Between the social, political, and economic upheavals affecting our lives, and the violence and forced displacement making headlines, you’d be forgiven for feeling gloomy about 2016. A look at the data reveals some of the challenges we face but also the progress we’ve made toward a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future.

Here are 12 charts that help tell the stories of the year.

1:  The number of refugees in the world increased

At the start of 2016, 65 million people had been forcibly displaced from their homes, up from 60 million the year before. More than 21 million were classified as refugees. Outside of Sub-Saharan Africa, most refugees live in cities and towns, where they seek safety, better access to services, and job opportunities. A recent report on the “Forcibly Displaced” offers a new perspective on the role of development in helping refugees, internally displaced persons and host communities, working together with humanitarian partners. Among the initiatives is new financial assistance for countries such as Lebanon and Jordan that host large numbers of refugees.

About a quarter of the world’s refugees live in camps

Number of refugees by accommodation type and region (end of 2015)

2:  The global climate change agreement entered into force

The pact negotiated in Paris in 2015 was ratified by 118 of the 194 countries that signed it , triggering new commitments to combat global warming. One of the agreement’s major goals is to promote a shift to low-carbon energy. Demand for renewable energy is picking up in developing countries as prices decline. In May, Africa saw its lowest solar price to date when the winning bid to develop large-scale photovoltaic solar plants in Zambia came in at 6 cents per kilowatt hour – or 4.7 cents/kwh, spread over 20 years.  That followed bids as low as 3 cents in the United Arab Emirates and 4.5 cents in Mexico. Renewables are now cost competitive in many markets and increasingly seen as mainstream sources of energy, according to REN21.

3: Global trade weakened

In 2016, global trade growth recorded its weakest performance since the global financial crisis. Trade volumes stagnated for most of the year, with weak global investment playing an important role, as capital goods account for about one third of world goods trade.

Trade has been a major engine of growth for the global economy and has helped cut global poverty in half since 1990. A trade slowdown, therefore, could have implications for growth, development, and the fight against poverty.

4:  More people had access to mobile phones than to electricity or clean water

Access to mobile phones has surged in low- and middle-income countries,  but many of the other benefits of the digital revolution – such as greater productivity, more opportunity for the poor and middle class, and more accountable governments and companies — have not yet spread as far and wide as anticipated, according to the World Bank’s 2016 World Development Report on the Internet, “Digital Dividends.” The report says greater efforts must be made to connect more people to the Internet and to create an environment that unleashes the benefits of digital technologies for everyone.

5:  A third of all people were under the age of 20

In around 40 African countries, over 50% of the population is under 20.  By contrast, in 30 richer countries, less than 20% of the population is under 20. As the 2015/2016 Global Monitoring Reports notes, the world is on the cusp of a major demographic transition that will affect countries along the development spectrum.

6:  600 million jobs will be needed in the next 10 years

One third of the world’s 1.8 billion young people are currently neither in employment, education nor training. Of the one billion more youth that will enter the job market in the next decade, only 40% are expected to be able to get jobs that currently exist. The future of work is changing, and the global economy will need to create 600 million jobs over the next 10 years to keep pace with projected youth employment rates.

7:  1 in 3 people did not have access to a toilet

The UN estimates that 2.4 billion people still lack access to improved sanitation facilities, nearly one billion of whom practice open defecation. Good sanitation is a foundation for development – conditions such as diarrhea are associated with poor sanitation, and left untreated, can lead to malnutrition and stunting in children. This year’s first High-Level Panel on Water brought together world leaders with a core commitment to ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

8:  Most of the world’s extreme poor lived in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

While over 1 in 10 people lived in extreme poverty globally in 2013, in Sub-Saharan Africa, that figure was 4 in 10, representing 389 million people – that’s more poor people than all other regions combined, according to the World Bank’s Poverty and Shared Prosperity report.

