Daily Data Insights
Bite-sized insights on how the world is changing, published every weekday.
July 25, 2024
Through sustained effort, we are close to eradicating guinea worm disease
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 →
July 24, 2024
Fourteen countries in the world get almost all of their electricity from renewables
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.
July 23, 2024
Climate change does not affect all areas of the globe uniformly
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.
July 22, 2024
The rise and fall of smoking in rich countries
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.
July 19, 2024
More than a million people die from road injuries every year
Around 1.2 million people die from road injuries every year. That includes the deaths of drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
That’s around 2.3% of deaths from all causes.
As the chart shows, this death toll has barely changed for decades. However, with a larger global population and many more cars on the road, this means the death rate from road injuries — the number of deaths per 100,000 people — has fallen.
July 18, 2024
Recently, a smaller share of terrorism deaths have been caused by suicide attacks
According to data from the Global Terrorism Database, the share of deaths from suicide terrorism increased significantly after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Deaths from these types of attacks continued to be common in the following years, frequently making up about a quarter of all deaths due to terrorism.
However, from 2016 to 2020, the share of deaths from suicide attacks dropped. In 2021, which is the most recent data available, they made up only about 5% of terrorism deaths.
The same upward and downward trends can be seen in both the total number of deaths from suicide attacks and the share of all terrorist attacks that are suicide attacks.
July 17, 2024
Progress on reducing global hunger has stagnated
The world has made much progress in reducing global hunger over the last 50 years. Despite fast population growth, the amount of food produced per person has continued to increase.
Rates of hunger — defined as not having enough calories to sustain a healthy and productive life — were estimated to be as high as 1 in 3 people in developing countries in 1970. Since then, rates have fallen substantially.
However, as you can see on the chart, this progress has stalled over the last few years. In some regions, it has even reversed. In 2017, 7.6% of the world did not get enough calories. By 2022, this had risen to 9.2%.
Conflict, extreme weather, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have all contributed to this reversal.
July 16, 2024
Violence between Mexican drug cartels has surged in recent years
In recent years, tens of thousands of people have died due to fighting between drug cartels in Mexico.
The chart uses data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program to show the country's deaths from “non-state conflicts” over the last thirty years.
These conflicts involve fighting between non-state armed groups, which in Mexico are criminal organizations like the Jalisco, Juarez, Los Zetas, and Sinaloa drug cartels.
Before the 2000s, there were relatively few deaths from these conflicts. The number of deaths then began to increase, reaching a peak of over 18,000 deaths in 2021.
July 15, 2024
Every country has now banned the use of leaded gasoline in cars
The world started adding lead to gasoline in the 1920s. It improved vehicle efficiency and engine performance. However, lead has proven to be a toxic pollutant, particularly for children. Using it in gasoline pollutes the air in cities worldwide, significantly impacting human health.
It took a long time for countries to start taking action. In 1986, Japan became the first country to ban leaded gasoline in cars completely. You can see this on the first map of the timelapse: at the time, leaded gasoline was still in use everywhere else. Since then, bans have been rolled out across the world.
Three and a half decades later, in 2021, Algeria became the last country to ban it. Leaded gasoline is now banned from being used in road vehicles in every country. It is a big win for the health of people around the world.
July 12, 2024
The rise and fall of homicides in Europe
Homicide rates in Europe surged in the second half of the twentieth century but have dropped over the last 30 years.
The chart shows the rates for several European countries based on data from the WHO Mortality Database.
You can see that this trend was most pronounced in Italy. Homicide rates more than doubled from less than 1 per 100,000 people in the late 1960s to more than 2 in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since then, rates have even fallen below earlier levels.
This rise and fall in homicides is relatively consistent across other European countries, although the timing and magnitude of these changes differ. France, for example, saw a wave of homicides in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
July 11, 2024
Many countries lack regular data on mental health
Data on mental health is neglected or unavailable in many countries, especially in Africa and Asia.
The map shows which countries have reported recent data on mental health in the population and how they have reported them. This is based on surveys conducted for the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Atlas (2023).
Several countries have not compiled mental health data in recent years, as shown in red.
Other countries have compiled recent data, but only for general statistical purposes — without using it in specific reports to inform policy, planning, or management purposes. These countries are shown in light green.
Without regular data, it’s difficult to track whether progress is being made or if new problems are emerging and guide resources to address mental health issues.
This means many people’s difficulties with mental health can go unnoticed and unaddressed.
Read more on how researchers study the prevalence of mental illnesses →
July 10, 2024
6 in 10 people in the world regularly use the Internet
The Internet is one of the world’s fastest-growing technologies.
In 2010, just 30% of the global population was online. Within a decade, this figure had doubled to 60% in 2020. And it’s still growing rapidly, as the chart shows.
There are, however, large inequalities. In North America and Europe, more than 80% are online, compared to just 30% in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The quality of this access is also very different: this indicator is based on someone having used the Internet at least once in the last three months. The experience of someone having non-stop connections on their smartphone will be very different from someone logging on in a public space once a month.
