Smallholders produce one-third of the world’s food, less than half of what many headlines claim
Most of the world's farmers are smallholders. They are also often the poorest. How much of the world's food do they produce?
August 06
Article
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Our latest articles, data updates, and announcements
August 02
Article
How much of the world’s food production is dependent on pollinators?
Many of the world's pollinator insects are in decline. What does this mean for global food production?
July 21
Article
Child mortality: an everyday tragedy of enormous scale that we can make progress against
We live in a world in which ten children die every minute.
July 14
Article
Smoking: How large of a global problem is it? And how can we make progress against it?
Every year, around eight million people die prematurely as a result of smoking. But there are things we can do to prevent this.
July 12
Article
Three billion people cannot afford a healthy diet
A healthy, nutritious diet is much more expensive than a calorie sufficient one. As a result, three billion people cannot afford a healthy diet.
July 05
Article
Energy poverty and indoor air pollution: a problem as old as humanity that we can end within our lifetime
About three billion people in the world do not have access to modern energy sources for cooking. Millions die from indoor air pollution every year.
July 01
Article
The world is making progress on clean water and sanitation, but is far behind its target to ensure universal access by 2030
All countries pledged to provide safe water and sanitation for everyone by 2030. How far are we from reaching these targets?
June 11
Article
Which countries have mandatory childhood vaccination policies?
How do policies on childhood vaccinations vary across the world?
June 10
Article
Emissions from food alone could use up all of our budget for 1.5°C or 2°C – but we have a range of opportunities to avoid this
If we want to meet our global climate targets we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food. What options do we have?
June 07
Article
Why do we need to know about progress if we are concerned about the world's largest problems?
Why have we made it our mission to publish “research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems”?
June 04
Article
The price of batteries has declined by 97% in the last three decades
To transition towards low-carbon energy systems, we need low-cost energy storage. Battery costs have been falling quickly.
June 01
Article
The argument for a carbon price
We are paying a price for fossil fuels, but that price is not paid by those who burn the fossil fuels — we need to change that.
May 17
Article
How the Living Planet project helps us understand changes in the world’s wildlife
Beneath the popular index, the Living Planet database helps us understand where and what animals are deeply threatened, and what animals are thriving.
May 13
Article
What is economic growth? And why is it so important?
The goods and services that we all need are not just there; they need to be produced. Growth means that their quality and quantity increase.
May 10
Article
The Our World in Data COVID-19 vaccination dataset has been published in the academic journal, Nature Human Behaviour
Our free, open-access dataset tracking global COVID-19 vaccinations has been published in Nature Human Behaviour.
May 01
Article
Where does the plastic in our oceans come from?
Which countries and rivers emit the most plastic to the ocean? What does this mean for solutions to tackle plastic pollution?
April 20
Article
Wild mammals have declined by 85% since the rise of humans, but there is a possible future where they flourish
Wild mammal biomass has declined by 85% since the rise of humans. But we can turn things around by reducing the amount of land we use for agriculture.
March 19
Article
What are the carbon opportunity costs of our food?
What are the carbon opportunity costs of our diet? How much carbon could we store by regrowing forests and wild habitats on existing farmland?
March 18
Article
How much of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food?
Estimates of food emissions can range from one-quarter to one-third. Where do these differences come from?
March 15
Article
How much economic growth is necessary to reduce global poverty substantially?
We study the data on today's global inequality to calculate the minimum aggregate growth that is required to reduce global poverty substantially.
March 05
Article
Emerging COVID-19 success story: Vietnam's commitment to containment
Vietnam is one country which has responded well to the Coronavirus pandemic. How did they do so? In-country experts provide key insights.