Daily Data Insights

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

One-third of the world’s assessed fish stocks are overexploited

Stacked area chart showing the share of the world's fish stocks that are overexploited or biologically sustainable. Around one-third are overexploited.

Fish stocks have a “maximum sustainable yield” — this is the point at which you can catch the largest amount of fish without affecting their total population over the long term. In other words, it means catching as many fish as possible without shrinking the population.

A fish is defined as “overexploited” if it is caught faster than the maximum sustainable yield.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that around one-third of the world’s assessed fish stocks are overexploited. This chart shows that this share has increased over time.

Many regions have formal assessments of fish stocks and catch rates to provide updated estimates of overfishing. However, many fish stocks across Africa, Asia, and South America are not frequently and rigorously assessed. To get global estimates, the UN FAO combines these formal assessments with expert opinion and extrapolations based on what national and regional-level data is available.

The UN FAO’s report — The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024 — provides more detailed breakdowns of which species are overexploited or fished sustainably.

Explore more data and research on overfishing →

The UK spends about £74 per person on overseas aid

When asked where public spending should be reduced most, around 60% of people in the UK suggest cutting foreign aid.

However, people overestimate how much the UK spends on aid: last year’s UK Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses show that overseas aid amounted to £5.1 billion — just about 74 pounds per person.

As the chart shows, this is a tiny part of public spending, making up only 0.5% of the total budget.

To put this in perspective, the UK spends much more on other areas: over eight times as much on public order and safety, ten times more on defense, and forty times more on each of the two biggest expenses: health and welfare.

Spending is not much higher if we also consider funds dedicated to supporting refugees in the UK itself.

This situation is not specific to 2023: the UK’s foreign aid spending has been at similar levels for decades and is in line with what other wealthy countries spend. Compared to the size of its budget and economy, foreign aid is a relatively small expense.

Explore spending on foreign aid in the UK and other countries →

Different definitions of homelessness make international comparisons difficult

A world map titled "Forms of homelessness included in available statistics, 2024," displaying different forms of homelessness coverage by country. The map uses various colors to indicate the type of accommodation data available. Categories include: No accommodation (red), Temporary and crisis accommodation (yellow), Severely inadequate accommodation (blue), None or temporary (orange), None or inadequate (purple), Temporary or inadequate (green), None, temporary or inadequate (brown), Not enough information (gray), and No data (striped pattern).

Homelessness is defined differently around the world, making it difficult to compare the issue across countries.

The map shows the forms of homelessness included in country statistics, as recorded by the Institute of Global Homelessness.

Sources distinguish three broad forms of homelessness: people with no accommodation who sleep in the streets or public spaces; people in temporary accommodation, such as emergency shelters; and people in severely inadequate housing, such as tents or slums.

Country statistics vary in which forms they include, with some countries focusing on just one type while others cover multiple combinations. Many sources do not provide enough details to know which forms of homelessness they refer to.

Despite these challenges, the data on homelessness has recently improved. The Institute of Global Homelessness has collected data on the completeness of national statistics, and the OECD has worked on making the statistics of their members comparable by using the same definitions of homelessness across them.

Learn more about the challenges of measuring homelessness →

Without migration, the population of high-income countries would shrink

A line chart showing the population growth of high-income countries with and without migration, from 1950–2023. Without migration, the population of these countries would have declined since 2020.

In recent years, migration has prevented population decline among high-income countries.

The World Bank defines high-income countries as those with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of over $14,000 in 2023. It includes countries like the United States, Chile, and Poland.

The chart shows annual population growth with and without migration in these countries.

The green line, which includes migration, shows that populations in high-income countries are still growing.

What would this have looked like without migration? The blue line gives you the answer — it shows the annual population growth only considering births and deaths in the country. It has been falling for decades and went negative in 2020.

Note that these figures apply to high-income countries as a group; in some countries, such as Italy or Japan, the total population is shrinking, even when considering migration. This data comes from the World Population Prospects dataset published by the United Nations.