..but extreme poverty is declining worldwide

And while the numbers of extremely poor remain unacceptably high, data in the report reveal the tremendous progress the world has made lifting people out of poverty since 1990:

How Does Extreme Poverty Vary By Region?

The number and percentage of extreme poor by region in 2013

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) tablet market continues to decline in the face of cannibalisation from larger-screen-size smartphones.

According to the latest Middle East and Africa Quarterly Tablet Tracker from International Data Corporation (IDC), tablet shipments in MEA dropped 10.1% in the third quarter of the year (Q3 2016) when compared with the same period in 2015.

While shipments were down year on year to 3.85 million units, this still marked an improvement on the 3.52 million units shipped in Q2 2016.

“Smartphones with large screen sizes meet most needs of today’s consumers, who are slowly moving their tasks to these devices,” says Fouad Rafiq Charakla, Senior Research Manager for Client Devices at IDC MEA.

“The continuation of low crude oil prices in the Middle East and currency shortages in several African countries are compounding the problem, eventually leading to weaker consumer sentiment.”

Samsung continued to lead the MEA tablet market in Q3 2016 with 17.6% share, despite the vendor’s reduced focus on the category leading to a 34.3% year-on-year decline in its shipments. Lenovo maintained second position with 13.5% share, up from 12.9% in the previous quarter but down 6.8% on Q3 2015. Huawei followed just behind in third place after increasing its focus on tablets in the region. This resulted in year-on-year growth of 102.8% for 13.5% share. Apple finished fourth with 7.9% share, reflecting a year-on-year decline of 34.6% in shipments, while local vendor i-Life took fifth position with 5.5% share, its success stemming from the popularity of its low-priced consumer products.

“Demand for tablets in MEA is primarily being driven by entry-level slate models,” says Nakul Dogra, Senior Research Analyst for Client Devices at IDC MEA.

“This category offers quite low margins, so the focus on tablets from the supply side is also declining. Many vendors have cut their tablet lineups accordingly, and there don’t appear to be any exciting or innovative developments on the immediate horizon to spur purchases in the tablet space.”

“It’s worth nothing that with little difference between older and newer generation tablets, consumers are typically content with their existing hardware and subsequently holding onto it for a longer period of time,” continues Dogra.

“Free operating system updates ensure that these tablets remain essentially as good as new, so there is little or no motivation for consumers to replace their current devices.”

IDC has revised its overall forecast for 2016 downwards, with 14.49 million units now expected to be shipped for the year. This is down from the previous forecast of 15.07 million units and represents a year-on-year decline of 7.5%. The main factor behind this revision is the significant reduction in the quantity of tablets expected to be shipped as part of the Digital Literacy School Program in Kenya.

Detachable tablets are gaining traction in the market, and shipments are expected to grow by 147.9% year on year in 2016, driven by increasing demand from consumers and the education sector. “Detachable tablets are typically better suited for education purposes than traditional tablets, as these devices are primarily based on the Windows operating system,” says Charakla.

“As such, they can smoothly run the Microsoft Office applications typically required by the education sector. There are also numerous low-cost options with this form factor, which is ideal for large education deals where budgets are tight.”

IDC’s Middle East and Africa Quarterly Tablet Tracker provides insightful analysis of key market developments, covering vendors, operating systems, screen sizes, user segments and distribution channels, quarterly market share data, and a comprehensive 5–8 quarter and five-year forecast.

Nigeria plans to sell N20 billion ($63 million) of green bonds in the first half of 2017 to finance renewable energy projects, Bloomberg reported on December 9, citing official sources.

“We are on track to sell the bond in the first quarter, a sovereign, and could have another by the end of the year,”Environment Minister Amina Mohammed said. “The sale will also help fund an electric-vehicle commuter project in the city and tree-planting in the country’s arid north,” she added.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, needs more than six trillion naira, the equivalent of its annual budget, to overcome its infrastructure deficit, according to data from the Budget and National Planning Ministry.