But the dominant trend globally — and across all regions — is that more people are coming online every year. It’s a technology that’s moving incredibly fast.
July 09, 2024
How much do people value leisure?
Free time is important to most people around the world.
As shown on this chart, in many countries, leisure is important to more than 80% of people. This is based on data from the European Values Study and World Values Survey.
However, the percentage of people who find leisure “very important” varies more. In some countries, it is the majority; in others, it is less than a quarter.
People enjoy their free time, but valuing leisure a lot doesn’t mean people value work less or work fewer hours. In countries such as Nigeria, Mexico, and Indonesia, people put a high value on both these aspects of their lives.
July 08, 2024
The global malaria death rate increased for the first time in 20 years due to COVID-19
The death rate from malaria has gradually decreased since 2004, but disruption to healthcare programs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sudden increase in death rates in 2020 and 2021.
According to the latest Global Burden of Disease Study — published earlier this year by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) — the age-standardized death rate from malaria was 14.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2004 and had fallen by almost 40% in 2019, to 9.3 deaths per 100,000.
However, in 2020, it increased by around 12% to 10.3 deaths per 100,000, equivalent to around 80,000 additional deaths. Estimates from the World Health Organization also show a similar increase.
This increase is largely attributed to disruptions in malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The increase was most noticeable in Africa, where IHME estimates that around 95% of malaria deaths occur.
July 05, 2024
Life expectancy is lower in the United States than in other high-income countries
The world has seen big gains in life expectancy in recent decades, yet the United States increasingly lags behind peer countries.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the period life expectancy in the US was two years lower than the average for high-income countries, according to data from the UN World Population Prospects.
Healthcare spending as a share of GDP is much higher in the United States than in peer nations. This raises questions about equality in access to care, affordability, and the overall efficiency of the US healthcare system.
Other lifestyle and societal factors are also likely to play a role: the US, for example, has seen a surge in drug-related deaths in recent years as a result of the opioid crisis.
July 04, 2024
India now consumes more coal than Europe and North America combined
According to the most recent data from the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy, India now consumes more coal than the continents of Europe and North America combined.
The chart shows this was not the case until recently. Coal consumption in Europe and North America was high for a long time but has significantly decreased in recent decades. At the same time, India’s consumption has steadily increased.
India has industrialized and is growing rapidly. It has a huge demand for cheap energy, and the country’s abundant coal reserves are being used to meet it.
On a per-capita basis, coal consumption in India has only just passed levels in either region. That’s after centuries of higher consumption in North America and Europe.
Explore our detailed data on energy production and sources, country by country →
July 03, 2024
Young people are less likely to vote than older people — often considerably so
In many countries, there are large differences in voter turnout between young and older people. The chart shows the data for recent national elections in four countries.
In the 2022 French elections, 76% of those aged 18–24 voted, while 92% of people aged 50–59 did — a difference of 16 percentage points.
We see the same pattern in the UK and the US. Only slightly more than half of young people voted in their 2019 and 2020 elections, while around three out of four older people did.
This data comes from post-election surveys by Insee, the British Election Study, the US Census Bureau, and the Federal Returning Officer of Germany.
July 02, 2024
The United States has, by far, the highest death rate from opioids
Death rates from illicit drugs are the highest in the United States. This is largely the result of a steep rise in opioid deaths in recent years.
This map shows death rates from opioid overdoses, measured as the number of deaths per 100,000 people in each country’s population. This data comes from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s latest Global Burden of Disease study.
In 2021, the United States had, by far, the highest death rate from opioids, with 15.4 deaths per 100,000 people each year. Second behind it was Canada, with 6.9 deaths per 100,000. Several European countries and Russia counted between 3 and 4 deaths per 100,000.
This is not only the case for opioids: the US also has the highest death rate from amphetamine and cocaine overdoses.
July 01, 2024
China now uses about the same amount of energy per person as the European Union
Energy demand in China has increased rapidly over the last few decades due to rising incomes and industrialization.
The country now uses about the same amount of energy per person as the European Union. You can see this in this chart, with new data from the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy.
This measure of primary energy is based on the substitution method, which tries to account for the inefficiencies of fossil fuels compared to renewables.
Note that this does not account for energy embedded in traded goods, so some of this increase in China has come from producing goods exported to other countries.
We have just updated our energy data based on the latest release →
June 28, 2024
More countries have legalized same-sex marriage, but others have explicitly banned it
While some countries have granted more rights to LGBT+ people, others are moving in the opposite direction.
The chart, based on data from researcher Kristopher Velasco, shows that five countries had an explicit ban on same-sex marriage in 1991. Their laws did not just say nothing about same-sex marriage; they had laws that made it explicitly illegal.
By 2019, this number had increased to 37 countries, concentrated in Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.
These marriage bans have happened while a similar number of countries have legalized same-sex marriage.
In this way, LGBT+ rights have become more polarized: some countries have introduced progressive laws, while others have become more regressive.