Trusted by more than 23,000 companies
After Russia started a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, over 280 thousand refugees from Ukraine fled to Poland as of February 28, 2022. Furthermore, Hungary recorded nearly 85 thousand Ukrainian refugees.
In January 2022, about 70 percent of Russians approved of activities of the Russian president Vladimir Putin. The popularity level saw an increase from the previous month. During the COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020, the rating declined, before increasing again in the late summer of that year.
What shifted Putin’s approval rating?
Since his first presidential term started in 2000, Vladimir Putin's highest approval rating was measured at 88 percent, when he was the country's prime minister. In 2008, as a result of the war with Georgia, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In 2014, Russia annexed the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, viewing it as a historic reunification. Despite Western sanctions that were imposed on the country in response the violation of territorial integrity of Ukraine, the approval rating remained high over the following years. In February and March 2019, among the reasons behind the decline in approval were a pension reform and a retirement age hike.
What awaits Russia after 2024?
During his state of-the-nation speech in January 2020, Vladimir Putin suggested amendments to the Russian Constitution, some of which are aimed at restructuring the executive power within the country’s administration. Regarding the amendments, 47 percent of Russians believed that they were designed to prepare the political system for the period after 2024, allowing Putin to stay in power in a role different from a president. In March 2020, an amendment was proposed to the Constitution to reset the previous presidential terms of Putin, allowing him to stay as a president until 2036. The amendments were approved in an all-Russian voting with nearly 78 percent of Russians supporting them.
The Russian ruble increasingly lost ground against the U.S. dollar towards the end of 2020, with the exchange rate being below 75 rubles in 2021. The decline started in November 2020, and continued into 2021 - no specific reason was given for the timing of this development. Interestingly, the USD/RUB exchange rate reached its highest point earlier in 2020, as one U.S. dollar could buy nearly 80 rubles in March 2020.
Dutch TTF gas futures amounted 72.56 euros per megawatt hour on February 21, 2022 for contracts with delivery in March 2022. Dutch TTF is seen as a Europe-wide natural gas price benchmark. Gas prices rose to record highs across Europe in the latter half of 2021 as the continent experienced a supply shortage.
Gas in high demand amid fall in Russian exports
The jump in gas prices noted for December 13 and December 20 came as colder temperatures were sweeping the continent, while also being a reflection of the German government's decision to not approve the operation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Russia has been exporting less gas than in previous years with the objective to restock depleted storage volumes at home. This has also directly affected electricity prices as gas is a major contributor to EU power production, it being the second largest source for electricity generation in 2020. With Europe slowly climbing out of the pandemic-induced economic low, growing power demand puts an additional strain on gas suppliers. Meanwhile lower wind activity in the late summer months reduced wind power generation, which is the third largest power source in the European Union. As a result EU monthly wholesale electricity prices climbed significantly.
Gas production and supply in the Netherlands
The Groningen gas field is the largest gas field in Europe and the major natural gas source in the Netherlands. In 2014, the first earthquake related to drilling the field occurred and other seismic activities were also observed. Therefore, the Groningen field has drastically reduced its production output. Since then, natural gas production in the Netherlands has been in a trend of continuous decline, reaching a record low in 2020, at 20 billion cubic meters. To balance the diminished domestic production the European market relies on
Hilton Hotels & Resorts was the most valuable hotel brand in 2021, with a global brand value of approximately 7.61 billion U.S. dollars. Other major hotel brands in the ranking included Hyatt and Holiday Inn.
What are leading hotel companies worldwide?
Marriott International generated more sales revenue than any other hotel group worldwide in 2020. In addition, Marriott had over 1.4 million guestrooms globally. Meanwhile, Wyndham was the leading hotel company in terms of property numbers. As of June 2020, the Wyndham Hotel Group had over nine thousand properties worldwide. This was roughly 3,000 more than the number of properties owned by Hilton Hotels & Resorts.
Hotel brand valuation methodology
In order to determine and compare the brand value of hotels, the Royalty Relief approach was used. It is a brand valuation method that includes various steps, such as calculating brand strength and estimating forecast revenues, and gives the company a better understanding of its position on the market.
As of February 2022, ninja (real name: Richard Tyler Blevins) was the most followed live streamer on Twitch with over 17.45 million followers. Ninja saw a meteoric rise to fame when he was one of the first top-ranked players to stream the then newly-release Fortnite Battle Royale at the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018. Second-ranked auronplay (real name: Raúl Álvarez Genes) was ranked second with 11.87 million followers on Twitch.
