Data Insights

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

A vast majority of people still lack access to electricity in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa

A world map focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, illustrating electricity access percentages for Africa in 2022. Various shades of brown and orange represent the levels of electricity availability, ranging from less than 10% to over 70%. 

For example: In Chad, only 12% of people have access. In the Democratic Republic of Congo — a country of over 100 million people — it's just 22%. In contrast, in Kenya more than 75% of people now have access to electricity

A title indicates that less than one-in-four people have electricity access in parts of this region, and a note defines electricity access as having the ability to provide basic lighting and charge devices for at least four hours a day. At the bottom, there is a data source attribution to the World Bank for the year 2022. The image is credited to Our World in Data with a Creative Commons license.

How many hours have you used electricity today? For me, it’s probably all of them — from charging my phone overnight to working on my laptop, exercising with my watch, and listening to music through my earphones. It's so normal that I can't imagine life without it.

But life without electricity is a reality for millions in Sub-Saharan Africa. This map shows the share of people with access to electricity across the region. This is defined as having a source that can provide basic lighting, charge a phone, or power a radio for just 4 hours daily.

Look at the countries in dark red: in Chad, only 12% of people have access. In the Democratic Republic of Congo — a country of over 100 million people — it's just 22%. Overall, 85% of people worldwide who lack access to electricity now live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

There are bright spots, though. Countries like Kenya, where more than three-quarters of people now have electricity, show that progress in the region is possible.

Explore more data on access to electricity

Smoking increases the risk of death from many causes

This chart shows how much smoking increases the risk of death from different causes. This is calculated by comparing the risks between current-smokers and never-smokers, and is given in terms of the change in relative risk, meaning how much more likely is it that someone who smokes dies from a particular cause than those who have never smoked?

In the horizontal bar chart, the estimated increased risk of death from various causes associated with smoking is shown for men in the United States, comparing current smokers to never smokers. The causes are listed on the left, with horizontal arrows indicating the relative increase in risk shown along a scale, which ranges from 1x to 21x.

Lung cancer has the highest increase in risk, at 21 times greater for smokers. Other conditions include COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), upper aerodigestive cancer, stroke, ischemic heart disease, bladder cancer, kidney and urinary cancers, liver cancer, pancreas cancer, stomach cancer, various cardiovascular diseases, hypertensive disease, other respiratory diseases, myeloid leukemia, tuberculosis, diabetes, and colorectal cancer. 

The data source is attributed to Shefali Oza et al. from 2011. The chart is published by Our World in Data and is available under a Creative Commons license.

Most of us have heard that smoking damages the lungs. The chart drives this home: in the US, men who smoke are around 21 times more likely to die from lung cancer than men who have never smoked.

But the damage doesn’t stop there: smoking also increases the risk of other cancers, including mouth, throat, bladder and pancreatic cancer, in addition to other health conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, and diabetes.

Why does one habit harm so many organs? Cigarettes carry a mixture of carcinogens that reach — and damage — tissues throughout the body. Smoking also injures blood vessels, fuels inflammation, and makes it easier for tumors to spread.

Because a single behavior poses so many risks, cutting smoking rates has been one of the most powerful tools to save lives and improve public health.

Explore more data and research on smoking on our dedicated page

Child mortality in Malawi has fallen by more than 80% since 1990

A line graph illustrating the trend in child mortality in Malawi from 1990 to 2022. The vertical axis represents the percentage of newborns who die before reaching the age of five, ranging from 0% to 25%. The horizontal axis represents the years, ranging from 1990 to 2022.

In 1990, nearly 25% of newborns died before their fifth birthday, which is depicted at the top left of the graph. The line shows a significant downward trend over the years, with a steady decline in child mortality rates. By 2022, the percentage had decreased to 4%, indicated at the bottom right of the graph.

Key annotations on the graph highlight that in 1990, the mortality rate represented 1 in 4 newborns, while by 2022, it represented 1 in 25 newborns. 

The data source for the information is listed as the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, dated 2024, and the graph is licensed under Creative Commons BY.

