May 28, 2024
The data on this chart comes from the Human Mortality Database.
It shows that in 1930, people in France had a period life expectancy of 57 years. Period life expectancy is a metric that summarizes age-specific mortality rates in one particular year. This means that newborns would live 57 years on average if they experienced the same death rates at each age of their lives as those seen at each age in the population that year.
However, these newborns actually faced lower death rates than previous generations and lived an average of 69 years. This second measure — the average lifespan of a birth cohort — is called cohort life expectancy. It can only be calculated once all cohort members have died.
Period life expectancy is the more commonly reported “life expectancy” measure. However, these two measures are very different, and the gap can be large, as this data shows.
Read more on the difference between period and cohort measures →
Today
4,510 objects were launched into space in 2025, surpassing the previous peak of 2,903 objects in 2023 by a large margin.
The data shows that US agencies and companies were responsible for launching 3,708 of these objects — 82% of the global total.
The vast majority of these American launches consist of small satellites deployed as part of large commercial “constellations”. These interconnected networks of satellites now account for the bulk of all objects sent into orbit.
The rapid growth of satellite constellations makes it possible to expand Internet connectivity, but it also increases concerns regarding space debris and the congestion of Earth’s orbital environment.
February 28
In the 1970s, oil spills from tankers — container ships transporting oil — were common. Between 70 and 100 spills occurred per year. That’s one or two spills every week.
This number has fallen by more than 90% since then. In the last decade, no year has had more than ten oil spills, as shown in the chart.
The quantity of oil spilled from tankers has also fallen dramatically. Over the last decade, the average is less than 10,000 tonnes per year, compared to over 300,000 tonnes in the 1970s.
February 26
In the past, forests around the world were cut down on a massive scale. We lost some of the world’s richest ecosystems.
In recent decades, the picture has become more complex. Deforestation has not ended, but it is no longer happening everywhere. Since 1990, some regions have continued to lose large areas of forest, while others have slowed this long-run trend — and even reversed it.
The map shows regional changes in forest area based on the latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Deforestation has been particularly large in South America and Africa. At the same time, the forested area has expanded in Europe, North and Central America, and large parts of Asia.
These gains show that deforestation is not inevitable. When pressure on land falls, forests can return.
February 24
The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001. Since then, almost 40 other countries have followed suit.
You can see this in the chart, based on data from Pew Research. By 2025, same-sex marriage was legal in 39 countries.
Last year, two countries were added to the total. Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, and a same-sex marriage bill also took effect in Liechtenstein.
February 21
The share of the world population living in extreme poverty has never declined as rapidly as in the past three decades.
The decline in China was particularly fast, and given that one in six people in the world lives there, we’re often asked whether the decline in global poverty was only due to the decline in China.
The chart shows the data that answers this question. In blue, we see the global decline. In red, we see the decline if we exclude China from the data. In the world outside of China, 33% lived in extreme poverty in 1990; by 2025, this share was down to 12%.
The large economic growth that lifted 940 million Chinese people out of extreme poverty since 1990 was a major contributor to the global decline in poverty. But the non-Chinese world also achieved a very large reduction.
It is not true that the global decline in poverty was only due to China. Extreme poverty has declined in China and the rest of the world.
February 19
Forty years ago in Japan, two babies were born for every person who died. Twenty years ago, these numbers were equal. And today, the ratio has reversed: one baby is born for every two people who die.
In the chart, you can see this change in the number of births and deaths over time.
Since deaths now greatly outnumber births, and because immigration is low, Japan’s population has started to shrink.
February 17
Debates over whether religion is booming or dying are common. What does the data say?
Most countries lack long-term data on religious identity, but results from the Pew Research Center offer insights into changes over the decade from 2010 to 2020. (Unfortunately, 2020 is the most recent year for which we have comparable global data.)
At a global level, there was barely any change. The share of people identifying with any religion dropped by just one percentage point, from 77% to 76%.
But religious affiliation did drop significantly across many countries in Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. You can see this drop for a selection of countries in the chart.
In Australia, rates dropped from 75% to 58%. In the United States and Chile, the percentage has decreased from roughly 85% to 70%.
So while religious affiliation is stable in many parts of the world, this data shows religion is becoming less prominent in others.
Note that this data is based on self-identification with any religion; it doesn’t tell us about changes in practices or rituals, such as prayer or attending services.
