Since 1990, 2.1 billion people in the world gained access to improved sanitation. However, 2.4 billion people still do not use a basic toilet. We examine whether the country differences in the sanitation index existing in 1990 has been reduced and if so, how fast. We deploy the convergence...

In a majority of the existing research on entrepreneurship start-up, entry “cost”, “time”, and “procedures” were analyzed as the primary barriers against a greater rate of new business start-ups. We examine whether the country differences in the start-up barriers existing in 2003...

Terrestrial protected areas are an important tool for biodiversity conservation. Recent expansion of terrestrial projection areas is such that fifty countries have already reached or exceeded the 17% target to be realized by 2020. This research examines whether countries with low level of...

Marine Protected Areas are central to conservation in oceans and seas and serve as protected areas for fish populations. The rapid growth of Marine Protected Areas has been guided by several leading countries in recent years. This research examines whether countries with low level of protection...

The Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations included a global target for Improved Water Source to reach 88% of global population by 2015. By 2010, the global target was reached. However, there are still millions of people lacking the improved access to drinking water. We propose the...

Under a wide variation of overfished stocks by countries and regions, this research examines whether regions and countries with low overfished ratios are increasing their fishing output to catch-up to regions and countries with higher overfished ratios. For the total group of 131 countries, the...

Two measures of fine particulate matter, PM2.5 exposure and PM2.5 exceedance are used to analyze convergence patterns of 212 and 108 countries during the period of 2000 to 2014. For PM2.5 exposure, sigma index diverges at the annual rate of 1.07%, while gamma index converges at -0.5% rate. For...

Sustainable Development Goals adopted by The United Nations seek to protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species by 2020. Several countries even in the 1990s began expanding species protection to reach the 2020 goal early. This research investigates whether countries with low level...

Using yearly nitrogen dioxide pollution measures in parts per billion for 179 countries during 1979 to 2011, this research examines whether the convergence process of catch-ups has taken place among countries in both total as well as in multiple subgroups of countries. All four income subgroups...

An estimated 804,000 suicide deaths occurred in 2012, representing an annual global age-standardized suicide ratio of 11.4 per 100,000 populations. Suicide ratios are not distributed evenly across people or places, varying by income level, gender, and age. Changes in suicide ratios over time...