Was the global decline of extreme poverty only due to China? The share of the world population living in extreme poverty has never declined as rapidly as in the past three decades.

📊 Data update — Tourism: How many people are traveling, & where are they going? Tourism can be important for both the travelers & the people in the countries they visit. For visitors, traveling can increase their understanding of & appreciation for people in other countries & their cultures.

📊 Explore updated data on electricity production in Europe— Electricity is one major part of how we use energy, alongside transport and heating.

In Japan, there are approximately two deaths for every birth— Forty years ago in Japan, two babies were born for every person who died. Twenty years ago, these numbers were equal. And today, the ratio has reversed: one baby is born for every two people who die.

Every year, we raise and kill around 76 billion chickens. That's almost ten chickens slaughtered for every person on Earth. It's also more than ten times the number in 1960, and almost twice as many as in 2000. Part of this rise has come from gains in the "efficiency" of chicken production.

Also as Chair of @ourworldindata.org this made my morning! High praise indeed from Martin Wolf

📊 Explore updated data on global development from the World Bank— How are countries around the world developing — in terms of their economies, infrastructure, technology, energy use, healthcare, education, food production, and much more?

Hannah's new book is out today in the US and Canada! Order it from your favorite seller: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205274...

The share of people who identify as religious has fallen across many Western countries— Debates over whether religion is booming or dying are common. What does the data say?

✍️ New article: Billions of people have access to far less electricity per day than is required to run an air conditioner for just one hour. For five months of the year, temperatures in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, climb above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

South Korea uses more industrial robots per worker than any other country— This chart shows one way to compare automated manufacturing across countries — it plots the number of robots per 1,000 manufacturing employees.

Glad to see our @pewresearch.org religion estimates used on this new @ourworldindata.org religion page. You can read more about our (latest) 2020 estimates for the religious composition of every country (& change since 2010) here www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

📊 Data update: Which countries receive the most foreign aid? Which ones give the most? Foreign aid refers to one country providing money, goods, or services to another, usually to support the people in a lower-income country.

The London underground (the “Tube”) is notoriously hot. Can we use that to heat homes? This is the question @hannahritchie.bsky.social and her co-host, Rob Stewart, talk about in the latest episode of their podcast, “Solving for Climate”. Listen here:

Three out of four people worldwide consider themselves religious, but rates vary a lot across countries— Most people in the world are religious. When asked whether they identify with any religion, three-quarters of respondents choose one.

It’s possible to reduce emissions while growing the economy. Many countries have decoupled economic growth from CO₂ emissions, even if we take offshored production into account. You can see this in the chart for a selection of large economies.

📊 Data update: Track measures of poverty beyond income: health, education, and living standards— The experience of poverty goes far beyond having no or low income.

@hannahritchie.bsky.social's new book, “Clearing the Air”, will be published in North America on February 17th! (link to pre-order now in 🧵 ) Hannah, our Deputy Editor and Science Outreach Lead, published her first book, “Not the End of the World”, in 2024...

The global trade of plastic waste has fallen dramatically in the last decade— It might seem odd that countries would agree to import plastic *waste* from other countries, but many do so for the cheap materials or to feed specific manufacturing processes.

China’s adoption of industrial robots has surged over the past decade— Industrial robots are rapidly becoming a common part of manufacturing in some countries.

The Syrian civil war has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, and caused poor health and widespread poverty— Most of our work on war and peace focuses on the people killed directly in the fighting.

📊 Explore updated data on metals and minerals— Lithium is one of many critical minerals that we’ve come to rely on. It’s used in many industries, and is perhaps best known for its use in most rechargeable batteries.

What is the most common religious affiliation in each country? Three-quarters of people worldwide say they are religious. But rates of religious identity can vary a lot across countries, and so do the particular religions people follow.

To some young people living in democracies, authoritarianism may seem like a long-forgotten part of their country’s history.

William Foege, the physician who saved many millions from smallpox— William Foege, who sadly died this week, is one of the reasons why this map ends in the 1970s.

People living in England and Wales are much less likely to be victims of theft than in the 1990s— Several data sources show that theft in England and Wales has declined in recent decades. One of those is police records — but they only capture reported crimes, and many people don’t report thefts.

