Ever since its founding in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has maintained an aggressive and bellicose international security posture. Today, fully two decades after the end of the Cold War, North Korea's external defense and security policies look arguably more extreme and anomalous than ever.

Americans have the highest health spending on the planet. Why? Because they can afford to do so. What few people realize is that the U.S. has increased its standard of living vis-à-vis its biggest competitors despite rising health expenditures (figure 1.6c).

The fierce battle over reform was based on the perception that Americans did not get good value for their money. That perception is wrong.

The illegal immigration problem is going away.That's the conclusion I draw from the latest report of the Pew Hispanic Center on Mexican immigration to the United States.Pew's demographers have carefully combed through statistics compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Homeland Security and the...

While the United States consumes a disproportionate share of global resources devoted to medical care, this global share is shrinking.

Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry boast much better records than Mitt Romney in holding down health expenditures.

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded that there's an extra 13 auto accident deaths attributable to Income Tax Day (i.e., generally April 15, but which falls on April 17 this year). This is a drop in the bucket compared to the actual carnage that might be reasonably attributed to paying taxes in America.

Marking the birth of the 7 billionth person on earth, here are five myths challenging everything you think you know about the world's population.