What does the data say about our world?
A running look at the numbers behind the challenges that define our era — and the progress being made against them — pulled from public research organizations, not opinion. Every chart cites its source.
Climate change
Rising greenhouse gas concentrations are driving global temperatures upward, reshaping weather, sea levels, and ecosystems.
See what’s improving this: Energy & science →Standard of living
Poverty, incomes, jobs and access to basics: most people are far better off than in the past, but progress is uneven and income and wealth remain highly concentrated.
See what’s improving this: Markets & trade →Public health
Global life expectancy and child survival have improved enormously, yet large gaps persist between regions and disease burden is shifting.
See what’s improving this: Medicine & food breakthroughs →Biodiversity loss
Wildlife populations and natural habitats are shrinking at an accelerating rate, threatening the ecosystems that sustain life on Earth.
See what’s improving this: Conservation & regulation →Energy & science
Clean-energy technologies have become dramatically cheaper as they scaled, while the world invests more than ever in research itself.
← The problem this addresses: Climate changeMarkets & trade
Economic openness and market reforms correlate with some of the largest welfare gains on record — the data below, not a conclusion.
← The problem this addresses: Standard of livingMedicine & food breakthroughs
Specific discoveries — vaccines, synthetic fertilizer, high-yield crops, cheap gene sequencing — and the measurable difference they made to how long and how well people live.
← The problem this addresses: Public healthConservation & regulation
Laws, treaties and protection programmes that measurably reduced pollution and brought species back from the brink.
← The problem this addresses: Biodiversity lossInformation & AI
Cross-cutting progress that helps with every challenge: from mass literacy to the internet to machine learning, access to information keeps spreading faster — though not evenly.