May 27, 2024
Based on the Episodes of Regime Transformation data, this chart shows that around 20% of democracies were slowly deteriorating in 2023.
According to the underlying expert assessments by country experts, elections are becoming less meaningful, free, or fair in these countries.
This rate of democratic erosion is unprecedented.
This is partly because the data seeks to capture gradual declines in democratic institutions, while historically, democracies often broke down rapidly in coups d’état or foreign invasions.
So, while political rights are under threat in a substantial share of democracies, there is still time to act to halt this decline, restore democratic rights, and even deepen democratic institutions.
If you want to learn more, you can read my article on recent changes in democracy, for which we just updated the data.
Today
Globally, electricity and heating remain the largest sources of carbon emissions, but in some countries, transport has overtaken them.
In Spain and Austria, heating and electricity emissions fell while transport rose. In the UK, both declined.
The trend reflects the decarbonization of electricity, driven by the transition to renewables, while transport emissions remain high due to continued reliance on fossil fuels.
As countries work toward net-zero targets, addressing transport emissions will be critical in the fight against climate change.
Explore more in our data on greenhouse emissions →
Yesterday
Flu viruses spread every year and cause seasonal outbreaks. But one type, called influenza B Yamagata, may have completely disappeared.
The chart shows global confirmed cases of B Yamagata flu over time. Before 2020, it peaked each flu season. However, no confirmed cases have been reported worldwide in the last five years.
This likely happened because COVID-19 precautions — such as social distancing, masks, and travel restrictions — sharply reduced social contact. With fewer opportunities to spread from person to person, B Yamagata couldn’t sustain transmission and eventually died out.
Regulatory health agencies like the WHO, European Medicines Agency, and US CDC have recommended removing it from flu vaccines. This could allow room for other strains to be included in seasonal flu vaccines, improving overall vaccine effectiveness.
Explore the data on influenza in our data explorer →
April 02
China is often the poster child for rapid reductions in poverty, and for good reason: in the early 1980s, over 90% of its population lived in extreme poverty, but by the early 2020s, that number had dropped to nearly zero.
Some people assume that China is the only reason global extreme poverty has declined. But that’s wrong: many other countries have seen dramatic reductions in poverty. Indonesia is one clear example; it’s shown alongside China on the chart.
In 1984, three-quarters of Indonesians lived on less than $2.15 per day. By 2023, this had fallen to less than 2%. While it didn’t quite match China’s decline, it has still been impressive. The number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 120 million to 5 million.
Note that the international poverty line is extremely low, defined as people living on less than $2.15 per day. But Indonesia has also made progress measured by higher poverty lines.
Explore progress against poverty across the world in our data explorer →
April 01
Several countries have recently managed to stop and even reverse the erosion of their democratic institutions.
The chart illustrates these turnarounds using the liberal democracy index from the Varieties of Democracy project. This index measures key aspects of democracy, such as the fairness of elections and checks on government power. It ranges from 0 (highly autocratic) to 1 (highly democratic).
The four countries in the chart all saw serious declines in democracy over the past 20 years—these declines are shown in red. In Thailand, democracy eroded quickly, while in Zambia, it happened more slowly.
Still, in each case, people resisted growing authoritarianism. As a result, these countries were able to partially or fully restore previous levels of liberal democracy.
These examples show that when democracy deteriorates, its fate is not sealed, and democratic institutions can be reclaimed.
Read more about how democratic decline has been reversed before in my article →
March 31
Homicide rates in Brazil are among some of the highest in the world, and young people are more likely to be victims.
Another large killer of young people is road injuries. But in Brazil, the number of homicide deaths among young people is twice as high as that of road fatalities.
You can see this in the chart: an estimated 48,000 people aged 15 to 49 years died by homicide in 2021 — almost double the 25,000 who died from road injuries.
These comparisons are based on data from the IHME’s Global Burden of Disease study. Note that estimates of homicides can vary by source, as explained by my colleagues Bastian Herre and Fiona Spooner.
Explore more data on homicide rates across the world, including comparisons of different sources →
March 28
The world needs to move away from fossil fuels to low-carbon power if we’re to reduce our carbon emissions and tackle climate change.
There are two key sources of low-carbon power: renewables (which include solar, wind, hydropower and others) and nuclear.
While rapid growth in solar and wind has increased the amount of power coming from renewables, a lack of enthusiasm for nuclear means it’s playing a shrinking role in the global electricity mix.
In the chart, you can see the share of global electricity coming from fossil fuels, renewables, and nuclear since 1985. Since 2000, nuclear and renewables have followed very different trajectories. Back then, both categories made up a similar share of global electricity, but today, renewables make up more than three times as much: 30% compared to 9%.
The total amount of electricity produced by nuclear plants is almost exactly the same as it was two decades ago. But because the world produces much more electricity overall, its share of the electricity mix has declined.
Explore the electricity mix of different countries in our Energy Data Explorer →
March 27
The HIV epidemic — which started in the early 1980s and continued into the 1990s — has had lasting impacts that continue today. Almost one million people still die from HIV/AIDS every year globally.
However, some countries were hit much harder than others.
In the chart, you can see the share of all deaths in a given year that were caused by HIV/AIDS in four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that were badly affected.
At the height of the epidemic, more than half of all deaths in Zimbabwe and Botswana and almost 40% in South Africa and Namibia were caused by the disease.
Thankfully, interventions to prevent the spread of HIV and treatments such as antiretroviral therapy have reduced death rates across the world. But more than one in ten deaths in these countries are still caused by AIDS today.
Read our article on antiretroviral therapy and the millions of lives it has saved →
