Obesity rates have increased on every continent

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 →

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 →

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, 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 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 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 →

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 →