In 1990, one in four newborns in Malawi died before their fifth birthday.

At that time, the average number of births per woman was almost seven. This meant that many families experienced the tragedy of losing a child.

But in recent decades, Malawi has made incredible progress. As you can see in the chart, the child mortality rate has dropped to 1 in 25 children — an 84% reduction.

Many factors have contributed to this decline. The expansion of antenatal care and the attendance of skilled health professionals at birth have been crucial in saving newborns in the earliest days of life. Increasing vaccination rates, distributing insecticide-treated bed nets and antimalarials, and programs to stop the transmission of HIV have all reduced the risks of dying in infancy.

Read more about the role that vaccines have played in reducing child mortality

Homicide rates in Italy have dropped by 80% since 1990

A line graph depicting the decline of homicide rates in Italy from 1990 to 2022. The vertical axis represents the annual number of deaths from homicide per 100,000 people, ranging from 0 to 3.5. The horizontal axis marks the years from 1990 to 2022. The green line starts just above 3.5 in the early 1990s, dropping sharply to around 0.5 by 2022, indicating an over 80% reduction in homicide rates. A note in the upper section mentions that in the early 1990s, rates were more than 3 per 100,000, one of the highest in Europe. A separate note towards the bottom-right corner confirms the 80% reduction to 0.5 per 100,000. The data source listed is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2024, with a Creative Commons attribution license (CC BY).

Italy has become much safer over the last thirty years.

In the early 1990s, there were around 3 homicides per 100,000 people every year. That was one of the highest rates in Europe.

Since then, rates have fallen by more than 80%. As you can see in the chart, they have been around 0.5 per 100,000 in recent years. That now makes Italy safer than many of its European neighbours.

Mafia-related homicides dropped dramatically in the 1990s following intensified efforts from the Italian government. Some of this organized crime may have also shifted from violent acts towards financial and “white collar” crime.

While estimates can vary across data sources, for Italy, they show strong agreement

Transfer fees for money sent home by international migrants were nearly as high as US foreign aid in 2023

A bar chart comparing two financial figures from 2023. On the left, a blue bar labeled "Global transaction costs for money sent home by international migrants" measures $51 billion. On the right, a taller teal bar labeled "Foreign aid from the United States" measures $66 billion. The chart title indicates that global migrant transfer fees nearly matched total U.S. foreign aid in 2023. The data source information notes the OECD from 2024 and the World Bank from 2025, and it explains that "foreign aid" refers to net official development assistance. The graphic has a "CC BY" copyright indication.

If you live in the same country as your family, you don’t usually have to pay a fee when you send them money. International migrants face a harsher reality: they pay hefty transaction costs when supporting family back home. Globally, the average fee in 2023 was 6.3%, more than double the UN Sustainable Development Goal's target of getting this down to 3%.

This may not sound like much, but migrants send large amounts home to help with schooling, medical bills, house maintenance, and food. The total sum was nearly three times larger than global foreign aid in 2023. (Here, foreign aid consists of net development assistance from national governments and private philanthropy that meets the necessary conditions.)

Although 6.3% might seem modest, when applied to large volumes of money, these transfer fees amount to tens of billions of dollars.

The chart shows that migrants lost $51 billion in transaction fees in 2023, which is not far from the $66 billion the US gave as foreign aid. That's $51 billion paid by migrants but never received by their families.

With the new US administration projected to cut aid by more than half, aid experts from the Center for Global Development suggest reducing fees could help fill some of the gap. They recommend promoting cheaper transfer options, increasing competition between services, and linking banking systems across countries.

While money sent home by migrants isn’t as targeted to vulnerable groups as aid, most of it flows directly to families in low- and middle-income countries who can use it for what they need most.