Explore more data on population growth

Life expectancy is returning to pre-pandemic levels

Line chart showing life expectancy at birth for major regions around the world from 1950–2023. Life expectancy had dropped significantly across the world in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is now returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Life expectancy at birth dropped significantly across the world in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, rates are now returning to pre-pandemic levels. The chart shows this rebound, based on the latest estimates from the UN’s World Population Prospects.

Global life expectancy in 2022 matched the 2019 figure at 72.6 years. And it increased again in 2023, to 73.2 years.

Explore more insights from the latest revision of the UN’s population statistics →

Japan closed nearly all of its nuclear plants after Fukushima, but some are coming back online

Stacked bar chart showing the electricity mix of Japan, split between fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables. Nuclear production fell dramatically after 2011.

Japan closed down most of its nuclear plants after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in 2011, and nuclear production dropped dramatically.

You can see this in the chart above, which shows the electricity mix of Japan since 1985. It’s based on data from the Energy Institute.

Fossil fuel plants — notably coal — were ramped up to keep the lights on. But some nuclear plants have come back online, which is why you see nuclear production start to rise again.

Read our article on the death toll of the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters →

Many people overestimate the percentage of immigrants in their country

Slope chart showing that across countries, people tend to overestimate the percentage of their country's population who are immigrants.

People tend to think there are more immigrants in their country than there really are.

In the United States, for example, the average person believes that 33% of people were not born there. However, official estimates from government agencies show that the figure is just 15% — less than half as many.

In Japan, people guess that 10% of the population are immigrants, but the accurate figure is around 2%. For every 5 immigrants people think exist, there is only one in reality.

As the chart shows, this mismatch is common everywhere. The data comes from the 2023 Ipsos Perils of Perception report.

Explore the immigrant population share for all countries →

Haiti and Dominican Republic: one island, two diverging economies

A line chart comparing GDP per capita between Haiti and the Dominican Republic from 1990 to 2022, adjusted for inflation and differences in the cost of living. The Dominican Republic's GDP per capita (in red) shows a significant rise from approximately $5,000 in 1990 to nearly $20,000 by 2022. In contrast, Haiti's GDP per capita (in blue) remains consistently below $2,000 over the same period, showing little variation. The data source is the World Bank (2023), and the chart is provided by Our World in Data.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are two Caribbean countries that share the same island, Hispaniola. However, despite sharing the same island, the two nations have developed very differently in recent decades. In 1990, Dominicans had twice the GDP per capita of Haitians. 32 years later, they are seven times richer than Haitians.

The chart shows both trajectories. While the Dominican Republic experienced sustained growth during the three decades, Haiti’s GDP per capita has barely grown and, at times, even slightly decreased. To allow for comparisons, all incomes are shown in international dollars, which account for differences in cost of living across countries.

Today, Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas.

Explore economic growth in your country →

British women are having fewer children in their twenties, more in their thirties

Faceted stacked area chart showing the number of births by the age of the mother in the UK since 1950. Births in a woman's teens and twenties have gone down. Those in their thirties have gone up.

At what age do women have children?

The chart shows the number of births in the United Kingdom since 1950, broken down by the mother's age. This is based on estimates from the latest UN World Population Prospects report.

You can see that, over time, fewer children are born to women in their teens and twenties. This number has been falling since the 1960s.

Instead, we see a rise in the number of births to women in their thirties.

Explore birth data across other countries

Less than 4% of the world's population are international migrants

The vast majority of people in the world — over 96% — live in the country where they were born. Only a small minority are international migrants.

International migrants are people who have lived in a country other than where they were born for more than one year. In contrast, natives live in the country where they were born.

Since 1990, the absolute number of international migrants has risen sharply, but their share of the global population has remained relatively unchanged due to population growth.

This data comes from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).

