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Daily Data Insights

Bite-sized insights on how the world is changing, published every weekday.

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This chart, titled "How far apart are the incomes of the rich and poor in different countries?" compares the monthly after-tax income of individuals in the richest 10% and the poorest 10% across various countries. The income disparities are represented visually with vertical lines and circles for each country, showing the ratio between the two groups. For instance, in South Africa (2017), the richest 10% earn 22 times more than the poorest 10%, while in Norway (2021), the richest 10% earn only 3.1 times more. Other countries included are Brazil (2022), China (2018), Uruguay (2022), the UK (2021), and the US (2022), with the disparity ranging from 3.1x in Norway to 22x in South Africa. All incomes are measured in international dollars at 2017 prices to account for differences in the cost of living. Data source: Luxembourg Income Study (2024).

How far apart are the incomes of the rich and poor in different countries?

The chart shows how incomes are spread in several countries in different world regions. The data comes from the excellent Luxembourg Income Study.

Blue points show the monthly after-tax income of someone who falls just inside the richest 10% of their country's population. Red points show the income of someone who falls just inside the poorest 10%. To allow for comparisons, all incomes are shown in international dollars, which account for differences in cost of living across countries.

The ratio between these two numbers gives us a measure of inequality known as the “P90/P10 ratio”.

In Norway, a country with very low inequality, this ratio is around 3. A person just inside the richest 10% has a monthly income of $5,490 — a little more than 3 times the $1,760 earned by someone just inside the poorest 10%.

In the United States, inequality is much higher, and the ratio is twice as large — around 6. The chart shows that the richest 10% are much richer than those in Norway, with incomes above $7,440. But, the poorest are also poorer, with incomes of less than $1,240.

In many countries, the ratio is between 4 and 6. But in the most unequal countries, it is much higher. In South Africa, the ratio is 22. Those in the bottom decile are among the poorest people in the world, living on less than $110 per month. In contrast, the richest 10% earn $2,490 or above — higher than the incomes of half the UK population and nearly a third of the US population.

Explore incomes across the distribution for other countries in our dedicated Data Explorer →

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Bar chart showing each country's share of global mined and refined cobalt in 2021. The DRC produces around three-quarters of the world's mined cobalt, but almost none of the refined cobalt. China dominates the refined supply chain.

Most of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but refined in China

Cobalt is a critical element in many lithium-ion battery technologies, which are used in most consumer electronics such as mobile phones and laptops; and more recently, in electric vehicles.

Almost three-quarters of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

However, the DRC produces virtually none of the world’s refined cobalt — the mineral used in final products. Most of the world’s refined cobalt is made in China.

You can see this in the chart, which shows each country’s share of global mined and refined cobalt production in 2021. This data comes from the US Geological Survey (USGS) and British Geological Survey (BGS).

While lithium-ion battery technologies that use cobalt are dominant today, alternative battery chemistries that don’t use cobalt are emerging.

Explore more data on which countries produce the world’s critical minerals →

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Bar chart titled "Number of electoral democracies by age, World, 2023". It categorizes political systems by type and age, based on the classification by Lührmann et al. (2018) and V-Dem data. Most democracies are less than a generation old, and few are older than three generations.

Democracy is still young in most countries considered democratic today

Most electoral democracies are younger than the oldest people who live in them.

The chart shows that almost two dozen democracies are younger than 18 — as young as the children in these countries. Others are only as old as their young adults. This is based on data from Regimes of the World.

In these younger democracies, most people have experienced life under authoritarian rule, and older people lacked democratic political rights for most of their lives.

A larger group of countries have been electoral democracies for one to three generations. In these countries, children and young adults have only known life in a democracy, but their parents and grandparents have experienced non-democratic rule.

Only ten countries have been democratic for more than 90 years. In these places, democracy is older than almost all of their citizens.

Read more in our article on the age of democracies →

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Line chart showing obesity rates from 1975 to 2016 across a range of countries. In all regions, these rates have increased.