Read more about money sent home by migrants

Japan has more than doubled its foreign aid budget in just five years

A line graph illustrating Japan's foreign aid contributions over time, labeled "Japan's contribution to foreign aid has more than doubled in just five years." The y-axis represents monetary amounts in US dollars, ranging from $0 to $20 billion, while the x-axis spans from the year 1960 to 2023. The graph shows a steady increase in contributions, with a notable surge from approximately $8.6 billion in 2018 to $19.3 billion in 2023. The overall trend depicts a gradual rise with fluctuations over the decades. At the bottom, the data source is noted as "OECD (2025)," and there's a footnote stating that the data is in constant 2022 US dollars, based on net flows and not grant-equivalents.

Foreign aid has saved and improved millions of lives through health programs, food aid, and humanitarian assistance. Several countries — including the United States and the United Kingdom — have announced large cuts to their foreign aid budgets in the last few months. However, one country has been moving in the opposite direction in the last five years.

Since 2018, the amount Japan gives in foreign aid has more than doubled. You can see this in the chart.

In 2018, Japan gave $8.6 billion. By 2023, this had increased to $19.3 billion. This makes Japan’s aid budget equivalent to 0.44% of its gross national income. That was more than the United States, which gave 0.24%, but still less than many European countries, including the UK, France, Germany, and Norway, which topped the list at 1.1%.

Read my recent article on how small amounts of foreign aid can go a long way

Childhood pneumonia deaths have plummeted in Nepal — and more lives can still be saved

A line graph illustrating the decline in child pneumonia deaths in Nepal from 1980 to 2021 is presented at the top with the title, "Child pneumonia deaths have dropped dramatically in Nepal, but it's still behind wealthier nations." The vertical axis represents estimated annual deaths per 100,000 population, ranging from 0 to 1,400, while the horizontal axis marks the years from 1980 to 2021. 

The graph shows a steep downward trend starting from around 1,400 deaths per 100,000 in the 1980s, indicating that Nepal had one of the highest rates of child pneumonia deaths at that time. A significant drop is observed, and by 2021, the death rate declined to 75 per 100,000. A note emphasizes that high-income countries have a much lower death rate, depicted by a flat line near the bottom of the graph.

Data sources cited at the bottom are IHME and Global Burden of Disease, with the date of the data being 2024. The graph is attributed to the Creative Commons BY license.

In the early 1980s, Nepal’s children suffered from some of the highest death rates from pneumonia in the world, with over 1,400 deaths for every 100,000 children under five. That meant around 39,000 children died from pneumonia each year, more than from any other cause.

Since then, Nepal has made huge progress. The death rate has fallen almost 20-fold. This improvement is due to various measures, including pneumococcal and Hib vaccines, better access to healthcare and antibiotics, and improved nutrition.

Despite this progress, pneumonia is still among the leading causes of death in children in Nepal. And we know that more progress can be made: high-income countries have achieved much lower rates, with fewer than 5 per 100,000.

Explore how deaths from pneumonia among children have changed in other countries

Money sent home by international migrants is almost three times as much as global foreign aid

A bar chart displays two categories of financial data for the year 2021, measured in US dollars. The first bar, labeled “Money sent or brought back by migrants,” is significantly taller at $781 billion, indicating a substantial amount. The second bar, labeled “Foreign aid,” is shorter at $202 billion, highlighting a smaller figure. An arrow points from the first bar to the right, accompanied by a note stating that worldwide, migrants send or bring back over three times more money than foreign aid provides. The chart is sourced from the World Bank, with a note specifying that "foreign aid" refers to net official development assistance. The overall design is attributed to "Our World in Data," and it includes a Creative Commons BY license.

When we think about money flowing from richer to poorer countries, foreign aid is one of the first things that comes to mind.

However, another major channel receives far less attention in mainstream conversations: the money international migrants send back to their families or bring home after working abroad. Unlike aid, which is publicly funded and often targeted at structural development, these private transfers typically aim at family support to cover critical needs such as food, healthcare, and education.

This chart shows how big that contribution is: in 2023, migrants sent or brought back $822 billion, almost three times the $288 billion provided through global foreign aid. Global foreign aid refers to net development assistance from national governments, with a very small portion coming from private donor philanthropy that meets the criteria for development assistance.

