Latest

How urban is the world?

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

Hannah Ritchie

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.

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser

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.

Max Roser

FAQs on plastics

Common questions about plastic pollution.

Hannah Ritchie

New teaching notes from Our World in Data

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

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina

Why is carbon pricing in some countries more successful than in others?

Carbon pricing can be an effective way to reduce emissions. Why is it more successful in some countries?

Guest Authors

Most of us are wrong about how the world has changed — especially those who are pessimistic about the future

The majority of people believe that the share of people in extreme poverty is rising. The opposite is true.

Max Roser

Our World in Data for teaching – what we are learning from your feedback

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina

The past and future of global change – Max's slides for his talk at the UN

How rapidly the world is changing, and what further changes are needed to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Max Roser

How is literacy measured?

An overview of how literacy is defined, and how estimates compare to other measures of educational achievement.

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Diana Beltekian

Long-run trends in military spending and personnel: four key facts from new data

Do most countries devote resources to maintain armies even when they are not immersed in a critical conflict? How are military capabilities changing in the 21st century?

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina

The missing economic measure: wealth

Gross domestic product (GDP) is increasingly seen as an incomplete measure of economic activity. Another measure gaining traction as a supplement to GDP is national wealth.

Sandra Tzvetkova and Cameron Hepburn

Shrink emissions, not the economy

Decoupling emissions from the economy is possible.

Guest Authors

How and why should we study ‘economic complexity’?

The Economic Complexity Index offers insights into how diversified and sophisticated a country's export profile is. This matters for economic growth and development potential.

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Diana Beltekian

Learning for our Millennium? The changing face of education access, quality and uptake in Ethiopia

Understanding education challenges and progress in Ethiopia through the Young Lives Study.

Guest Authors

Definitions of world regions

Which countries make up the world regions commonly used in our charts?

Our World in Data team

A sense of units and scale for electrical energy production and consumption

How does the electricity output of different sources compare?

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser

How new vaccines can help with our antibiotic dependence

New vaccination technology could reduce our reliance on antibiotics.

Samantha Vanderslott

How many people does synthetic fertilizer feed?

Hannah Ritchie

Are emerging economies deindustrializing too quickly?

As today’s developed countries grew richer, they experienced a process of “structural transformation”. Are developing countries following a similar process?

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Nicolas Lippolis

Is organic really better for the environment than conventional agriculture?

Depending on the measure, organic farming can sometimes have higher environmental impacts than conventional farming.

Hannah Ritchie