THE Economist.
Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist.
I'm your host, Rosie Blore.
Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.
For decades, China's largest cities have attracted people from all over the country.
As part of our World Ahead series, we look at why that might now be changing.
And Poland's milk bars are self service canteens that have fed people cheaply for over a century.
But as rising costs and a cut in subsidies threaten their future, our correspondent visits one for a bowl of soup and a slice of nostalgia.
But first, this year, more people than ever in human history had the chance to cast a ballot in democratic elections.
An estimated 4 billion people across 76 countries found themselves at the helm of civic decision making.
That's more than half the world's population.
Some decisions made this year came as a shock, others were well predicted.
But anywhere you slice it, 2024 reshaped the Democratic world.
On the Intelligence we began the year by speaking to the Economist Deputy Editor Ed Carr, and he looked forward towards the year that would be one thing.
To bear in mind about this, that autocrats try and manage elections and they try and control the process.
But once they've accepted the principle of elections, then they are to some extent opening themselves up to surprises.
It was indeed a year of surprises, one that pulled the world in all manner of directions.
So now, on the final day of 2024, we've invited Ed to look back at the year that was.
I feel strangely heartened by this year.
I mean, so much could have gone wrong in so many places and of course it did in some.