Data Insights
Bite-sized insights on how the world is changing, written by our team.
In which countries do people drink the most alcohol?
![world map showing alcohol consumption per person for 2019, version for desktop](/images/published/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol_desktop.png)
Romania tops the list of countries with the highest alcohol consumption per person, with Georgia, Czechia, Latvia, and Germany rounding out the top five. This is according to the global estimates made available by the World Health Organization (WHO), the latest data referring to 2019.
Alcohol consumption is measured here in liters of pure alcohol to account for beer, wine, and spirits having different alcohol content, ranging from around 5% by volume for a typical beer to 12% for wine to 40% or more for spirits.
To make this more concrete, the average Romanian drinks an estimated 17 liters of pure alcohol per year — roughly equivalent to a weekly consumption of 18 bottles of beer (355 mL each) or 3.6 bottles of wine (750 mL each).
In contrast, alcohol consumption is very low in some countries, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.
Through sustained effort, we are close to eradicating guinea worm disease
![A line chart showing the development of reported guinea worm cases worldwide between 1980 and 2023. It has a logarithmic y-axis showing the number of cases. The line peaks in the late 1980s at around 900,000 cases and falls significantly after that. Since the mid 2010s, case numbers are stagnating in the low two digits.](/images/published/reported-guinea-worm-dracunculiasis-cases-annotated-desktop.png)
Cases of guinea worm disease have fallen dramatically in recent decades. According to the WHO, over 890,000 cases were recorded worldwide in 1989. As you can see on the chart — which we just updated with the latest data — only 14 human cases were reported in 2023.
Guinea worm disease is caused by the parasitic guinea worm, which mainly spreads through stagnant water sources like ponds. The worm’s larvae enter the human body when a person drinks contaminated water, after which they penetrate the digestive tract to mature and reproduce within the body.
Around a year after the initial infection, the adult female breaks through the skin's surface, creating a painful blister through which it gradually emerges over several weeks. When it comes into contact with water, it releases new larvae and continues its life cycle.
The disease was previously endemic in over 20 countries in South Asia and Africa. An international eradication campaign has substantially decreased the number of cases by improving access to clean drinking water and actively monitoring and containing cases in endemic regions.
Learn more about the effort to eradicate guinea worm disease →
Fourteen countries in the world get almost all of their electricity from renewables
![World map showing the percentage of renewable electricity. Countries with over 95% renewable electricity are highlighted in green.](/images/published/share-electricity-renewables-desktop.png)
Since 2020, 14 countries have consistently generated over 95% renewable electricity, according to Ember’s Yearly electricity data. In eight of these countries, electricity has been almost entirely renewable-based for over 20 years.
Renewable sources include hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, tidal, and wave power. In all these countries, the largest source of electricity was hydropower.
Sub-Saharan countries, however, use significantly less electricity in their energy mix compared to countries in Europe or North America.
Climate change does not affect all areas of the globe uniformly
![Climate change does not affect all areas of the globe uniformly](/images/published/di-annual-temperature-anomalies-desktop.png)
Some regions are warming faster than others, and countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region have seen some of the most rapid warming.
We observe this through temperature anomalies. Anomalies compare current temperatures to historical averages, showing us shifts over time. In the chart, each bar represents the temperature anomaly for a given year.
In 2023, the global average temperature anomaly was 0.6°C above the 1991–2020 average. However, these anomalies vary by region. In countries such as Syria and Turkey, the average annual surface air temperature in 2023 was around 1.2°C above the 1991–2020 average, compared to approximately 0.3°C in Australia.
This pattern is not a one-off difference; it is also reflected in the decadal temperatures. This data comes from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA5 project.
We update this data every month: you can track monthly temperature changes across the globe and at the national level on our site.
The rise and fall of smoking in rich countries
![Line chart showing cigarette sales in rich countries.](/images/published/smoking-cigarettes-desktop2.png)
This rise and fall of smoking is shown in this chart. Smoking rates grew rapidly across rich countries in the 20th century. But by the 1980s, they went into steep decline.
It looked like poorer countries would follow a similar path as incomes increased, but rates have decreased there, too. The global share of people who smoke has kept falling in the 21st century, from 34% in 2000 to 23% in 2020.
This is great news for global health. Smoking still kills millions every year, but death rates are falling as people turn their backs on cigarettes.