Our World in Data

There are huge differences in death rates from road injuries, even across high-income countries— (This Data Insight was written by Hannah Ritchie.) Roads in rich countries tend to be much safer than those in low- and middle-income countries. Cars are more modern, infrastructure is better, and driving laws are stricter and better enforced. However, there are still huge differences between high-income countries. This is obvious from the chart, which shows death rates from road injuries across various countries. Rates can vary more than 20-fold. I was recently surprised to find that my country, the United Kingdom, has some of the safest roads in the world, alongside Sweden, Singapore, and Norway. It can be easy to complain about the situation in our own country without considering what things are like elsewhere. Road deaths are incredibly high in several Middle Eastern countries, like Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. These countries tend to have far more high-speed highways, drivers often cover much longer distances, and the enforcement of regulations such as speed limits, seatbelt use, and driving distractions is weaker. These countries have reduced fatality rates in recent years, but still have much higher death tolls than other rich countries. Read Hannah’s article on how the United Kingdom built some of the world’s safest roads: https://lnkd.in/g5E7FkHh

You can now copy our charts to the clipboard for easy sharing! Just click the “Share” icon in the bottom right of any chart and select “Copy chart as image”. No need to take a screenshot. From the same menu you also have options to embed our interactive charts (including archived versions) in any website, share the link to the chart via different apps (such as mail or messages), and copy the link to your clipboard. If instead you want to download the image file, you can do that too by clicking the “Download” icon to the left of the “Share” icon. We design our work to have an impact beyond what our team can achieve directly. That’s why we use a permissive Creative Commons license and include these easy options to share and download our charts. This work was engineered on our team by Marcel Gerber. Try it out: https://lnkd.in/g-gUVwGR

Anxiety is the most common mental health condition globally. It’s estimated that 4% to 5% of people in the world have an anxiety disorder at any given time. Long-term surveys in the United States suggest that around one-third of people experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. That means most of us will either struggle with anxiety ourselves or know someone close who has or will. Many of you have probably seen the huge impact anxiety can have on people’s everyday lives, and how life-changing it can be to have effective treatments that alleviate symptoms. In a new article, we examine the history of pharmacological treatments (that is, drugs) used to treat anxiety since the 1950s. These changed a lot in the five decades until the early 2000s, but there have been no new anxiety medications approved since 2004. While there has been a slowdown in the number of new drugs approved for anxiety (which is the focus of our article), the usage and number of prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications have likely continued to increase in recent decades. It can be hard to get concrete and consistent data on this because many of the most recent drugs are primarily antidepressants; so even when prescription figures are available, it’s usually not clear whether they are being used to tackle depression or anxiety. In some cases, it can be both. Even in just the last few years, there have been noticeable increases in the percentage of American adults receiving mental health treatment, which includes taking medications. Read more in the new article by Hannah Ritchie and Tuna Acisu: https://lnkd.in/gY4dp9sU

Democracies tend to have lower levels of corruption— What difference does it make when people can choose their leaders? One area where the right to vote for political leaders may matter is corruption. Democracy and corruption are hard to measure. One possible way to understand how countries perform on these fronts is to ask experts who study them closely. These expert judgments aren’t perfect, but we think they’re useful. The V-Dem project surveys experts to assess how democratic each country is. Are elections free and fair? Do all citizens have equal voting rights? Are fundamental freedoms — like speech and assembly — respected? Experts also rate how frequent corruption is in public institutions, from bribery and embezzlement to whether laws are enforced fairly. This chart combines these expert estimates: democracy on the horizontal axis and corruption on the vertical axis, with both scores on a scale from 0 to 1. There are four corners in the chart: In the top left, you find many countries that are both autocratic and corrupt, such as Myanmar and Russia. In the bottom right, there’s a thick cluster of nations that have stronger democratic institutions and lower levels of corruption. What also stands out is that no country appears in the top right: none are rated as both having strong democratic institutions and being highly corrupt. This chart shows correlation, not causation — but research on the causal link suggests democratic systems can indeed help expose and reduce corruption. And there is also a causal impact running the other way: corruption can weaken democratic institutions, for instance by lowering voter turnout. (This Data Insight was written by Simon van Teutem, Bastian Herre, and Edouard Mathieu.) Measuring corruption will always be difficult, and no single chart can fully capture it. You can explore more evidence and perspectives in the new version of our topic page on corruption: https://lnkd.in/grMtXpWH