The government directed a third of the 2016 State budget to infrastructure projects in order to plug this deficit and revive its economy which should contract by 1.7% this year.

Investment firm, Tana Africa Capital sold its 25% stake in agrofood group, Promisador to Japanese Ajinomoto Co. for $399 million.

In a statement reported by Africa Capital Digest, Duncan Randall, Tana Africa’s Managing Director said:

“Tana Africa Capital and its shareholders have enjoyed a positive, decade long relationship with the Promasidor Group…We have highly valued the collaborative and constructive partnership that we have enjoyed with Promasidor over all these years”.

Tana Africa Capital said on its website it plans, under its strategy, to invest $20-$75 million to buy minority stakes in companies that are already well established in their markets. If it successfully achieves this, the company which is the product of a JV between family investment group Ernest Oppenheimer & Son and Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, would generate a plus-value of $324 million.

The sale also falls in line with Ajinomoto Co’s strategy to acquire 33% of Promisador. The latter is present in nine African nations and sells its products in 33 countries of the region. In 2015, it generated a turnover of $673 million.

After posting annual declines for six quarters in succession, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) PC market finally exited the third quarter of 2016 close to flat, with year-on-year growth of 0.4% based on shipments of 3 million units, according to global technology research and consulting firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

Desktop shipments suffered a significant decline of 16.9% to total 1.1 million units, while notebooks shipments grew 14.5% to reach 1.9 million units.

“The recovery witnessed in Turkey, the largest single market in the MEA region, was the biggest contributor towards this growth, due to unusually low shipments in Q3 2015 and a faster-than-expected recovery from the failed military coup,” says Fouad Charakla, Senior Research Manager for client devices at IDC MEA.

“At the same time, some recovery from instability in the North African markets, when compared to last year, also contributed towards PC shipment growth, while deliveries as part of large education deals in the UAE and Kenya were other notable market drivers.”

In addition, Microsoft no longer groups the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with its emerging markets when it comes to setting prices for its operating systems. As such, these countries are now charged slightly more for Windows OS on PCs than was previously the case, which resulted in a few vendors pushing their sell-in orders prior to the change coming into effect. This was one of the factors driving notebook shipments across the six Gulf countries.

The regional PC space continued to consolidate further in terms of market players, with the top five vendors accounting for around 77% of PC shipments during Q3 2016, compared to around 67.5% for the same quarter last year. Market share rankings for the top five vendors in the region also remained unchanged compared to the previous quarter, with all five maintaining their respective positions. Meanwhile, local assemblers continue to lose market share due to stiff competition from refurbished PCs and aggressively priced notebooks from multinational brands.

HP recorded significant growth both quarter on quarter and year on year in Q3 2016, accounting for the highest market share ever secured by a single PC vendor over the past decade. Lenovo maintained its position at number two; a large delivery in the UAE education sector helped the vendor boost its position in the overall commercial segment. Dell’s shipments declined year on year in each of the vendor’s three biggest country markets – South Africa, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Asus was the fastest growing vendor in the region, while Acer also recorded some shipment growth.

“IDC’s forecast for the MEA PC market has been revised downwards owing to a range of factors that are expected to cause the regional PC market to decline over the coming two quarters,” says Charakla.

“These vary from country to country, but primarily include currency issues, which are affecting key markets such as Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa, and the constriction of government initiatives caused by low crude oil prices. Such factors are expected to lead to project delays or even cancellations across the GCC, as well as in Nigeria and other African countries.”

With the above-mentioned macroeconomic inhibitors expected to persist beyond this year, IDC does not predict any significant overall improvement in PC shipments in 2017. In 2018 and beyond, however, MEA markets are expected to record marginal growth each year until 2020 (the end of the forecast period), primarily stemming from the less mature markets of the region where PC penetration stands at some of the lowest levels – specifically Nigeria, Pakistan, and Egypt. These growth forecasts also depend on these countries gradually and partially recovering from the present economic challenges they face.