Our World in Data

Our World in Data (OWID) is a scientific website dedicated to exploring significant global issues like poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, conflict, existential threats, and inequality. This initiative is run by the Global Change Data Lab, a charitable organization located in England and Wales. It was established by Max Roser, who has a background in social history and development economics. The research team operates out of the University of Oxford.

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China reduced extreme poverty rapidly, but Indonesia hasn't been far behind

3 weeks ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie

China is often the poster child for rapid reductions in poverty, and for good reason: in the early 1980s, over 90% of its population lived in extreme poverty, but by the early 2020s, that number had dropped to nearly zero. Some people assume that China is the only reason global extreme poverty has declined. But that’s wrong: many other countries have seen dramatic reductions in poverty. Indonesia is one clear example; it’s shown alongside China on the chart.
Twice as many young Brazilians die from homicide than road injuries

3 weeks ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie

The HIV epidemic — which started in the early 1980s and continued into the 1990s — has had lasting impacts that continue today. Almost one million people still die from HIV/AIDS every year globally. However, some countries were hit much harder than others. In the chart, you can see the share of all deaths in a given year that were caused by HIV/AIDS in four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that were badly affected.
Air pollution kills millions every year - where does it come from?

3 weeks ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie |Pablo Rosado

A breakdown of the sources of many air pollutants that damage our health and ecosystems. Millions of people die prematurely from air pollution every year. This problem has existed since humans started burning materials for fuel — first wood and biomass, then fossil fuels. But it’s an environmental and public health problem that we can make progress on.
The world is getting more of its electricity from renewables but less from nuclear power

3 weeks ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie

The world needs to move away from fossil fuels to low-carbon power if we’re to reduce our carbon emissions and tackle climate change. There are two key sources of low-carbon power: renewables (which include solar, wind, hydropower and others) and nuclear. While rapid growth in solar and wind has increased the amount of power coming from renewables, a lack of enthusiasm for nuclear means it’s playing a shrinking role in the global electricity mix.
At the peak of the HIV epidemic, AIDS caused more than half of all deaths in some countries

4 weeks ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie

The HIV epidemic — which started in the early 1980s and continued into the 1990s — has had lasting impacts that continue today. Almost one million people still die from HIV/AIDS every year globally. However, some countries were hit much harder than others. In the chart, you can see the share of all deaths in a given year that were caused by HIV/AIDS in four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that were badly affected.
Life satisfaction in Bhutan is comparable to other countries of similar income levels

4 weeks ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie

In 2008, Bhutan started measuring the “Gross Happiness Index” as an official metric to track the well-being of its population. As a result, it’s often coined the “Land” or “Kingdom of Happiness”. Bhutan tracks gross happiness with in-depth surveys, which other countries do not. How does it compare across similar metrics where we can make these comparisons? Despite its reputation, it’s actually not an outlier.
European countries use far less antibiotics in livestock than they used to

1 month ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie

January 2025 was the hottest January on record. This was surprising because the world recently transitioned from El Niño (which tends to increase global temperatures) to La Niña (which tends to cool them). We might have expected this cooling to be reflected in January’s temperatures. It was not. But February did not follow this same pattern. The chart tracks monthly temperature anomalies, comparing current temperatures to historical averages.
How much foreign aid is spent domestically rather than overseas?

1 month ago | ourworldindata.org | Simon van Teutem |Hannah Ritchie

In many countries, a substantial share of aid is spent domestically on hosting refugees, offering student scholarships, and administrative costs. Much of foreign aid is spent on goods that are shipped overseas: food supplies, medicines, or humanitarian assistance in emergency situations.1But a surprising amount of what’s counted or reported as foreign aid is not sent abroad; it’s spent domestically.
Global cereal production has grown much faster than population in the last half-century

1 month ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie

In 2008, Bhutan started measuring the “Gross Happiness Index” as an official metric to track the well-being of its population. As a result, it’s often coined the “Land” or “Kingdom of Happiness”. Bhutan tracks gross happiness with in-depth surveys, which other countries do not. How does it compare across similar metrics where we can make these comparisons? Despite its reputation, it’s actually not an outlier.
People in richer countries tend to say they are more satisfied with their lives

1 month ago | ourworldindata.org | Hannah Ritchie

Putting a number on “happiness” is hard. But one way to better understand how satisfied people are with their lives is to ask them. Self-reported life satisfaction is one key metric that researchers rely on. Respondents are asked to rate their lives on a 10-step ladder, where 0 represents the worst possible life, and 10 is the best. The chart shows self-reported life satisfaction measured against gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.