Obesity rates have increased on every continent

Obesity rates have increased across the world over the last 50 years, but at varying speeds and from different starting positions.

The chart shows the change in the share of adults who are defined as “overweight” or “obese” across a range of countries. It is based on the latest data from the World Health Organization (which only goes up to 2016).

Rates have increased worldwide — from Australia and the United States to India and Nigeria — but tend to be higher in richer countries where food supplies are more plentiful and affordable for the population.

This is measured based on body mass index (BMI), which takes account of someone’s height and weight. It’s a crude measure, but it gives us quick insights into how people’s metabolic health is changing.

Explore global data on overweight and obesity rates

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Line chart showing the increase in the share of new cars in Norway that are electric. This is now over 90%.

Almost every new car sold in Norway is electric

New petrol and diesel cars are becoming a rarity in Norway.

In 2023, 93% of new cars sold in the country were electric. This is shown in the chart, based on data from the International Energy Agency.

This is a rapid increase from a decade ago when just 6% of new cars were electric.

Here, “electric cars” include fully battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars (which have a smaller battery and also have a combustion engine). But in Norway, battery-electric cars now dominate: in 2023, 85% were fully electric, compared to just 8% of plug-in hybrids.

Explore the data for other countries in our dedicated article

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Every country in the world was warmer in the 2010s than in the 1940s  — except Ireland

Every country in the world was warmer in the 2010s than in the 1940s — except Ireland

This chart shows average temperatures in the 1940s and 2010s compared to the average from 1991-2020. These differences — called temperature anomalies — help us see how temperatures have changed. We source this data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA5 project.

Globally, the 1940s were 0.66°C cooler than the 1991-2020 average, while the 2010s were 0.2°C warmer. This means that over about 70 years, the global average temperature increased by approximately 0.86°C. Compared to pre-industrial times, the current global average temperature is estimated to have risen by approximately 1.3°C.

Ireland is the only country where temperatures in the 1940s were similar to the 2010s.

Every other country has seen temperatures increase over this period, with some experiencing more than several degrees of warming.

This illustrates how local climate variations can differ from global trends. The effects can vary from place to place, but global warming remains a broad phenomenon.

Explore decadal temperature anomalies in other countries →

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Line chart showing the decline of lead concentrations in children's blood in the United States.

Lead exposure has fallen dramatically in the United States since the 1970s

Lead exposure has fallen dramatically in the United States over the last 50 years.

Despite being toxic to human health, lead was used in various products, including gasoline, paint, and pipes. However, there have been successful efforts to phase it out in recent decades.

The chart shows measurements of lead concentrations in children’s blood since the late 1970s, based on data from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics. Both the average child and those with the highest exposure rates — the 95th percentile — show a dramatic decline.

Lead exposure is still a massive problem in many low-to-middle-income countries, where its use in paints, pipes, and other sectors is not monitored or controlled.

Read more in our article on the decline of lead poisoning

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What share of children die before their fifth birthday?

What could be more tragic than the death of a young child? Child mortality, the death of children under the age of five, is still extremely common in our world today.

The historical data makes clear that it doesn’t have to be this way: it is possible for societies to protect their children and reduce child mortality to very low rates. For child mortality to reach low levels, many things have to go right at the same time: good healthcare, good nutrition, clean water and sanitation, maternal health, and high living standards. We can, therefore, think of child mortality as a proxy indicator of a country’s living conditions.

The chart shows our long-run data on child mortality, which allows you to see how child mortality has changed in countries around the world.

Explore and learn more about this data
Explore and learn more about this data

Share of population living in extreme povertyWorld Bank

Life expectancy at birthLong-run estimates collated from multiple sources by Our World in Data

Per capita CO₂ emissionsLong-run estimates from the Global Carbon Budget

GDP per capitaLong-run estimates from the Maddison Project Database

Share of people that are undernourishedFAO

Literacy rateLong-run estimates collated from multiple sources by Our World in Data

Share of the population with access to electricityWorld Bank

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