Vital Signs 2001

VITAL SIGNS, WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE
The global trends documented in Vital Signs 2001—from the rapid increase in the use of wind power to the continued warming of the planet—will play a large role in determining the quality of our lives and our children's lives in this new century.
Among the findings in the 1997 edition:
• Although AIDS has grabbed the headlines in recent years, malaria remains one of the world's deadliest diseases, killing at least a million people a year.
• Of the 1,233 new drugs that reached the market between 1975 and 1997, only 13 products were designed to combat tropical diseases, which are some of the world's biggest killers.
• The United States, long the leader in milk production, was eclipsed by India in milk output in 1997.
• At $11.2 billion in exports, coffee is second only to oil in the developing world's export commodities.