In 2023 and through 2024, the world saw inflation rates increase amid, among other things, post-COVID-19 effects and the Russia-Ukraine war. Argentina and Turkey were both plagued by hyperinflation, with over *** and ** percent in 2024, respectively. Except for these, Russia had the highest inflation rate, at nearly ***** percent. On the other hand, China had the lowest rate of the countries included here, at *** percent. Argentinian inflation crisis During the *****, Argentina was struck by extreme levels of inflation, which severely impacted the livelihoods of Argentinians. Specifically, the costs of goods have presented numerous challenges to Argentinian consumers. In Argentina, a basic food basket that costs around ****** Argentinian pesos cost over 100,000 by February 2024. Similarly, a basic consumer goods basket that cost around ****** Argentinian pesos in February 2023 rose to over ******* by February 2024. While these rising costs have been challenging for consumers, Argentina’s inflation rate is expected to decrease beginning in 2024 and is estimated to reach ***% by 2029.

British recession Besides the outliers of Argentina and Turkey, the United Kingdom had a comparatively high CPI rate. As of 2024, the British economy has entered a recession, the only G7 country to do so. Just before the general election held in July 2024, British voters indicated that health, mostly the lack of financial support and staff shortages, as well as the economy was the most important issue to them.

After reaching a peak of 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, the CPI inflation rate in the United Kingdom has fallen considerably, and was 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024. In 2025, there is expected to be an uptick in inflation, with prices expected to be increasing by 3.7 percent in the third quarter of 2025, before falling to two percent by the second quarter of 2026. Inflation and the Cost of Living The high inflation experienced by the UK since late 2021 is one of the main factors behind the country's ongoing cost of living crisis. Price surges, in relation to food and energy costs in particular, played havoc with the finances of UK households. At the height of the crisis, around nine out of ten households were experiencing a cost of living increase compared to the previous month. Although inflation has eased since reaching a peak of 11.1 percent in October 2022, and wages are growing in real terms, approximately 59 percent of households were still experiencing rising costs relative to the previous month in March 2025. Economic growth downgraded for 2025 Since 2022, the economy has generally been the main issue for UK voters, seen by 51 percent of people as one of the top three issues facing the country in March 2025. Throughout this time, UK households have struggled through a cost of living crisis, while the wider economy has struggled to achieve consistent growth. Between the first quarter of 2022, the UK economy has alternated between periods of low growth and minor contractions, with the UK even in recession at the end of 2023. While there was a slight uptick in growth in 2024, this momentum appears to have already been lost, with the UK's economic growth forecast for 2025 recently downgraded from two percent to one percent.

As of June 2025, approximately 22 percent of people in the UK would vote for the governing Labour Party in a potential general election, behind Reform UK on 28 percent, with the Conservatives third on 18 percent. Since returning to power, support for the Labour Party has fallen considerably, with the government's sinking approval rating approaching the unpopularity of the previous government. Labour's return to power in 2024 On May 22, 2024, Rishi Sunak announced his decision to hold the 2024 general election on July 4. Sunak's surprise announcement came shortly after some positive economic figures were released in the UK, and he may have hoped this would boost his poor job ratings and perhaps also his government's low approval ratings. This was a long-shot, however, and as predicted in the polls, Labour won the 2024 general election by a landslide, winning 412 out of 650 seats. The sting in the tale for the Labour Party was that despite this large majority, they won a relatively low share of the votes and almost immediately saw their popularity fall in the second half of 2024. Sunak's five pledges in 2023 After a tough 2022, in which Britain suffered through its worst cost of living crisis in a generation, the economy was consistently identified as the main issue facing the country, just ahead of healthcare. To respond to these concerns, Rishi Sunak started 2023 with five pledges; halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce national debt, cut NHS waiting times, and stop small boats. By the end of that year, just one pledge can be said to have been fully realized, with CPI inflation falling from 10.1 percent at the start of 2023 to 4 percent by the end of it. There is some ambiguity regarding the success of some of the other pledges. The economy shrank in the last two quarters of 2023 but started to grow again in early 2024. National debt increased slightly, while small boat arrivals declined compared to 2022, but were still higher than in most other years. The pledge to cut NHS waiting times was not fulfilled either, with the number of people awaiting treatment rising in 2023.

In 2024, the consumer price index (CPI) for all consumer items in Singapore was set as the base year.The CPI for all consumer items before 2024 were lower than the base year for the last ten years. The consumer price index measures the average change of prices of consumer goods and services, and is used as an indicator of inflation.

