The media claims we are experiencing a ‘loneliness epidemic’. What is the evidence for this?

In countries such as Denmark and Switzerland, it is very common for people to live alone; but contrary to what many believe, this does not translate into higher loneliness. Loneliness and aloneness are not the same.

38 million people had HIV/AIDS in 2020. A couple of decades ago, the chances of surviving more than ten years with HIV were slim. Today, thanks to antiretroviral therapy (ART), people with HIV/AIDS can expect to live long lives. How many lives has ART saved?

Social connections matter for economic outcomes. Personal relations, even those that we maintain for non-economic reasons, often give us access to information and provide us with social collateral for economic transactions.

How many children die from pneumonia? How has this changed over time, and how can we prevent it?

More than three-quarters of global agricultural land is used for livestock, despite meat and dairy making up a much smaller share of the world's protein and calories.

One-quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions result from food and agriculture. What are the main contributors to food's emissions?

Feeding the world whilst reducing food's impact on the environment is one of our greatest challenges in the coming decades. What are food's environmental impacts?

The Lovie Award is the European internet award awarded by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

Which countries are net importers and exports of emissions? How much CO2 is ‘offshored’?

There are large inequalities in the carbon footprint of people across the world. How do countries across the world compare? Where in the world do people emit the most CO2?

Which countries emit the most CO2 today? How do annual emissions vary across the world?

Our impact on climate change is not just about emissions that occur today. How much we emitted in the past also matters.

Our World in Data is home to thousands of charts. But some metrics are core to our work: here we present 12 that help us understand the state of the world.

An estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans each year. But the plastic we find in our surface waters is more than 100-fold lower. This is the 'missing plastic' problem.

Maternal mortality was much more common in the past. Today, it is much lower — but there are still large inequalities across the world.

The world needs ideas and innovation to make progress. Creative and talented people are everywhere, but the opportunity to develop is limited to only a small number of well-off children. The world loses out as a result.

Social media sites are used by more than two-thirds of Internet users. How has social media grown over time?

Growing demand for seafood has placed increasing pressures on wild fish populations. One innovation has helped to alleviate some of the pressure on wild fish catch: aquaculture, the practice of fish and seafood farming. Aquaculture production has now overtaken wild fish catch.

The death of a young child has always been the most devastating tragedy mothers and fathers could experience. How common was it?

What does the research tell us about the causal impact of social media use on our well-being?