🔍 Introducing our new, more powerful search! → https://lnkd.in/gcsqQJfH With such a rich publication — nearly 14,000 charts and hundreds of articles on 120+ topics — it can be hard to find what matters to you. Now, finding what you’re looking for, or discovering something new, has never been easier. What’s changed? 1) Search for everything in one place Before, the best place to search for data (our Data Catalog) was outside of our main search. Now, we’ve brought them together in the same experience. Use the buttons at the top to narrow your focus. Our 350+ Data Insights are now also included! 2) Richer display of search results Our charts let you view data in many ways: as line & bar charts, maps, tables, & more. Now, these different views — and key data points — are part of the results, helping you find what you want more easily. The views also respond to searches for particular countries. 3) Results tailored to your search For example, searching for a country vs searching for a topic don’t give the same results template. They’re presented in a different way to give you the most relevant results. This new search is thanks to our teammates Matthieu Bergel, Sophia Mersmann, Marwa Boukarim, Martin Račák, and Joe Hasell. We love feedback! Let us know what you think of our new search by replying here or emailing info@ourworldindata.org. We hope you find it useful! Try it out → https://lnkd.in/gcsqQJfH

Almost one billion children have died globally since 1950— The deaths of children are daily tragedies on an enormous scale. The UN estimates that between 1950 and 2024, 990 million children died. That’s almost a billion children who died in only 75 years. The chart shows that the world has made progress. In 1950, 23% of children born died before they were five years old. Since then, the global child mortality rate has declined to 3.6%. In absolute terms, the number of child deaths has also declined: in 1950, 20 million children died; by the year 2000, this number had halved; and since then, it has halved again. But the deaths of millions of young children every year remain one of the worst problems in the world and deserve much more attention. (This Data Insight was written by Max Roser and Edouard Mathieu.) Explore more data from the UN’s World Population Prospects in our Population & Demography Data Explorer: https://lnkd.in/gwBJYadQ Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our Data Insights directly in your inbox: https://lnkd.in/g6cAqPkc

A decade ago, the most frequent opinion among smokers was that vaping was less harmful than tobacco. But ten years on, the opposite is true: over a third say that vapes are just as or even more dangerous. You can see this shift in opinion in the chart. The scientific evidence is clear that this is incorrect. While vapes are not risk-free, they are less harmful than tobacco. A smoker who replaces cigarettes with e-cigarettes will reduce their health risks and potentially live a longer and healthier life. The fact that many smokers believe the opposite means that many will not try e-cigarettes as a way to quit. That’s a shame because e-cigarettes are the most effective quitting tool available. At the same time, given the current evidence we have about vaping rates among young people, policymakers have very valid concerns about how to best promote e-cigarettes as a safer cessation tool without actively encouraging millions of teens to start. Striking this balance is difficult, but crucial. The stakes are high. Smoking is the leading risk factor for early death in many countries and kills more than six million people every year. The mistaken belief that vaping is just as harmful means fewer smokers make the switch that could save their lives. Closing this perception gap could save millions of people. ✍️ Read more in the new article by Hannah Ritchie, which includes answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about vaping and its effects: https://lnkd.in/gswh7cJa

Life expectancy has increased at all ages— It’s a common misconception that life expectancy has increased only because fewer children die. Historical mortality records show that adults today also live much longer than adults in the past. It’s true that child mortality rates were much higher in the past, and their decline has greatly improved overall life expectancy. But in recent decades, improvements in survival at older ages have been even more important. The chart shows the period life expectancy in France for people of different ages. This measures how long someone at each of those ages would live, on average, if they experienced the death rates recorded in that year. For example, the last point on the top dark-red line shows that an 80-year-old in 2023 could expect to live to about 90, assuming mortality rates stayed as they were in 2023. As you can see, life expectancy in France has risen at every age. In 1816, someone who had reached the age of 10 could expect to live to 57. By 2023, this had increased to 84. For those aged 65, it rose from 76 in 1816, to 87 in 2023. The data for many other countries shows the same. This remarkable shift is the result of advances in medicine, public health, and living standards. (This Data Insight was written by Esteban Ortiz-Ospina.) Explore the data for more countries, and read more about how life expectancy is measured: https://lnkd.in/gQ7fvi8V

A century of progress in access to primary education— The world has made major progress in expanding access to education. A century ago, most children did not have the option to go to school at all. Today, access to education is widely seen as a basic right that governments are expected to provide. And most governments succeed — according to statistics compiled by UNESCO, about 9 in 10 children of primary school age are enrolled. The chart shows how this expansion unfolded for boys and girls separately. Throughout most of the 20th century, enrollment rose steadily, but boys remained more likely to be in school than girls. It was only towards the end of the century that this gap began to close. Today, the gap is small: around 91% of boys and 89% of girls are enrolled in primary school. While the gap is small globally, it remains large and persistent in some countries. In Chad, in Central Africa, about 80% of boys are enrolled in primary school, compared with 67% of girls. This difference has shown little change in recent years. (This Data Insight was written by Esteban Ortiz-Ospina.) Explore enrollment gender gaps for all countries and across education levels: https://lnkd.in/gq5ci2cp Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our Data Insights directly in your inbox: https://lnkd.in/gd_4ubhw