Asia & the Pacific

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, both economically and socially, technology adoption remains one of the defining factors in human progress. To that end, there has been a noticeable rise over the past two years in the percentage of people in the emerging and developing nations surveyed by Pew Research Center who say that they use the internet and own a smartphone.

The view that torture may be justified is most common in sub-Saharan Africa, where a median of 55% hold this view; it is least common in Latin America (a median of 25%). In the U.S., 58% say torture can be justified as part of efforts to prevent terrorist attacks.

Americans place less importance on religion in their lives than do people in a number of countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia -- but more than residents of many other Western and European countries.

Beijing experienced more than 200 days of air pollution categorized as “unhealthy” or worse in 2014, including 21 days that were “hazardous.”

China’s rapid economic development, its urbanization and its culture will continue to play a role in family size and the population’s gender makeup.

With so much new infrastructure, 62% of urban areas in China with populations over 100,000 have become less crowded -- even as most gained in total population.