Vital Signs

Subtitled 'the trends that are shaping our future, this volume is compulsory reading this year as it was last, along with its companion volume State of the World, both of which are produced by the Worldwatch Institute. One welcome innovation in this year's edition is a composite index showing which years particular topics were covered under the recurrent headings of Agriculture and Food, The Economy, Energy and Atmosphere, The Environment, The Military, Society and Human Wellbeing, Transport and Communications. The overview highlights systemic problems of which we are mostly aware, such as the balance between ecology and economy, the growing gulf between rich and poor (the disparity in per capita income between the world's 20 richest and 20 poorest nations more than doubled between 1960 and 1995), and the inequities of climate change. Another trend is the contrasting diseases of poverty and wealth: cardiovascular diseases are by far the largest cause of death in the developed world (more than double the figures for cancer) while infectious and parasitic diseases kill almost as many in the developing world. There is much to be depressed about in the book – rising military expenditure, the decline of bird populations, the rate at which illegal drugs are harvested. But there is also some better news: world heritage sites have grown from 12 to 735 in 25 years; and global wind power capacity tripled between 1998 and 2002, growing 27% in 2001 alone.