Germany

Americans have good reason to worry about competition from China, the country with which the U.S. has its largest merchandise trade deficit. But competition from high-value exporters such as Germany also poses a challenge that, so far, has been largely ignored on the campaign trail.

People in emerging and developing nations are quickly catching up to those in advanced nations in terms of access to technology.

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.

The United States is turning gray, with the number of people ages 65 and older expected to nearly double by 2050. This major demographic transition has implications for the economy, government programs such as Social Security and families across the U.S.

America is turning gray, with the share of people ages 65 and older expected to rise more than 50% by 2050 – a trend that may burden more families. But Germany and Italy are already there, with a fifth of their population in that age range.

Overall, recent surveys in both the U.S. and the 28-member EU suggest there is widespread support for a deeper transatlantic trade and investment relationship in most EU countries and among publics representing most of the European population, economy and exports to the U.S.

Pew Research's annual Global Attitudes surveys starts by asking respondents how they would describe their day. A median of nearly two-thirds (65%) across 44 countries surveyed in spring 2014 responded that they were having a typical day.