While this gives us a good sense of the size of these different flows, it’s important to note that the distribution of where each goes tends to differ. Most of the money sent home by migrants goes from high-income to middle-income countries, but low-income countries also rely on them relative to their GDP. When it comes to foreign aid, low-income countries receive almost as much money as middle-income countries.

Learn more about money sent or brought home by migrants

Most of the increase in natural disasters in the late 20th century is due to improved reporting

This image depicts a line graph illustrating the number of recorded natural disaster events from 1900 to 2023. The y-axis represents the total number of disasters, ranging from 0 to 500, while the x-axis displays the years.

The graph shows a gradual increase in recorded disasters from 1900 to the late 1970s, followed by a sharp rise in the number of events in the 1980s and 1990s, peaking around the year 2000. Since then, there is a noticeable fluctuation in numbers, with some ups and downs but an overall increase.

Annotations on the graph highlight key milestones: the establishment of the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) in 1973, and the formation of the EM-DAT database in 1988. Additionally, a note indicates that the database is mostly complete from the year 2000 onwards.

Data source information is located at the bottom, listing EM-DAT, CRED, and UCLouvain, with a copyright notice indicating it's licensed under CC BY.

Tracking the occurrence of natural disasters can save lives by helping countries prepare for future ones.

In our work on natural disasters, we visualize data from EM-DAT, the most comprehensive international disaster database. Make a chart of the number of recorded disaster events over time — like the one above — and it looks like the number of disasters rose alarmingly from the 1970s to the millennium. This has led to many media outlets and organizations claiming that the number of disasters has quadrupled over the last 50 years.

However, as EM-DAT itself makes clear, most of this is due to improvements in recording. The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, which builds this database, was not established until 1973, and didn’t start publishing EM-DAT until 1988.

The number of recorded disasters increased due to more focused efforts to obtain globally comprehensive data and improvements in communication technologies, which allowed more events to be included, even in the planet's most remote areas.

EM-DAT suggests that only data from 2000 onwards is relatively complete and comparable. The number of events before 2000 is likely to be underestimated. Note that this data does not tell us anything about the intensity of disasters.

Read my full article, with my colleague Pablo Rosado, on the limitations of disaster databases

In 2024, global military spending reached its highest level in decades

A line graph depicting global military spending from 1988 to 2024. The y-axis represents the spending amounts in US dollars, ranging from zero to three trillion dollars, while the x-axis indicates the years. 

A line shows a notable increase in recent decades: from 1.2 trillion dollars in the late 1990s to 2.7 trillion in 2024. A note emphasizes that global military spending more than doubled between the late 1990s and 2024.

The data source is credited to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, with the publication date suggested as 2025, and the image includes a CC BY license.

Global military spending reached its lowest point of $1.2 trillion in the late 1990s. Since then, military spending has more than doubled, reaching $2.7 trillion in 2024.

The chart shows a drop in military spending after the Cold War ended in 1989. This freed up resources for public expenditure in other domains, sometimes called the “peace dividend”.

But global military spending surged again in the 2000s, partially driven by US spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, reaching $2 trillion by 2010. After stabilizing for a few years, it has risen sharply in recent years, fueled in part by the war in Ukraine.

Despite these increases, military spending as a share of GDP remains lower than in 1988 in most countries, as economies have grown substantially over this period.

We’ve recently updated our charts on military spending — browse them for different countries in our data catalog

Smallpox declined gradually, until the WHO coordinated the global effort to eradicate it

The image presents a line graph showing the number of countries where smallpox was endemic from 1920 to 1980. There are five colored lines representing different regions: Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania. 

The y-axis indicates the number of countries, ranging from 0 to 50, while the x-axis marks the years from 1920 to 1980. Each region's line trends downward, reflecting a decline in endemic countries over the years. Significant events are marked with dashed vertical lines: in 1959, the WHO resolved to aim for eradication; in 1967, an intensified eradication campaign began; 1977 marks the last recorded case; and in 1980, smallpox was declared eradicated.

