Cancer death rates rise steeply with age

In 2023, Norwegians gave $1,160 in foreign aid — more than twice the amount contributed by people in other large Western countries.

By comparison, people in countries like the United States and Japan gave much less, at $190 and $155 per person, respectively.

One factor behind Norway’s substantial foreign aid is its sovereign wealth fund, built from oil revenues. The fund is valued at around $1.8 trillion — about the size of the Australian economy — and provides financial resources that few nations can match.

Still, its generosity stands out: Norway also leads in foreign aid as a share of national income.

Explore foreign aid given per capita for more countries →

High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

As the chart shows, the age-standardized share of American adults with unhealthy cholesterol levels has declined over the past 25 years. Age-standardized means the data accounts for the rising age of the population over time.

Data comes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a national study conducted every two years. In this study, blood measurements are taken from thousands of people to monitor these trends.

One important reason for the decline in cholesterol is the use of statins. Statins are prescribed to effectively reduce levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. These reduce the formation of cholesterol-filled plaques in the arteries and, thereby, the rates of heart attacks and strokes.

As the chart shows, statins have become more commonly used among adults eligible to take them.

Along with other medications, surgeries, and public health efforts, they’ve helped turn cardiovascular diseases into more manageable conditions. In the US, the age-standardized death rate from cardiovascular diseases has declined for decades and is almost four times lower today than in 1950.

Explore more data on cardiovascular disease, its risk factors, and treatment →

For most of human history since the agricultural revolution, the majority of the labor force in countries like France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Netherlands worked in agriculture.

However, over the last few centuries, this share has plummeted. Today, less than 10% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, and in many cases, it's just a few percent.

This trend is shown clearly in the chart, which is based on data from the International Labour Organization and historical reconstructions by Broadberry and Gardner (2013) and Herrendorf et al. (2014), as we’ve documented in detail.

The chart also includes the even steeper decline in agricultural employment in China over the last 50 years, as people have shifted to manufacturing and services.

Explore this data on agricultural employment across more countries →

Last year, the European Union's population experienced its lowest unemployment rate in over thirty years.

The chart shows that unemployment rates were above 10% in the mid-1990s and early 2010s. The rate has steadily declined since its peak in 2013, nearly halving over the past ten years.

Unemployment refers to individuals who are available for and actively seeking work but cannot find employment. It differs from economic inactivity, which includes people who are neither working nor actively looking for work.

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In international statistics, immigrants are people who have lived for more than one year in a country other than the one where they were born.

Between 1990 and 2020, the share of immigrants in high-income countries doubled, rising from around 7% to 14%. This means that today, one in seven people in high-income countries was born in a different country.

High-income countries often attract migrants with better living conditions, including higher wages, stable political environments, and better public services. In turn, migration has become a crucial driver of population growth in these countries: without migration, the population of high-income countries would have declined since 2020.

This growth is much quicker than in other parts of the world. In contrast, the global share of migrants increased only slightly, with less than one percentage point.

Explore the percentage of immigrants in all countries →

The share of electricity produced by solar and wind in Poland almost doubled in just two years. In 2021, these renewable sources produced just 11% of its power; by 2023, this was 21%.

You can see this growth in the chart above, based on electricity data from Ember.

Poland still has one of the most coal-intensive electricity mixes in Europe, with coal producing 61% of its power. The country has committed to moving away from coal in the next few decades; growing solar and wind generation will play a key role in this.

Explore energy sources across the world in our Data Explorer →

This chart shows the share of people who consider friendships “very important” in their lives.

There are clear differences between countries: Northern Ireland (70%) and Sweden (65%) rank highest, and the United States (51%) and Indonesia (42%) are near the middle. In comparison, in Peru (17%) and Myanmar (12%), smaller shares of the population say that friendship is very important to them.

These differences suggest that the value people assign to different relationships varies significantly across cultures. In some societies, friendships might hold a central role in everyday life, whereas in others, people might place greater importance on family, work, or personal independence.

It's worth keeping in mind that such surveys don't only capture people's different views on friendship but also how they communicate their views when asked in surveys. For example, in some countries, people might be quicker to call something very important than in others.

Explore more data on the importance of friendships →