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Our latest articles, data updates, and announcements

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Malaria was common across half the world – since then it has been eliminated in many regions

Malaria has been eliminated from large parts of Europe, the Americas, East Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean.

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Humans make up just 0.01% of Earth's life — what's the rest?

How is life on Earth distributed across the taxonomic kingdoms? Humans make up just 0.01% of life: but we've had much larger impacts on shaping the animal kingdom. Livestock now outweighs wild mammals and birds ten-fold.

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Child mortality: achieving the global goal for 2030 would be a huge achievement – but we are currently far away

15,000 children die on average every single day. Reducing child mortality is a key target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). What would it take for the world to reach it?

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The global population pyramid: How global demography has changed and what we can expect for the 21st century

Global demographic transition signals a shift from young, growing populations to older, stable ones, reshaping societies and economies.

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A stacked area chart displaying two data series with smooth curves. The top area is filled with a rich green color, representing one category, while the bottom area is filled with a deep reddish-brown color, representing another.

How do we know the history of extreme poverty?

To estimate historical global poverty, researchers can analyze economic data and reconstruct national accounts to understand income levels and inequality in the past.

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The death of UK coal in five charts

Coal is almost dead in the place where it all began

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Our World in Data is at Y Combinator

We are one of the few non-profits that Y Combinator has decided to accept.

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India's population growth will come to an end: the number of children has already peaked

The number of children in India peaked in the first decade of the 2000s.

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Is income inequality rising around the world?

Whether inequality is rising or falling depends on where, when, and what aspect of inequality we have in mind.

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We've updated our topic page on Trade and Globalization

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How child mortality has declined in the last two centuries

How has child mortality declined worldwide across the last two centuries?

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Is trade a major driver of income inequality?

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Twice as long — life expectancy around the world

Life expectancy has doubled over the last two centuries around the world. How has this happened?

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What were the world's deadliest earthquakes?

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The Internet's history has just begun

The Internet has already changed the world, but the big changes it will bring still lie ahead.

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How rinderpest was eradicated

Rinderpest was a disease that primarily infected cattle and buffalo. Thanks to a decades-long international campaign, it was the first animal disease to be eradicated.

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How urban is the world?

More than half of the world live in urban areas, and this will continue to grow.

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Now it is possible to take stock - did the world achieve the Millennium Development Goals?

Substantial progress has been achieved in the first 15 years of the new millennium, but in most aspects not as fast as the achievement of the MDGs required.

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cartogram with world population

The map we need if we want to think about how global living conditions are changing

By showing us where the people in the world are, cartograms help us understand global living conditions better.

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FAQs on plastics

Common questions about plastic pollution.

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New teaching notes from Our World in Data

Materials with key interactive data visualizations for five of our most popular topics.