A note at the bottom specifies that the precise year of elimination in Oceania is only known for Australia (1917) and New Zealand (1914). Additionally, data sources are cited as Fenner, Henderson, Arita, Jezek, and Ladnyi (1988) and the graph is attributed to Saloni Dattani, licensed under CC-BY. The source of the data is Our World in Data, which focuses on research and measures against global issues.

In 1796, Edward Jenner developed the world’s first vaccine against smallpox. As it was refined and widely adopted, many countries in Europe and North America, the Soviet Union, and island nations eliminated smallpox through national vaccination programs.

But in the mid-20th century, the disease remained widespread across Africa and Asia, infecting tens of millions every year.

Before the World Health Organization (WHO) committed to eradication in 1959, few believed it was possible, given the failures of other eradication efforts like malaria. But smallpox had no animal reservoir, clear symptoms, and there was an effective, low-cost vaccine.

By 1967, the WHO intensified the eradication campaign with more funding. The strategy focused on “ring vaccination” — containing outbreaks by vaccinating people around each case — and embedding the work within local health programs.

As the chart shows, this approach worked swiftly: within a decade, the number of endemic countries fell to zero. Smallpox was officially declared eradicated in 1980, two centuries after Jenner’s discovery. It’s a lasting triumph of science and cooperation.

Read more on our page on smallpox

Portugal's roads have become much safer over the last thirty years

A line graph displaying the annual number of deaths from road injuries per 100,000 people from 1990 to 2021 for various countries. The title reads, "Portugal's roads have become much safer over the last 30 years," with a subtitle explaining that the data includes fatalities from different road users such as drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

The y-axis indicates the number of deaths, ranging from 0 to 40, while the x-axis represents the years from 1990 to 2021. Each country is represented by a line on the graph, with points marking the annual data for that year. The following countries are displayed: Latvia at 36.4, Portugal at 31.1, Poland at 23.5, Spain at 22.7, Greece at 20.1, France at 18.9, Belgium at 18.4, Italy at 16.6, Germany at 14.3, Finland at 13.1, Sweden at 9.6, United Kingdom at 9.5, Norway at 9, and two lines indicating Portugal's decrease to 5.4 deaths by 2021. 

The data source is noted at the bottom as IHME, Global Burden of Disease (2024), with a CC BY license, and a note explaining that the values are age-standardized for comparability between countries and over time.

Thirty years ago, Portugal had some of the most fatal roads in Europe. It was second only to Latvia in terms of death rates from road injuries.

But since then, death rates have fallen by 84%.

The chart shows road deaths per 100,000 people compared to other European countries. This metric is age-standardized, so it keeps the population's age distribution constant over time.

Portugal still has slightly higher death rates than many of its neighbors in Western Europe, but the gap is much smaller than in the 1990s.

Portugal’s roads have become much safer for many reasons, including seatbelt laws, speed limits, stricter drink-driving enforcement, better road design and pedestrian zones, and improvements in the safety and resilience of cars themselves.

While it made dramatic improvements over the 1990s and early 2000s, this progress has slowed in the last five to ten years.

Explore road death rates across other countries →

Less than 200 years ago, one in three Dutch children died before the age of five

A line graph illustrating the estimated share of newborns in the Netherlands who die before reaching age five from 1840 to 2023. The y-axis represents the percentage of children dying before age five, ranging from 0% to 40%, while the x-axis shows the years from 1840 to 2023.

The graph has a prominent downward trend, indicating a significant decline in child mortality rates over time. 

The data sources listed at the bottom include Gapminder (2015) and UN IGME (2025). The design is attributed with a copyright notice indicating "CC BY."

Losing a child is one of the worst things that can happen to a parent.

Imagine living in a world where there was a one-in-three chance your child would die. This wasn't just the reality for your children; it could just as well happen to your siblings, friends, or neighbors.

Such a world seems unimaginable today, but it wasn’t too far from reality two centuries ago, even in some economically advanced countries.

The chart shows the share of newborns who died before age five in the Netherlands since 1840. These historical estimates are more uncertain than recent data, but it's likely that before the 1870s, about one-in-three newborns died. Each birth carried odds no parent today could contemplate facing.

