April 05, 2024
One of the big demographic trends in recent decades has been the shift from rural places to cities.
Until 2020, most people in the world lived in smaller urban settings like towns and suburbs, with populations between 5,000 and 50,000. Since then, cities with more than 50,000 people have become the most popular living areas worldwide, as shown in the chart.
Today
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 →
Yesterday
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 →
September 04
The chart shows that the average worker in wealthy countries now works only about half as many hours per year as in the late 19th century.
Based on data from economic historians Michael Huberman and Chris Minns, the average worker used to work between 2,700 and 3,500 hours per year, which is about 50 to 70 hours each week.
Recently, using data from the Penn World Table, workers worked about half that amount, between 1,300 and 1,800 hours a year, or about 25 to 35 hours a week.
This decrease has come from working fewer hours each day, fewer days each week, and fewer weeks each year.
Read more in our article on whether we are working more than ever →
September 03
Four decades ago, when HIV was first identified, it was an invariably fatal disease: nearly 100% of those infected died, typically within a few years.
The virus spread rapidly around the world — especially in Africa, where almost two million were dying every year by the millennium.
Thankfully, medical advances and global public health efforts have entirely changed this course. Modern antiretroviral therapy is very effective in both treating HIV — returning people with HIV to near-normal life expectancy — and preventing the virus from spreading to others.
The chart above shows this impact based on data from UNAIDS. Over a million people's lives are now saved by antiretroviral therapy each year.
Recent medical advances could take this progress even further.
Read more on how antiretroviral therapy has changed the lives of people with HIV →
September 02
Cereals, roots, and tuber crops — such as cassava or potatoes — are some of the cheapest options for getting enough calories. In poorer countries, people get much of their daily energy from these crops.
The chart shows the share of calories that the average person gets from these staples, measured against gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. This data comes from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Bank.
People in some of the world’s poorest countries get two-thirds to three-quarters of their calories from cereals and other staples, compared to around one-third in the richest countries.
This means those on low incomes have less diverse diets and often miss out on key nutrients from legumes, fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy, and other foods.
Explore the data →
