Emerging COVID-19 success story: South Korea learned the lessons of MERSSouth Korea is one country which has responded well to the Coronavirus pandemic. How did they do so? In-country experts provide key insights.By Guest Authors — March 05, 2021
Global poverty in an unequal world: Who is considered poor in a rich country? And what does this mean for our understanding of global poverty?What does global poverty look like if we rely on the notions of poverty in countries like Denmark, the US, or Germany? And how should this perspective inform our aspirations for the future of global poverty?By Max Roser — March 05, 2021
If the world adopted a plant-based diet we would reduce global agricultural land use from 4 to 1 billion hectaresIf everyone shifted to a plant-based diet we would reduce global land use for agriculture by 75%. This large reduction of agricultural land use would be possible thanks to a reduction in land used for grazing and a smaller need for land to grow crops.By Hannah Ritchie — March 04, 2021
Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas?Rich countries import foods produced on deforested land in the tropics. How much deforestation do they import?By Hannah Ritchie — March 01, 2021
Cutting down forests: what are the drivers of deforestation?Three-quarters of deforestation is driven by agriculture. Most comes from the production of beef, palm oil, soy and logging industries.By Hannah Ritchie — February 23, 2021
The economies that are home to the poorest billions of people need to grow if we want global poverty to decline substantiallyThe majority of the world today is poor: 85% of the world live on less than $30 per day. If we are to alleviate global poverty, we need economic growth.By Max Roser — February 22, 2021
Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. Can we bring it to an end?There was a marked acceleration in deforestation in the 20th century. But, global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. Since then, it has slowed.By Hannah Ritchie — February 19, 2021
The world has lost one-third of its forest, but an end of deforestation is possibleOver 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.By Hannah Ritchie — February 09, 2021
State-by-state data on COVID-19 vaccinations in the United StatesTo be able to track the vaccination campaign in the United States, we are making state-by-state data available in the following charts. We are updating the data daily.By Edouard Mathieu — January 16, 2021
Do we only have 60 harvests left?Claims that the world has only 100, 60, or even 30 years of harvests left often hit the headlines. These claims are overblown, but soil erosion is a problem and we can do something about it.By Hannah Ritchie — January 14, 2021
Our World in Data is now tracking Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations across the worldWe are building a global dataset on COVID-19 Vaccinations. Explore the latest data for all countries.By Edouard Mathieu, Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser — January 08, 2021
Local data on the COVID-19 pandemic in the United KingdomTo be able to track the development of the pandemic in the UK we built this page in which we are making the local UK data available in six charts. Updated daily.By Hannah Ritchie, Edouard Mathieu and Max Roser — January 07, 2021
How are working hours measured and what can we learn from the data?The primary way to measure working hours is with surveys, but the data can have limitations that are important to understand.By Charlie Giattino and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina — January 06, 2021
Do workers in richer countries work longer hours?Workers in richer countries tend to work fewer hours than those in poorer countries.By Charlie Giattino and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina — December 21, 2020
Are we working more than ever?Working hours for the average worker have decreased dramatically over the last 150 years.By Charlie Giattino and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina — December 16, 2020
Who do we spend time with across our lifetime?In adolescence we spend the most time with our parents, siblings, and friends; as we enter adulthood we spend more time with our co-workers, partners, and children; and in our later years we spend an increasing amount of time alone.By Esteban Ortiz-Ospina — December 11, 2020
The world’s energy problemThe world faces two energy problems: most of our energy production still produces greenhouse gas emissions, and hundreds of millions lack access to energy entirely.By Max Roser — December 10, 2020
How do people across the world spend their time and what does this tell us about living conditions?How people spend their time is similar in many ways across countries: we all sleep, work, eat, and enjoy leisure. But there are also important differences in the freedom people have to spend time on the things they value most.By Esteban Ortiz-Ospina — December 08, 2020
Why did renewables become so cheap so fast?Fossil fuels dominate the global power supply because until very recently electricity from fossil fuels was the cheapest. This has changed dramatically. In most places power from new renewables is now cheaper than new fossil fuels.By Max Roser — December 01, 2020
Our World in Data switches to Johns Hopkins University as our main data source for COVID-19 cases and deathsTo continue providing daily updates on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Our World in Data has switched from ECDC to Johns Hopkins University as our data source for confirmed cases and deaths.By Hannah Ritchie — November 30, 2020
Breaking out of the Malthusian trap: How pandemics allow us to understand why our ancestors were stuck in povertyFor much of human history, our ancestors were trapped in an economy in which incomes were determined by the size of the population. The Industrial Revolution ended this Malthusian economy and made it possible for a country to leave abject poverty behind.By Max Roser — November 26, 2020