But a huge amount of progress has been made since then. Today, one in 250 Dutch children dies. This progress was driven by many factors, including improvements in nutrition, access to clean water, sanitation, vaccines, and reductions in poverty.

To learn more, read my colleague Hannah’s recent article: “Children in rich countries are much less likely to die than a few decades ago, but we rarely hear about this progress”

In some regions, around one in ten cancer cases are caused by a common, treatable bacterium

This image is a world map illustrating the share of new cancer cases attributed to the bacterium Helicobacter pylori in 2020. Different regions are shaded in various shades of orange and brown, indicating the percentage of cancers caused by this bacteria. Areas with no data are marked with diagonal lines. The color scale ranges from light yellow for 0% to dark brown for 10%. The regions with a higher prevalence of cases are primarily in East Asia and parts of South America, while many areas in North America and Western Europe show lower percentages. The data source is the International Agency for Research on Cancer from 2020. A note clarifies that non-melanoma skin cancers are excluded from the denominator due to potentially incomplete records and inconsistent registry practices.

You might be surprised to learn that a common stomach infection can lead to cancer. That infection is caused by Helicobacter pyloriH. pylori for short — a bacterium that can live in the stomach lining for decades.

The infection often begins in childhood and may not cause symptoms right away. But over time, it can damage the stomach’s protective lining, causing inflammation and ulcers. In some people, it eventually leads to cancer.

The map shows that in parts of Asia and South America, H. pylori is responsible for about 10% of all new cancer cases. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that it causes around 800,000 cancer cases globally each year, making it one of the top infectious causes of cancer.

The good news is that the infection can be detected with a simple test and eliminated with antibiotics. If caught early, the risk of stomach cancer can be dramatically reduced. Since the bacterium is often transmitted through contaminated food and water, better sanitation and food safety also make a difference.

Read more about infections that cause cancers, and how they can be prevented or treated

Greece is turning its back on coal and replacing it with solar and wind

The image presents a line graph illustrating the shift in Greece's electricity generation sources over time, from 1990 to 2024. There are two main lines: one representing coal and another representing solar and wind energy. 

Initially, the coal line begins around 60% in 1990, gradually declining to 50% in 2014. A sharp drop occurs after that, leading to a low of about 6% in 2024. In contrast, the solar and wind line starts very low, around 2% in 1990, and rises steeply after 2015, almost tripling to approximately 43% by 2024. 

Key notes are emphasized in the graph: one states that in 2014, about half of Greece's electricity was generated by coal, while another indicates that only 15% came from solar and wind sources at that time. 

The data source for the graph is Ember, and it is noted as being from 2025, with a Creative Commons license indicated as CC BY.

To tackle climate change, the world must transition away from fossil fuels and towards low-carbon power sources.

Greece is almost there when it comes to coal. Coal became the dominant source of electricity in the second half of the 20th century, but it has fallen out of favor in the 21st.

The chart shows that just over a decade ago, almost half of the country’s power came from coal. This has now fallen to 6%.

Solar and wind have replaced it; their share has tripled in the last decade; when combined, they’ve become the largest source.

As a result, the country’s CO2 emissions from coal have fallen by nearly 90% from their peak, and national emissions as a whole have halved.

Solar and wind are growing rapidly in many countries; explore this data in our energy data explorer →

Young Americans spend much more time alone than they did fifteen years ago

A line graph titled "Young Americans are spending much more time alone" shows the relative change in time spent alone by different age groups compared to 2010. The vertical axis represents the percentage change, ranging from -10% to +50%, while the horizontal axis covers the years from 2010 to 2023. 

The red line indicates the trend for people aged 15-29. An annotation notes that in 2019, this age group spent 18% more time alone compared to 2010, which further increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, time spent alone by those aged 15-29 was 45% higher than in 2010.

Three other lines, representing the age groups 30-44 years, 45-59 years, and 60+ years, are shown in shades of gray. These lines remain flatter over the same period, but also show increases of 10-20%. 