The top games on Twitch
Despite being released way back in 2013, GTA V is still among the most popular games on Twitch. The action adventure classic accounted for 6.6 percent of total hours watched on the platform in February 2022. In contrast, the most popular game on Twitch in terms of average number of channels was Fortnite - the online battle royale game had 6,465 channels streaming the game in March 2021. Other top ranked games include Apex Legends, Valorant, and League of Legends.
Twitch - how it all began
Founded in 2011, Twitch was initially launched as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. The site primarily focuses on video gaming, including play through of video games, broadcasts of e-sports competitions, and more recently, creative content. Twitch Creative, the outlet for creative content, was launched on October 28, 2015. The launch included a marathon of Bob Ross ' "The Joy of Painting". Some of the most popular channels on Twitch are owned by YouTube gaming personalities who are taking advantage of the website’s live streaming capabilities in order to interact more with their audiences. Users are able to participate in a live chat during video broadcast, with broadcasters frequently reacting to and replying to comments and questions from the chat in real time. In August 2014, Twitch was acquired by Amazon for 970 million U.S. dollars. It was the company’s fifth most expensive acquisition of all time.
In January 2022, Google Sites were ranked first among the most popular multiplatform web properties in the United States with over 272 million visitors from mobile and desktop connections – popular Google online properties include not only Google Search but also online video platform YouTube, communication services such as Gmail and Hangouts, as well as assorted online services such as Apps and Maps as well as digital app distribution platform Google Play. Leading online properties also include online shopping sites and media outlets.
The most popular social network in the United States based on multi-platform audiences is Facebook. As of December 2021, the biggest share of Facebook users in the United States were between 25 and 34 years old.
As of February 2022, Mall of America, located in Bloomington Minnesota, was the largest mall in the United States with a Gross Leasable Area (GLA) of 5.6 million square feet. Mall of America is managed by the Triple Five Group, a Canadian conglomerate which specializes in shopping malls, entertainment complexes, hotels, and banks.
Out of the properties shown, King of Prussia Mall, Del Amo Fashion Center, Roosevelt Field, Woodfield Mall, Aventura Mall, and The Galleria belong to Simon Property Group, one of the biggest shopping mall operator in the United States.
Due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the number of overseas visitors to the United States decreased in 2021 over the previous year. In 2021, the U.S. recorded roughly 1.7 million overseas travelers. The previous year, 2020, saw 7.59 million overseas visitors.
In 2021, the European Union countries imported approximately 15.4 percent of the Chinese export volume. In that year, United States was the largest Chinese merchandise importer.
Distribution of Chinese exports
In 2021, China exported goods with a total value of more than 21.73 trillion yuan and imported goods with a value of 17.37 trillion yuan. That year, China ranked second among the countries with the largest gross domestic product, following the United States.
China’s economic prosperity has been closely related to its status as the world’s factory. For about a decade between 2005 and 2015, exports contributed more than 20 percent to China’s gross domestic product. However, the share of exports to GDP contribution is currently on the decline. Nonetheless, China maintains a trade surplus of about 535 billion U.S. dollars and remains first among countries with the highest trade surplus worldwide as of 2020. While China displays high growth potential for service exports such as tourism, transportation, banking and financial services, as well as insurance and education services, the main focus of China’s export industry remains merchandise. In 2020, Chinese merchandise exports made up 14.7 percent of all global exports, whereas service based exports contributed only 5.7 percent.
In terms of most exported merchandise categories, food and live animals used for food were the main primary goods. Among the manufactured goods, automatic data processing machines, clothing, and integrated circuits were the categories with the highest export value in China in 2021.
*All products require an annual contract. Prices do not include sales tax.
The Global Consumer Survey helps marketers, planners and product managers to understand consumer behavior and their interaction with brands. Explore consumption and media usage on a global basis.
With an increasing number of Statista-cited media articles, Statista has established itself as a reliable partner for the largest media companies of the world.
Our reliabilityOver 300 researchers and specialists gather and double-check every statistic we publish. Experts provide country and industry-based forecasts.
Our teamWith our solutions you find data that matters within minutes – ready to go in your favorite format.
Our Accounts
Mon - Fri, 9am - 6pm (EST)
Mon - Fri, 11:30am - 10pm (IST)
Mon - Fri, 9:30am - 5:30pm (JST)
Mon - Fri, 9:30am - 5pm (GMT)
Mon - Fri, 9am - 6pm (EST)
