Latest

The “modal age at death” is the most common age at which people in a population die. The modal age at death for women in Japan in 2021 was 93. In France, it was 92.

This metric helps us understand trends in longevity at older ages. Unlike life expectancy, it is not affected by infant or child mortality.

You can see that over time, the figure has been rising steadily. In France in 1970, the modal age at death was 84 years for women, but now it is 8 years higher.

Large gains in longevity have occurred even among the elderly.

Explore this data →

2,664 objects were launched into space in 2023. This figure breaks the record set the previous year.

The chart shows that US agencies and companies were responsible for launching 2,166 of these objects; that’s 81% of the global total.

Within American launches, 1,935 objects — 73% of the global total — belonged to Starlink, the constellation of satellites operated by the aerospace company SpaceX.

The rapid growth of the global satellite constellation has the power to help expand Internet connectivity, but also contributes to increasing concerns regarding space debris and the congestion of Earth’s orbital environment.

Explore this data →

In 1981, 97% of people in the Chinese countryside lived in extreme poverty. Even in cities, it was more than 70%.

Since then, large economic growth has made it possible for hundreds of millions of people in China to leave extreme poverty behind, first in cities and then in the countryside.

By 2020, the share of people living in extreme poverty in both urban and rural areas was below 1%.

Explore this data →

Solar and wind have surpassed coal as a source of electricity generation in a number of countries, as the chart shows. This marks a substantial shift towards more sustainable sources of energy.

Even in the United States, the world’s third-largest producer of coal electricity, the gap between solar and wind power, and coal is now very small. The adoption of clean energy is accelerating.

Explore this data →

People in richer countries tend to live much longer than those in poorer countries.

We can see this in the cross-country life expectancy statistics shown on the chart. In Japan, life expectancy at birth is about 85 years, while in Chad and Nigeria, life expectancy is about 52 years — a gap of over three decades.

Explore this data →

Pacemakers are crucial medical devices for people with heart disorders and irregular heartbeats. They provide a steady heart rhythm and help the heart pump blood effectively to the rest of the body.

The chart shows that there are large differences in the rates of pacemaker implantations across countries.

In France and Sweden, over 1,000 per million people each year receive pacemaker implantations. In Egypt and Turkey, that figure is less than 150.

Explore this data →