📊 Explore updated data on HIV/AIDS— When HIV was first identified four decades ago, nearly 100% of those infected died, typically within a few years. Thankfully, global public health efforts and medical advances such as antiretroviral therapy (ART) have improved this situation dramatically.

Weighing in at over 150 tonnes, Blue Whales are the largest animal to have lived on Earth. But their size hasn’t protected them from human exploitation. In fact, their size made them a valuable source of oil, meat, and blubber. This fat gave us a rich fuel for energy and many other industrial uses.

Indonesia’s shift to cleaner cooking fuels has greatly improved air quality and health— In 2000, less than 10% of the population in Indonesia had access to clean cooking fuels. This is now over 90%, as the chart shows.

Did you know there’s a single place to stay up to date with all our latest work? Our homepage Updates and Announcements feed shows all our latest articles, data insights, data updates, website upgrades, and other announcements.

✍️ New article: Could biofuels meet demand for global aviation? Biofuels get a lot of attention as a way to decarbonize aviation. A small amount of biofuel is already blended into jet fuel supplies in some countries. For many airlines, biofuels are currently the most practical decarbonization option

Stomach cancer used to be the main cause of cancer mortality in Japan; since then, rates have fallen dramatically— Back in 1980, stomach cancer was the type of cancer that someone in Japan was most likely to die from.

My new book — Clearing the Air — comes out in the US on February 19th 📚 Goodreads is running a giveaway, in case you want to enter and have a chance of getting a free copy! @mitpress.bsky.social www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

📊 Data update: Explore updated data on social spending by governments— How much are different countries spending on social programs like housing, unemployment, benefits for the sick and elderly, and more?

Suicide rates in Lithuania have more than halved since their 1990s peak— Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the social and economic disruption that it left behind, suicide rates in Lithuania increased rapidly.

Globally, seasonal influenza kills an average of 700,000 people each year from respiratory disease or cardiovascular disease. During large flu pandemics, when influenza strains evolved substantially, the death toll was even higher.

📊 Data update: Track how forests are changing around the world— How are forest sizes changing around the world? Where is deforestation happening most, and where are forests actually growing in size through afforestation or natural expansion?

Check out this very interesting tool from Giving What We Can that relies on our data!

Over 40,000 near-Earth asteroids have been detected since 1990— Since the late 20th century, astronomers and space agencies have taken steps to monitor the threat of large asteroids passing near Earth.

✍️ New article: "How have crime rates in the United States changed over the last 50 years?" Crime is clearly a concern for many people. Nearly 60% of Americans, for example, say that reducing crime should be a top priority for the US president and Congress.

Check out our founder @maxroser.bsky.social’s interview in the book “Speak Data” by Giorgia Lupi and Phillip Cox— In the interview, Max speaks about pandemic misinformation, how words can sometimes better explain data than numbers themselves, and the origins and mission of Our World in Data:

Malaysia is an outlier: richer than its neighbors but doing worse on child nutrition— If we look at income levels across countries in South and Southeast Asia, Malaysia is far richer than many of its neighbors. Its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has almost doubled since 2000.

📊 Explore updated data on greenhouse gas emissions and their climate impacts— To limit and stop climate change, we need to greatly reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

The decline of child mortality, in one picture— Some weeks ago, our colleague @bastianherre.bsky.social went to El Escorial, a royal palace near Madrid. Many of the Spanish kings are buried there, along with their family members.

Many children who could benefit from oral rehydration therapy for diarrhea still don’t receive it— In 2021, around 1.25 million people died from diarrheal diseases. Around a third of these deaths were children.

Almost all livestock in the United States is factory-farmed— It’s difficult to quantify animal suffering in a single number, but one metric often used to measure living conditions is the number of animals raised on “factory farms”.

We are a nonprofit, building Our World in Data as a public good that's freely available to everyone. We just updated the list of people who have supported our work with a donation: ourworldindata.org/funding We are very grateful to each of you. Thank you so much!

🔧 Website upgrade: You can now type to select a specific year or date in our interactive charts Many of our interactive charts feature long time series, and it can be difficult to select the exact year or date that you want to see data for.

The world dedicates a Poland-sized area of land to producing liquid biofuels such as bioethanol & biodiesel. Is there a more efficient way to generate energy? Putting solar panels on the land used for biofuels, e.g., would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks worldwide to go electric.

Global deaths from cancer have increased, but the world has made progress against it—