Explore the immigrant population share for all countries →

Global wildfire burn has declined in the last 20 years due to less shrub and savanna burning

Faceted bar chart showing global wildfire burn across different vegetation types from 2000 to 2022. Burn rates have declined in shrublands and savannas, but haven't changed for forests.

The average area burned by wildfires each year has fallen in the last few decades. This is due mainly to changes in land practices, including the intensification of agriculture and less savanna burning.

This chart shows the estimated area burnt by wildfires each year, broken down by land cover type. This data comes from the Global Wildfire Information System.

The area of shrublands and savannas burned each year has decreased since the early 2000s, while the area of forest burned has remained very similar.

Much of this decline has occurred in Africa and, to a lesser extent, in Oceania.

This doesn't mean that weather-related risks of wildfires have declined: warmer and drier conditions increase these risks. And despite a global reduction, countries can experience very large and anomalous years. Last year’s large burn in Canada is a clear example.

This year also looks to be on-track to be the largest wildfire year this century.

Explore wildfire data across the world, updated weekly

Diarrheal diseases are among the most common causes of death, especially in children

Chart showing the 1.2 million deaths from diarrheal diseases in 2021 (the latest year available), with 365 boxes representing the roughly 3200 deaths that occurred each day.

In 2021, 1.2 million people died from diarrheal diseases. Around 340,000 of these deaths were in children under five years old. This makes diarrheal diseases one of the leading causes of death among people of all ages, but also children specifically.

These estimates come from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease study.

Deaths from diarrheal diseases have fallen a lot in recent decades as a result of public health interventions. But more progress is possible.

Diarrheal deaths are preventable because they are primarily caused by pathogens, whose spread can be easily controlled. By increasing global access to clean water and sanitation, oral rehydration therapy, and vaccination, this major cause of death can be reduced substantially.

Explore our full page on diarrheal diseases, with more writing and over 40 interactive charts →

Healthy diets remain unaffordable for the majority in many countries

Around one in three people worldwide — that’s 2.8 billion — could not afford a healthy diet in 2022. This is based on the most recent estimates from the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

A “healthy diet” is defined as one that follows nutritional guidelines, making sure that someone has enough variety to meet all of their dietary needs. It is considered unaffordable when the lowest possible cost of the diet, along with essentials like housing and transportation, is higher than what someone earns each day.

In low- to middle-income countries like India or Pakistan and much of Sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of the population struggles to afford a healthy diet, with rates exceeding 90% in the poorest.

Read more about diet affordability →

Guyana’s oil-driven economy has had the largest GDP per capita growth in the world in recent years

A line chart from Our World in Data comparing the GDP per capita of Guyana and the world from 1990 to 2022. Guyana’s GDP per capita line shows a sharp increase after 2020, surpassing the global average, which follows a steadier growth trend. The data is sourced from the World Bank and estimates are adjusted for inflation and for differences in the cost of living between countries.

Guyana, a small country in South America, has seen the fastest growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the world over the past decade.

This is illustrated in the chart, which shows GDP per capita for Guyana and the World, based on estimates from the World Bank.

The data is adjusted for inflation, so Guyana’s sharp growth is not due to price changes over time.

A large and sudden expansion in oil production has driven most of this growth. In 2020, Guyana began extracting oil. From 2020 to 2023, the country’s oil production grew 425%, making it a key contributor to global crude oil supply growth.

Over this period, Guyana’s GDP per capita rose from below the global average to well above it.

Read more about economic development and oil production →

On average, Americans spend about the same amount of money on restaurants and cafes as on food at home

Stacked bar chart showing the amount spent on food per person in the US since the 1950s. This is separated by food consumed at home, and food away from home.

The "food at home" segment has not changed much since the 1950s. But the "food away from home" has increased a lot.

Today, the average American spends about the same on food away from home as at home.

On average, Americans spend about the same amount on food consumed at home as they did in the 1950s. But they spend a lot more in restaurants, cafes, and at work.

The chart shows the average amount of money spent on food, at home and away from home in the United States. This is based on data from the USDA Economic Research Service. It’s adjusted for inflation over time.

