August 16, 2024
The United Kingdom was the birthplace of coal. It has now, effectively, died there.
As shown in the chart, in the late 1980s, around two-thirds of the UK’s electricity came from coal. By the time I was born in the 1990s, this had dropped to just over half.
The use of coal has plummeted in my lifetime. It now makes up less than 2% of the UK’s electricity.
Coal was first replaced by gas but is now being pushed out by wind, solar, and biomass.
Today
Stomach cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths globally. It is estimated that around one million people died from it in 2021.
However, most are preventable, and as the chart shows, there has been a substantial decline in age-standardized death rates from stomach cancer over time.
This can be seen in data from the World Health Organization’s Mortality Database, which has recorded causes of death in many countries since the 1950s.
These large declines are the result of improvements in prevention and treatment. For example, screening and treatment have improved for stomach infections by H. pylori, a bacteria that causes stomach ulcers that can develop into cancer.
Additionally, improvements in hygiene, cancer treatments, and surgery, as well as reductions in smoking, have each been important in reducing stomach cancer mortality.
Explore this data for many more countries — we have just updated it →
Yesterday
Aquaculture production — farming fish and other seafood products — has exploded over the last few decades.
Nearly all of this growth has come from East Asia, which you can see in the chart. This is based on estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In 2021, the world produced 126 million tonnes of seafood from aquaculture. 80% of this came from East Asia and the Pacific.
Explore this data →
September 20
This chart shows the share of the global population living in countries that criminally sanction domestic violence or provide protection against it. The data comes from the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law project.
Throughout the decades, the legislation on domestic violence has increased markedly. Until the 1990s, less than 1% of the global population in countries was legally protected from it, with only Canada, Sweden, and Ireland providing such safeguards. And as recently as 20 years ago, 80% of people lived in countries without legal penalties for domestic violence.
But by 2023, this had more than reversed, and 9 in 10 people lived in countries with legal measures to combat domestic violence. This shift highlights an increased recognition around the world that domestic violence is common, especially against women.
Explore our charts on women's rights →
September 19
Child mortality rates in China have fallen from more than 20% in 1950 to less than 1% today.
But this steady progress was interrupted in the late 1950s during the “Great Leap Forward”. This was China’s national plan to industrialize rapidly, but it resulted in widespread famine and economic turmoil.
As the chart shows, child mortality rates spiked in China over this period. This change was so dramatic that it is also clearly visible in the global trend. This data comes from the UN’s World Population Prospects.
Explore this data →
September 18
Drug-related death rates have increased six-fold in Canada and the United States over two decades, according to recent data from the World Health Organization’s Global Health Estimates. We have just updated our charts with the latest data.
In 2000, drug-related death rates in Canada and the United States were reasonably similar to rates in other countries. But since then, deaths from drugs, particularly opioids, have risen sharply.
Opioids include prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin, synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and drugs like heroin.
Over recent years, opioids have become common in the management of chronic pain, and they’ve become much easier to access on the illicit drug market.
Explore data on deaths from drug use and other health issues in our Global Health Explorer →
September 17
Skilled health staff can reduce the risk of mothers and infants dying during childbirth.
In most countries, almost all births are now attended by trained health professionals. But as you can see on the map, this is the case for less than half of births in some of the world’s poorest countries.
This is based on data from Demographic and Health Surveys and UNICEF. Note that this doesn’t mean births in these countries aren’t attended by any skilled staff; it simply measures staff with professional medical training.
Improving access to essential healthcare and services could help reduce maternal and infant mortality rates.
Explore the data →
September 16
Infancy used to be an extremely dangerous time of life.
As the chart shows, around 20% of girls in Sweden died before their first birthday in the 18th century. This was higher than the risk among 80-year-olds — at that age, 10% to 20% died each year.
Since then, the risk of dying has reduced across all ages, but the reduction has been most profound for infants. Rates have fallen 100-fold.
This progress has come from improvements in hygiene, clean water and sanitation, vaccination, nutrition, neonatal healthcare, and surgery.
The data comes from the Human Mortality Database and the United Nations World Population Prospects. I’ve shown data from Sweden, which has the longest historical records, stretching back to the 1750s.
Explore the same data for many more countries →
