Data Insights
Bite-sized insights on how the world is changing, written by our team.
The share of democracies has recently stagnated but remains near its historical high
Over the last twenty years, the share of countries that are democracies has remained relatively stable.
Relying on data from Varieties of Democracy, which we just updated, the chart shows that around half of all countries are democracies.
The world remains close to the historical high in the early 2000s and is much more democratic than 50 years ago; only 20% of countries were democracies in the early 1970s.
However, the chart shows smaller changes within democratic regimes: the share of liberal democracies, which grant additional individual and minority rights and constrain their governments, has decreased over the last decade.
While democracy has remained fairly resilient over the last few decades, this recent stagnation and limited rollback stresses that progress on increasing political rights is neither linear nor guaranteed.
Commercial flights have become significantly safer in recent decades
According to figures from the Aviation Safety Network, in the 1970s, there were about 6 fatal airliner accidents for every million commercial flights. This meant about 1 in every 165,000 flights ended in a fatal accident.
As the chart shows, this figure has dropped steadily in the last 50 years. According to the latest data, it is now about half a fatality per million flights. This means that, on average, it now takes more than 2 million flights for a fatal accident to occur.
Sulfur dioxide emissions from shipping dropped sharply with the introduction of new rules in 2020
The Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) produces invaluable long-term data on the emissions of air pollutants worldwide. It has just published its latest update, extending this data to 2022.
One of the most striking changes in air pollution trends has been the abrupt drop in sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from shipping. As you can see in the chart — where shipping is highlighted in red — there was a dramatic fall from over 10 million tonnes a year in 2019 to 3 million tonnes a year later.
The change resulted from the International Maritime Organization’s strict limits on marine fuels, introduced in 2020: the maximum percentage of sulfur allowed in these fuels fell from 3.5% to 0.5%. All ships worldwide had to comply.
This drop is positive for tackling local air pollution and acid rain. However, it also has implications for climate change since SO2 has masked some of the warming caused by greenhouse gases.
Testing rates for polio have rebounded after a drop amid the COVID-19 pandemic
The world is close to eradicating polio. Annual cases have dropped from an estimated 400,000 in the 1980s to less than 4,000 in recent years.
But, to cross the finish line, sufficient testing is crucial to ensure that cases aren’t missed.
The World Health Organization recommends that at least 80% of potential polio cases be tested for the virus. Potential cases are identified based on “acute flaccid paralysis”, a sudden onset of paralysis in the limbs.
As shown in the chart, disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a drop in polio testing rates in many countries. Thankfully, this new data shows that polio testing has rebounded.
This is due to the dedicated effort of countless health workers and opens the way to a future free from polio.
30% of the world's electricity came from renewable sources in 2023
Renewable electricity production is growing quickly, mostly thanks to the deployment of solar and wind.
Ember has just published its latest Global Electricity Review, which includes final updates on electricity generation worldwide in 2023. We have updated our Energy Data Explorer with all of this data.
As the chart shows, renewables produced just over 30% of the world’s electricity in 2023.
This growth was mostly driven by the rapid rollout of solar and wind technologies. Hydropower generation actually fell in 2023 as a result of severe droughts, especially in China.