The full report is available by subscription only. This is a four-page synopsis.

We gauge the international community’s progress during 2004 in several categories. Specifically assessed are efforts to (1) promote democracy, (2) boost prosperity, (3) manage security threats, (4) improve quality of life, and (5) spread new technologies.

The result is a decidedly mixed report.

Thomas Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reports that a three-decade-old wave of democratization appears to have stalled.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism analyst at Rand, finds that the war on terror is not going well.

In Swaziland and four other African countries, life expectancy is less than 35 years.

In Swaziland, 40 percent of those ages 15-49 are HIV positive.

Do you find this compelling?