Today, the amount spent on food away from home is about the same as what is spent on food at home.

Explore data on food expenditure across the world

Teenage pregnancy rates have fallen across the world

Line chart showing the change in teenage pregnancy rates across regions since 2000. All lines show a reduction over time.

Teenage pregnancy rates have fallen across all regions in the last few decades.

The chart shows the number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 since 2000, based on data compiled by the United Nations.

Globally, rates have fallen by around one-third. This decline has been even more dramatic in some regions. For example, rates have fallen by more than two-thirds in Central and South Asia.

Birth rates have also fallen among adolescents aged 10 to 14 years old, where health concerns for pregnancy in such young girls are even greater.

Explore teenage pregnancy data for individual countries over time

The “baby boom” saw a sharp rise in the fertility rate in the United States

A line chart showing a sharp increase in the fertility rate in the United States after the Second World War, known as the "baby boom"

When it comes to demographic trends, few are as well known as the “baby boom”.

The baby boom was a sharp rise in the fertility rate toward the end of the Second World War and for decades after. It happened in several countries around the world, but it was especially pronounced in the United States.

Before the baby boom, the US had seen a long-term decline in the fertility rate, down to about 2 children per woman by the 1930s.

During the baby boom, the fertility rate rose sharply, almost doubling to nearly 4 children per woman — levels that hadn’t been seen since the beginning of the 20th century. By the early 1970s, the fertility rate had returned to about 2 children per woman. Today, it’s just over 1.6.

It’s estimated that more than 70 million people were born in the US between 1946 and 1964, the official years of the baby boom according to the US Census Bureau. By 1964, this generation comprised almost 40% of the nation’s population.

As such a large generation, “baby boomers” have played a significant role in shaping many social, economic, and political trends in modern US history.

Learn more about fertility rates over time →

Road deaths in the United Kingdom have fallen by three-quarters since 1970

Line chart showing a decline in road deaths in the UK since 1970. This has fallen from 8,000 to less than 2,000.

The number of people dying in road accidents in the United Kingdom has fallen by around three-quarters since 1970.

The chart shows the number of road deaths over time, based on data from the OECD, which we just updated. This includes the deaths of pedestrians, drivers, passengers, and cyclists.

In the early 1970s, there were around 8,000 road deaths per year. This has dropped below 2,000 in recent years. Deaths reached a low in 2020 due to reduced traffic from the COVID-19 pandemic but have rebounded slightly since then.

This multi-decade decline is even steeper when we look at the number of deaths per kilometer driven.

Explore road death data for other countries

Denmark generates a larger share of its electricity from wind than any other country

This chart displays the share of electricity production from wind as a percentage of total electricity for several countries between 1985 and 2023. Denmark shows the highest share, peaking above 50% by 2023.

In 2023, wind power generated nearly 60% of Denmark’s electricity. This made Denmark the country with the highest share of wind in its electricity mix. This is based on data from Ember.

Wind also contributes significantly to Denmark’s broader energy system. Data from the Energy Institute shows that wind power accounts for over a quarter of Denmark’s total primary energy consumption — the largest figure globally.

Denmark also ranks first in per capita wind power generation, with Sweden close behind.

Explore more data on energy sources in our Data Explorer →

Many countries have become much more supportive of same-sex relationships

Line chart showing the share of people who said they do not want homosexual neighbours. This has fallen in many countries in recent decades.

When I was born in 1993, one-third of people in the United Kingdom said they “would not want homosexual neighbors”. Today, that’s less than 5%.

As you can see in the chart, the acceptance of same-sex relationships has increased in many other countries, too. This data comes from the Integrated Values Survey.

Attitudes to homosexuality tend to be far more positive in Western Europe and North and South America than in other parts of the world. In many countries across Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, the majority of surveyed respondents still say they would not want homosexual neighbors.

Explore the data on attitudes to homosexuality across the world

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