP delves into the true cost of the Iraq war.

BY GORDON ADAMS | FEBRUARY 20, 2007

The Diaper Diaspora

Angelina Jolie made international adoptions fashionable. Madonna made them controversial. But celebrities are just the most public faces of a growing global trend. Today, some 45,000 children are adopted each year by foreign parents willing to pay big for a little one.

BY PETER SELMAN | DECEMBER 27, 2006

9/11 + 5

Five years ago, 19 men sparked a global war. They were far from the first to commit acts of terrorism. But the devastation they wrought led U.S. President George W. Bush to declare a war "unlike any other we have ever seen," not simply against al Qaeda, but against every organization capable of terror. Today, the world faces increased terrorism on nearly every front. Attacks and fatalities are on the rise not just in the Middle East, but around the world -- everywhere, it seems, but where the war was first declared. The United States may be footing many of the costs for the war on terror, but the rest of the world is paying with their lives.

BY KIM CRAGIN, ANDREW CURIEL | AUGUST 8, 2006

Prime Numbers: The Influential Tourist

FP examines tourism and work-force economics.

BY SYLVIA A. ALLEGRETTO, L. JOSH BIVENS | JUNE 12, 2006

Bound for Success

The book's obituary has been written time and again, its imminent demise blamed on television, falling publishing profits, and now, the Internet. But don't write books off just yet. More are being published than ever before, and sales continue to trump those of other media. Despite the dire predictions, the world still loves a good page-turner.

BY ANDREW GRABOIS | APRIL 25, 2006

Prime Numbers: Risky Business

Gambling's global rise.

BY SIMON HOLLIDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2006

India Outsmarts China

The economic race between China and India is changing the way the world does business. By 2050, it is estimated that these two Asian heavyweights will account for nearly half the world's gross domestic product, up from just 6 percent today. But whose model is better, China's low-cost factories or India's low-cost financiers? For all the benefits of China's swift rise, India's brain power will finally give it the tools to catch up.

BY DIANA FARRELL | JANUARY 4, 2006

Prime Numbers: The Battle of the Bulge

Obesity grows ever larger worldwide.

BY KELLY D. BROWNELL, DEREK YACH | NOVEMBER 9, 2005

35 Years Later...

An FP anniversary special.

AUGUST 30, 2005

Prime Numbers: Power Projectors

Globalization goes to the movies.

BY DAVID HANCOCK | JULY 1, 2005

The Price of Life

The misplaced priorities of the pharmaceutical industry.

BY RACHEL GLENNERSTER, MICHAEL KREMER, HEIDI WILLIAMS | MAY 5, 2005

The Art of the Steal

FP looks at the global art trade.

BY DAVID SHILLINGFORD | MARCH 1, 2005

Organs Without Borders

A new comparative advantage? Why the poor are selling their organs.

BY NANCY SCHEPER-HUGHES | JANUARY 5, 2005