People in high-income countries could dramatically improve lives worldwide with minimal financial commitment, yet few do.| Our World in Data
Saloni Dattani worked with us from 2021 to 2025 as a writer and project lead, focusing on health. She has a Ph.D. in psychiatric genetics from the University of Hong Kong and King’s College London.| Our World in Data
It’s difficult to compare countries because they don’t always measure infant mortality in the same way.| Our World in Data
In June 2025, the World Bank increased its extreme poverty estimates by 125 million people. This doesn’t mean the world has gotten poorer: it reflects a new, higher International Poverty Line of $3 a day, up from $2.15.| Our World in Data
Over a century of progress in surgery, drugs, prevention, and emergency response has driven down death rates from heart disease and stroke.| Our World in Data
If we get it right, the world could save more than 1.2 million lives every year.| Our World in Data
A future in which humanity produces more food on less land is not inevitable, but possible.| Our World in Data
Explore historical emissions of air pollutants across the world.| Our World in Data
How has child mortality declined worldwide across the last two centuries?| Our World in Data
Tobacco smoking is one of the world’s largest health problems today.| Our World in Data
Risk factors are important to understand because they can help us identify how to save lives. How do researchers estimate their impact?| Our World in Data
In many countries, when people die, the cause of their death is officially registered in their country’s national system. How is this determined?| Our World in Data
To make progress towards a healthier world we need to have a good understanding of what health problems we face today.| Our World in Data
Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death worldwide. Explore global data on cardiovascular diseases, their treatments, risk factors, and trends over time.| Our World in Data
Our overview of both indoor and outdoor air pollution.| Our World in Data
Age standardization is a statistical method used to compare disease rates, or other health indicators, between populations while accounting for differences in their age structure.| Our World in Data
Cuts to US aid could end the Demographic and Health Surveys. This would leave a massive gap in our understanding of global health, mortality, and development.| Our World in Data
The World Bank classifies countries into four income groups based on average income per person. This article explains how these groups are defined.| Our World in Data
How rapidly the world is changing, and what further changes are needed to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.| Our World in Data
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.| Our World in Data
The budget to keep temperatures below 1.5°C is less than a decade of current emissions. For 2°C, it’s less than three decades.| Our World in Data
Learn more about different options for embedding our interactive charts.| Our World in Data
Mobile money allows people without banks to securely transfer funds via text message, and its adoption is growing rapidly.| Our World in Data
In the 1980s, many thought tuberculosis was on the path to elimination. In reality, more were dying from the disease than ever.| Our World in Data
Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems| Our World in Data
For billions, it can mean hours spent collecting water. For almost a million, it means dying from disease.| Our World in Data
Veronika joined us in 2023. She recently finished her Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, and previously worked in the Data Journalism team at the Financial Times.| Our World in Data
Before the 1970s, most children affected by leukemia would quickly die from it. Now, most children in rich countries are cured.| Our World in Data
Safe sanitation is essential to reduce deaths from infectious diseases, prevent malnutrition, and provide dignity.| Our World in Data
How many people lack access to basic handwashing facilities?| Our World in Data
As much as one quarter of deaths in Europe and the United States were once from tuberculosis.| Our World in Data
International dollars are used to compare incomes and purchasing power across countries and over time. Here, we explain how they’re calculated and why they’re used.| Our World in Data
Measles once killed millions every year. Vaccines changed this, preventing disease, long-term immune damage, and deadly outbreaks.| Our World in Data
In most rich countries, child mortality has more than halved in the last thirty years; we know we can go further.| Our World in Data
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.| Our World in Data
It is wrong to think these three statements contradict each other. We need to see that they are all true to see that a better world is possible.| Our World in Data
Plastic production and disposal emits around 3% of global emissions.| Our World in Data
Data from large meta-analyses show that measles vaccination is highly effective and safe, giving a 95% reduction in the risk of measles.| Our World in Data
The majority of people believe that the share of people in extreme poverty is rising. The opposite is true.| Our World in Data
We study the data on today's global inequality to calculate the minimum aggregate growth that is required to reduce global poverty substantially.| Our World in Data
The World Bank has updated the methods it uses to measure incomes and poverty around the world. What does this mean for our understanding of global poverty?| Our World in Data
To estimate historical global poverty, researchers can analyze economic data and reconstruct national accounts to understand income levels and inequality in the past.| Our World in Data
A healthy, nutritious diet is much more expensive than a calorie sufficient one. As a result, three billion people cannot afford a healthy diet.| Our World in Data
How are global temperatures changing, and what are the impacts on sea level rise, sea ice, and ice sheets?| Our World in Data
A breakdown of the sources of many air pollutants that damage our health and ecosystems.| Our World in Data
One of the most transformative changes in technology over the last few decades has been the massive drop in the cost of clean energy. Solar photovoltaic costs have fallen by 90% in the last decade, onshore wind by 70%, and batteries by more than 90%.| Our World in Data
Fertilizers supply plants with nutrients that are essential for growth.| Our World in Data
Most countries spend less than 1% of their national income on foreign aid; even small increases could make a big difference.| Our World in Data
Stunting is an important marker of childhood malnutrition. But what is it, and how is it measured?| Our World in Data
The Living Planet Index is the biodiversity metric that always claims the headlines. It’s often misinterpreted. How should we understand it?| Our World in Data
A four-day forecast today is as accurate as a one-day forecast 30 years ago.| Our World in Data
The baby boom reshaped family life and drove population growth in many countries. In this article, we explore the key patterns in seven charts.| Our World in Data
Air pollution tends to get worse before it gets better, but how can we accelerate this transition?| Our World in Data
Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems| Our World in Data
