Measles vaccines save millions of lives each year
Measles once killed millions every year. Vaccines changed this, preventing disease, long-term immune damage, and deadly outbreaks.
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Where in the world are babies at the lowest risk of dying?
It’s difficult to compare countries because they don’t always measure infant mortality in the same way.Children in rich countries are much less likely to die than a few decades ago, but we rarely hear about this progress
In most rich countries, child mortality has more than halved in the last thirty years; we know we can go further.How a data journalist at The Economist, Sondre Solstad, uses Our World in Data
A story of how our work helps journalists who use data.How effective and safe are measles vaccines?
Data from large meta-analyses show that measles vaccination is highly effective and safe, giving a 95% reduction in the risk of measles.What is foreign aid? How “Official Development Assistance” is measured
Foreign aid measurement is complicated — what exactly counts as Official Development Assistance, what doesn’t, and how much is actually spent abroad?Air pollution kills millions every year — where does it come from?
A breakdown of the sources of many air pollutants that damage our health and ecosystems.How much foreign aid is spent domestically rather than overseas?
In many countries, a significant share of aid is spent domestically on hosting refugees, offering student scholarships, and administrative costs.For many of us, it doesn’t cost much to improve someone’s life, and we can do much more of it
Most countries spend less than 1% of their national income on foreign aid; even small increases could make a big difference.“Cool” years are now hotter than the “warm” years of the past: tracking global temperatures through El Niño and La Niña
The world is warming despite natural fluctuations from the El Niño cycle.The baby boom in seven charts
The baby boom reshaped family life and drove population growth in many countries. In this article, we explore the key patterns in seven charts.Why the total fertility rate doesn’t necessarily tell us the number of births women eventually have
The fertility rate is commonly confused with the eventual number of births per woman. This can result in misinterpreting the impact of policies and trends over time.Explore changing patterns in fertility worldwide
Data on fertility rates, ages of mothers and fathers at childbirth, twin births, reproductive technologies, contraception, and more.In many countries, people breathe the cleanest air in centuries. What can the rest of the world learn from this?
Air pollution tends to get worse before it gets better, but how can we accelerate this transition?Our founder, Max Roser, has received two prestigious honors
An honorary doctorate from KU Leuven & UCLouvain and a “Dove of Peace” in Germany.If we can make maternal deaths as rare as in the healthiest countries, we can save 275,000 mothers each year
Maternal mortality was much more common in the past. It is much lower today, but global inequalities are still large.Watch our founder, Max Roser, share the story of Our World in Data
Check out the new video from Oxford Social Sciences, where Max shares his journey with this project.How much in subsidies do fossil fuels receive?
Estimates range from less than $1 trillion to $7 trillion. Where do these numbers come from?Introducing our new trustees, Claire Melamed and Michael Blastland
We are very excited to share that Claire Melamed and Michael Blastland have joined our Board of Trustees.Scaling up: how increasing inputs has made artificial intelligence more capable
The path to recent advanced AI systems has been more about building larger systems than making scientific breakthroughs.The great global redistributor we never hear about: money sent or brought back by migrants
Migrants send or bring back over three times the amount of global foreign aid. Cutting transaction fees could make this support even more effective in reducing poverty.