March 13, 2024
Two centuries ago, about one in three children in Sweden died before they were five years old, as you can see on the chart.
Since then, the child mortality rate in Sweden has declined to 0.2%.
South Korea achieved a similar reduction much faster. This is often the case: those countries that first achieve an improvement in living conditions often need much longer than some of those countries catching up later — countries that catch up can learn from what worked elsewhere.
Today
According to the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy, in 2023, Chile produced 9.4% of its primary energy from solar sources, the highest share in any country. When we look at electricity alone, solar produced 20% of the total.
This marks a trend of continued year-on-year growth in a country that, just a decade earlier, generated almost no electricity from solar.
Chile's growth has been faster than that of other solar champions like Spain and Australia, where the adoption of these technologies started earlier.
Much of Chile's solar energy is captured in the Atacama Desert. This region, in Northern Chile, receives the highest level of sunlight exposure in the world and is home to Latin America’s first solar thermal plant.
Explore data on energy production and sources, country by country →
Yesterday
The chart shows net migration trends for Venezuela, Peru, Chile, and Colombia from 1950 to 2023. This is the net difference between immigrants coming into a country and emigrants leaving. This data published by the UN World Population Prospects shows how significant this demographic event is in the region’s recent history.
Starting around 2015, Venezuela's net migration dropped sharply, with a record 1.36 million people emigrating in 2018. The timing of this shift, accelerating from 2015 onwards, coincides with Venezuela's worsening economic and political instability.
At the same time, wealthier countries like Peru, Chile, and Colombia experienced significant increases in net migration, which suggests they have become major destinations for Venezuelan migrants. This trend is even clearer when visualizing where immigrants from Venezuela moved to.
Explore net migration patterns in other countries →
September 11
Unsafe sanitation is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. It increases the risk of many fatal diseases, including cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio.
Unfortunately, over 40% of the world does not have access to safe sanitation facilities. This is based on estimates from the WHO/UNICEF’s Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene.
The chart shows the share of the global population that has access to safe sanitation over time. While rates have increased, particularly over the last decade, they still fall far short of the UN’s target of universal access in 2030.
Increasing access to safe sanitation would save many lives from preventable infectious diseases.
Explore the data →
September 10
The chart shows that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, governments’ social spending amounted to very little. Countries spent, at most, 1 to 2% of their national income on public social services.
This changed significantly over the 20th century: public social spending in wealthy countries now amounts to between 15% and 30% of national income.
The biggest reasons for this increase are higher expenditure on healthcare and education.
This data comes from the OECD and Peter Lindert’s history of social spending.
Read more about the history of government spending →
September 09
The chart shows the death rates from respiratory infections in countries since 1950.
Data comes from the WHO Mortality Database, which compiles data reported by each country. The data typically comes with a few years of delay since it needs to be standardized.
It helps us to look back and see the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from a historical perspective.
As you can see, there has been a long-run decline in respiratory infection death rates. This is due to improved sanitation, healthcare, and vaccination against diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis, and pertussis.
But during the pandemic, death rates from respiratory infections surged massively due to COVID-19 and reached levels not seen in many decades.
Explore the data on respiratory infection death rates for other countries →
September 06
The chart shows how much people rely on rail versus road transport in 2021. The data comes from the OECD, and we recently updated our charts with the latest release.
Japan stands out with 28% of passenger kilometers traveled by rail. This contrasts sharply with New Zealand and the United States, where rail accounts for only 1.4% and 0.25% of passenger kilometers, respectively.
In Western European countries, rail transport is still in the minority, but less so. In France, 10% of passenger kilometers are traveled by rail, 6.4% in Germany, and 5% in the United Kingdom.
Countries with well-developed rail networks and high usage also tend to have lower domestic transport-related CO2 emissions.
Explore passenger kilometers traveled by road and rail in other countries →
September 05
Infant mortality rates have plummeted over the last 50 years. Globally, they’ve fallen by over two-thirds, from around 10% in 1974 to less than 3% today.
A recent study — published in The Lancet by Andrew Shattock and an international team of researchers — estimates that increased access to crucial vaccines has reduced infant mortality by 40%.
The chart shows the actual reduction in infant mortality rates with vaccination (in blue) and the researchers’ estimates for a hypothetical scenario in which vaccines wouldn’t have been rolled out (in red).
Based on these figures, vaccines are estimated to have saved 150 million children over the last 50 years.
Read our article on the role of vaccination in reducing infant mortality →