Research suggests that many children – especially in the world’s poorest countries – learn only very little in school. What can we do to improve this?| Our World in Data
Estimates range from less than $1 trillion to $7 trillion. Where do these numbers come from?| Our World in Data
We live in a world in which ten children die every minute.| Our World in Data
Plant-based protein sources still have a lower footprint than the lowest-impact meat products.| Our World in Data
If we want to meet our global climate targets we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food. What options do we have?| Our World in Data
Our team builds and maintains a long-run dataset on population by country, region, and for the world, based on three key sources.| Our World in Data
Migrants send or bring back over three times the amount of global foreign aid. Cutting transaction fees could make this support even more effective in reducing poverty.| Our World in Data
Which countries are net importers and exports of emissions? How much CO2 is ‘offshored’?| Our World in Data
Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems| Our World in Data
Long-distance moves are becoming more common, but they remain the exception. For most, international migration still means crossing a nearby border, not an ocean.| Our World in Data
Food waste accounts for around one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions from food. That's 6% of total global emissions.| Our World in Data
Max is the founder of Our World in Data and began working on this free online publication in 2011. Today, he serves as the publication’s editor and leads the team as its co-director.He is the Professor of Practice in Global Data Analytics at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, the Programme Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Global Development, and the Executive Co-Director of Global Change Data Lab, the non-profit organization that publishes Our World in Data.| Our World in Data
Sometimes, the most important news is when something isn’t happening.| Our World in Data
Livestock make up 62% of the world’s mammal biomass; humans account for 34%; and wild mammals are just 4%.| Our World in Data
How can individuals reduce their emissions from transport?| Our World in Data
Lucas is a Senior Data Scientist at Our World in Data, mostly working on the curation of various datasets and the data infrastructure.He joined in 2021, after working as a Deep Learning Researcher at the National Institute of Informatics (Tokyo, Japan) and as a Data Scientist for the private sector. He studied an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering at UPC (Barcelona, Spain) and KTH (Stockholm, Sweden).| Our World in Data
Hannah joined us in 2017. She became Deputy Editor and Science Outreach Lead at Our World in Data in 2023. She was previously Head of Research.She focuses on the long-term changes in the environment – energy, pollution, agriculture, food supply – and their compatibility with global development. Hannah completed her Ph.D. in GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh.She is a researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme in Global Development, and an honorary fellow at the University of Edinbu...| Our World in Data
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.| Our World in Data
Demand is set to triple by 2050. Can it be met in an energy-efficient way?| Our World in Data
Clean and safe water is essential for good health. How did access change over time? Where do people lack access?| Our World in Data
All the visualizations, data, and articles produced by Our World in Data are free for you to take and use — no permission required. You just need to provide credit to Our World in Data. This part of our work is licensed under a very permissive ‘Creative Commons’ (CC) license: the CC-BY license (the BY stands for ‘by attribution’).| Our World in Data
The world will need to adapt to increased temperatures. What can societies do to save lives?| Our World in Data
Falling fertility rates, migration movements, and China’s population decline.| Our World in Data
Join us if you are committed to helping us achieve our mission: make research and data on the world’s largest problems accessible and understandable.| Our World in Data
Explore global and country-level data on the extent of wildfires and how they’ve changed over time.| Our World in Data
Cold deaths vastly outnumber heat-related ones, but mostly due to “moderate” rather than extremely cold conditions.| Our World in Data
Climate change will have very unequal impacts, with fewer deaths at higher latitudes but increased heatwave deaths across the tropics.| Our World in Data
Trust is essential for effective cooperation. How does trust vary between different societies and locations and what matters for levels of trust?| Our World in Data
Many countries ship plastic waste overseas. How much of the world’s waste is traded, and how big is its role in the pollution of our oceans?| Our World in Data
Which countries and rivers emit the most plastic to the ocean? What does this mean for solutions to tackle plastic pollution?| Our World in Data
Maternal mortality rates appear to have risen in the last 20 years in the US. But this reflects a change in measurement rather than an actual rise in mortality.| Our World in Data
Thanks to improvements in global health, more than 100 million children have been saved since 1990.| Our World in Data
The average height of a population can inform us about the nutrition and living conditions of populations in the past for which we have little other data.| Our World in Data
Many more people have democratic rights than in the past. Some of this progress has recently been reversed.| Our World in Data
The world has made significant progress in recent decades in reducing deaths from diarrheal diseases, particularly for children. One of the most successful interventions has been oral rehydration therapy (ORT): a simple salt, water and sugar solution. We look at what ORT is, how it was developed, and how many lives it might have saved.| Our World in Data
Mental health has a significant impact on people’s lives and wellbeing. To support people with mental illnesses, we need better data to understand them.| Our World in Data
Aviation accounts for 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions. But it has contributed around 4% to global warming to date.| Our World in Data
Many of the world's pollinator insects are in decline. What does this mean for global food production?| Our World in Data
Cancers are one of the leading causes of death globally. Are we making progress against them?| Our World in Data
The majority of people in every country support action on climate, but the public consistently underestimates this share.| Our World in Data
A growing number of people are interested in switching to plant-based alternatives to dairy. But are they better for the environment, and which is best?| Our World in Data
Explore country-by-country data on monthly temperature anomalies.| Our World in Data
How much water do we use? How did it change over time?| Our World in Data
Over the last 10,000 years the world has lost one-third of its forests. An area twice the size of the United States. Half occurred in the last century.| Our World in Data
Explore data on electric car sales and stocks worldwide.| Our World in Data