At the bottom, there is a data source reference: "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023)" and a note indicating that activities like sleeping, grooming, and personal care are excluded from the data, with a specific mention that the data for 2020 excludes the period from March 18 to May 9 due to the lockdown.

Young Americans spend much more time alone than they did in the past. According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey, people aged 15–29 spent about 45% more time alone in 2023 than in 2010.

The survey classifies all time spent without anybody physically present as “time spent alone”. This can include time spent talking on the phone or video calls.

Time spent alone among young people increased slowly in the second half of the 2010s and then rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. It hasn’t fallen back to earlier levels since then.

In absolute terms, young people spent around four hours alone per day in 2010. By 2023, that number had grown to six hours per day.

Although all Americans spend more time alone, the increase is much smaller for older age groups. Those aged 30 to 44 spend about 20% more time alone now than in 2010, while for people 45 and older, the increase is about 10%.

While time alone can help with rest and personal reflection, it can also lead to loneliness and declining well-being. As time spent alone has increased, young people’s time with family, and even more so with friends, has decreased.

Explore more research and data on how people spend their time

Poland’s GDP per capita has more than doubled since it joined the European Union in 2004

The image shows a line graph comparing Poland's GDP per capita to the average GDP per capita of the European Union (EU 27) from 2000 to 2023. The vertical axis ranges from $0 to $60,000, while the horizontal axis represents the years, marked from 2000 to 2023. 

A red line represents Poland's GDP per capita, starting at around $21,200 in 2004, the year Poland joined the EU, and increasing to approximately $44,400 by 2023. A blue line depicts the EU average GDP per capita, which trends higher than Poland's throughout the graph. 

A note emphasizes that between 2004 and 2023, Poland's GDP per capita more than doubled, reducing the gap with the EU average. The source of the data is the World Bank, projected for 2025, and the data is expressed in international dollars adjusted to 2021 prices.

In May 2004, ten countries joined the European Union in its largest expansion. These new members entered the EU’s internal market, allowing the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people.

Poland was one of these countries. At the time, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita stood at $21,200 per year, around half the EU average.

Since then, this gap has narrowed. As the chart shows, Poland’s GDP per capita has more than doubled.

While many factors contributed to this growth, integration into the EU played a role. Since 2004, Poland’s inflation-adjusted exports have more than tripled, with around three-quarters going to other EU countries. This boost to growth is sometimes described as an “EU accession bonus”.

Poland has also been a major beneficiary of EU funding, receiving over €163 billion (net of its own contributions). Most of this money has supported areas such as transport infrastructure, research and development, and energy.

Compare levels of GDP per capita across other countries

Ten pathogens are responsible for three-quarters of diarrheal deaths in children

A data visualization presents a breakdown of pathogens responsible for diarrheal deaths in children under five years old. It features a title at the top, stating "Which pathogens are responsible for diarrheal deaths in children?" Below the title, there is an explanatory note highlighting that an estimated 580,000 children die annually from diarrheal diseases, with the box sizes representing the proportion of deaths attributed to each pathogen.

The categories are divided into three groups: Viruses, Bacteria, and Protists. 

- In the Viruses section, Rotavirus is the largest box, indicating it causes approximately 210,000 annual deaths (35.7%). Other viruses include Adenovirus (6.3%), Norovirus (6.2%), Sapovirus (3.9%), and Astrovirus (3.0%).
  
- In the Bacteria section, a significant box is allocated to Shigella, which results in 63,000 annual deaths (10.8%). It also includes smaller boxes for Salmonella (1.0%), Campylobacter (1.7%), and E. coli toxin (3.9%).
  
- The Protists category has a box for Cryptosporidium, accounting for 3.4%.

Additionally, there is a gray box labeled "Others & unidentified" that represents 24.1% of deaths but does not specify the pathogens involved.

The data source is attributed to Adam Cohen et al. (2022), and the chart is published by Our World in Data.

More than half a million children die from diarrheal diseases each year. This is tragic because many of these deaths could be prevented with the tools we already have.