In 2023 and through 2024, the world saw inflation rates increase amid, among other things, post-COVID-19 effects and the Russia-Ukraine war. Argentina and Turkey were both plagued by hyperinflation, with over 219 and 58 percent in 2024, respectively. Except for these, Russia had the highest inflation rate, at nearly eight percent. On the other hand, China had the lowest rate of the countries included here, at 0.2 percent. Argentinian inflation crisis During the 2020s, Argentina was struck by extreme levels of inflation, which severely impacted the livelihoods of Argentinians. Specifically, the costs of goods have presented numerous challenges to Argentinian consumers. In Argentina, a basic food basket that costs around 26,000 Argentinian pesos cost over 100,000 by February 2024. Similarly, a basic consumer goods basket that cost around 57,000 Argentinian pesos in February 2023 rose to over 220,000 by February 2024. While these rising costs have been challenging for consumers, Argentina’s inflation rate is expected to decrease beginning in 2024 and is estimated to reach 8.9% by 2029.

British recession Besides the outliers of Argentina and Turkey, the United Kingdom had a comparatively high CPI rate. As of 2024, the British economy has entered a recession, the only G7 country to do so. Just before the general election held in July 2024, British voters indicated that health, mostly the lack of financial support and staff shortages, as well as the economy was the most important issue to them.

As of May 2023, India had six national political parties, in addition to over fifty state parties and over two thousand unrecognized parties. The criteria for defining national and state-level political parties is set by the Election Commission of India.

Criteria for national players

A registered party is considered a national party if it fulfills one of the three criteria, namely, securing two percent of Lok Sabha seats from at least three states; six percent of votes in four states and four Lok Sabha seats, or if the party is recognized as a state party in four or more states of the country. It is, therefore, determined after Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly elections, if political parties gain a national status or lose it. Aam Admi Party (AAP) was the latest addition to the list of national parties. On the other hand, in April 2023, the Election Commission revoked the national party status of three former national parties- the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Communist Party of India (CPI). A different set of criteria are applicable for state-level parties.

What are the registered unrecognized parties (RUPPs)? 

To form a political party, an association has to get registered with the Election Commission and could fall under either recognized or unrecognized categories. Recognition comes with benefits such as reserving a party symbol or free broadcast rights over government media such as Doordarshan, more allowances for campaign expenditure, etc. However, all registered parties whether recognized or unrecognized are entitled to collect donations which are exempt from taxes. However, a majority of unrecognized parties are under ECI’s scanner for flouting rules. A number of them did not contest elections or file annual statements and some were found to be involved in financial impropriety. Some were even delisted for being non-existent. In 2022, the income tax authorities conducted raids over tax evasion by these parties.

In November 2024, the main problem for the country detected by the population in Argentina was poverty with an overall 38 percent answering it as one of the main problems, followed by low wages, crime, and job shortage. During this survey, other issues like climate change dropped to the bottom of the list, with less than one percent of people mentioning them as problem. Inflation in Argentina For the first month of 2023, one of the categories with the highest consumer price index (CPI) was clothing and footwear recording an inflation rate of 120.6. Some basic basket products also recorded high year-on-year price increases, like the food and non-alcoholic drinks sector recorded between 50 and 70 index points increases from January to June 2022. Overall, the price increase has been exponential when considering previous years, for example, the health services industry recorded an increase of 1,231.5 points in approximately six years. Crime in Argentina Other most common worries for the Argentinian population were crime and violence. In 2020, the country registered around 2,416 cases of intentional murders and, in 2022, approximately 212 femicides. Nonetheless, Argentina ranks as one of the Latin American countries with the lowest homicide rate, only with more than its western neighbor, Chile. Property crimes are actually the main concern for the country, only in 2021 more than a quarter of a million thefts were registered.

In March 2025, 66 percent of households in Great Britain reported that their cost of living had increased in the previous month, compared with 45 percent in July 2024. Although the share of people reporting a cost of living increase has generally been falling since August 2022, when 91 percent of households reported an increase, the most recent figures indicate that the Cost of Living Crisis is still ongoing for many households in the UK. Crisis ligers even as inflation falls Although various factors have been driving the Cost of Living Crisis in Britain, high inflation has undoubtedly been one of the main factors. After several years of relatively low inflation, the CPI inflation rate shot up from 2021 onwards, hitting a high of 11.1 percent in October 2022. In the months since that peak, inflation has fallen to more usual levels, and was 2.5 percent in December 2024, slightly up from 1.7 percent in September. Since June 2023, wages have also started to grow at a faster rate than inflation, albeit after a long period where average wages were falling relative to overall price increases. Economy continues to be the main issue for voters Ahead of the last UK general election, the economy was consistently selected as the main issue for voters for several months. Although the Conservative Party was seen by voters as the best party for handling the economy before October 2022, this perception collapsed following the market's reaction to Liz Truss' mini-budget. Even after changing their leader from Truss to Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives continued to fall in the polls, and would go onto lose the election decisively. Since the election, the economy remains the most important issue in the UK, although it was only slightly ahead of immigration and health as of January 2025.