Just ten pathogens are responsible for three-quarters of all diarrheal deaths in children; these are shown in the chart in red, blue, and gold. The leading cause is rotavirus, which kills over 200,000 children each year. Rotavirus vaccines already exist and are very effective in reducing death rates, but vaccination rates are still lagging in many poorer countries.

Other major killers include Shigella, Cryptosporidium, and E. coli, which can be tackled through better hygiene, clean water, improved sanitation, and new treatments.

These pathogens typically spread through contaminated food and water, respiratory droplets, and close contact with others. Basic tools like clean water and sanitation, access to vaccines, and oral rehydration treatment could go a long way in preventing early death, and give every child the chance to have a healthy, long life.

Explore more writing and data on diarrheal diseases on our dedicated page

Suicide rates are higher in men than women

A scatter plot titled "Suicide rates tend to be higher among men than women," depicting reported suicide death rates per 100,000 people. The horizontal axis represents female suicide deaths, ranging from 0 to 30, while the vertical axis represents male suicide deaths, also ranging from 0 to 30. 

Each dot represents a country, with specific labels highlighting significant points: Uruguay, South Korea (noted for having male rates twice as high as female rates), the US (with male rates four times higher), Japan, Sweden, and Denmark. The plot features a diagonal line indicating that no countries show higher rates of female suicides than male, as there are no dots below the line. 

The data source is the WHO Mortality Database (2024), and there is a note specifying that the data is an annual estimate for the years 2020 to 2022, depending on data availability for each country.

Globally, more than 700,000 people die from suicide every year.

Understanding the factors that increase the risk of suicide can help us provide the most effective interventions and support systems.

One thing we do know is that more men die from suicide than women. In the chart, you can see male suicide rates (on the vertical axis) plotted against female rates. One dot is one country. Since all of the dots lie above the line, male suicide rates were higher in all countries included in this dataset.

The size of this gender gap varies by country. In the United States, rates among men are four times higher than amongst women. In South Korea and Japan, they’re around double. Some countries lie closer to the line, meaning the gap is smaller.

The exact reasons for this gender gap are still debated. Factors could include the lethality of different methods, stigma around seeking help, different social pressures, and alcohol and drug abuse.

Every suicide is a tragedy. However, suicide death rates have declined in many countries, and we know that they can be reduced further with greater understanding and support. If you are dealing with suicidal thoughts, you can receive immediate help by visiting resources such as findahelpline.com.

Read my colleague Saloni Dattani’s article on how suicide statistics can vary across sources

Famines kill far fewer people today than they did in the past, but remain a major threat

A bar chart depicting the estimated deaths in famines, categorized by continent. The horizontal axis represents decades from the 1870s to the 2020s, while the vertical axis indicates the number of deaths, spanning from 0 to 30 million.

The bars represent different continents with distinct colors: South America is represented in a dark red hue, North America in orange, Africa in purple, Europe in blue, and Asia in green. 

Key trends highlighted in the chart include:
- Until the mid-20th century, famines caused millions and millions of deaths, especially in Asia.
- In recent decades, the death toll from famines has decreased significantly, averaging around one million deaths per decade, particularly in Africa.

The chart includes a source note stating that the data is from the World Peace Foundation (2025), and indicating that the figure for the 2020s is preliminary and only reflects data from 2020 to 2023.

Famines are still a major global problem. From 2020 to 2023 alone, they caused over a million deaths.

Yet the long-term trend shows significant progress. In the late 1800s and the first half of the 1900s, it was common for famines to kill over 10 million people per decade. This was true as recently as the 1960s, when China’s Great Leap Forward became the deadliest famine in history.

But as you can see in the chart, that number has dropped sharply, to about one to two million per decade.

This improvement is even more striking given that the world’s population has grown substantially. Despite many more people living on Earth, far fewer die from famines than before.

This progress has resulted from various factors, including increased food production, poverty reduction, fewer conflicts, and more accountable governments.

Learn more about why fewer people die from famines today

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