Latest

July 05

Article

Energy poverty and indoor air pollution: a problem as old as humanity that we can end within our lifetime

About three billion people in the world do not have access to modern energy sources for cooking. Millions die from indoor air pollution every year.

Max Roser

July 01

Article

The world is making progress on clean water and sanitation, but is far behind its target to ensure universal access by 2030

All countries pledged to provide safe water and sanitation for everyone by 2030. How far are we from reaching these targets?

Hannah Ritchie

June 11

Article

Which countries have mandatory childhood vaccination policies?

How do policies on childhood vaccinations vary across the world?

Tatjana Marks and Samantha Vanderslott

June 10

Article

Emissions from food alone could use up all of our budget for 1.5°C or 2°C – but we have a range of opportunities to avoid this

If we want to meet our global climate targets we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food. What options do we have?

Hannah Ritchie

June 07

Article

Why do we need to know about progress if we are concerned about the world's largest problems?

Why have we made it our mission to publish “research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems”?

Max Roser

June 04

Article

The price of batteries has declined by 97% in the last three decades

To transition towards low-carbon energy systems, we need low-cost energy storage. Battery costs have been falling quickly.

Hannah Ritchie

June 01

Article

The argument for a carbon price

We are paying a price for fossil fuels, but that price is not paid by those who burn the fossil fuels — we need to change that.

Max Roser

May 17

Article

How the Living Planet project helps us understand changes in the world’s wildlife

Beneath the popular index, the Living Planet database helps us understand where and what animals are deeply threatened, and what animals are thriving.

Hannah Ritchie

May 13

Article

What is economic growth? And why is it so important?

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.

Max Roser

May 10

Article

The Our World in Data COVID-19 vaccination dataset has been published in the academic journal, Nature Human Behaviour

Our free, open-access dataset tracking global COVID-19 vaccinations has been published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Hannah Ritchie

May 01

Article

Where does the plastic in our oceans come from?

Which countries and rivers emit the most plastic to the ocean? What does this mean for solutions to tackle plastic pollution?

Hannah Ritchie

April 20

Article

Wild mammals have declined by 85% since the rise of humans, but there is a possible future where they flourish

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.

Hannah Ritchie

March 19

Article

What are the carbon opportunity costs of our food?

What are the carbon opportunity costs of our diet? How much carbon could we store by regrowing forests and wild habitats on existing farmland?

Hannah Ritchie

March 18

Article

How much of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food?

Estimates of food emissions can range from one-quarter to one-third. Where do these differences come from?

Hannah Ritchie

March 15

Article

How much economic growth is necessary to reduce global poverty substantially?

We study the data on today's global inequality to calculate the minimum aggregate growth that is required to reduce global poverty substantially.

Max Roser

March 05

Article

Emerging COVID-19 success story: Vietnam's commitment to containment

Vietnam is one country which has responded well to the Coronavirus pandemic. How did they do so? In-country experts provide key insights.

Guest Authors

March 05

Article

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 would global poverty look like if we rely on the notions of poverty in countries like Denmark, the US, or Germany? And why does this matter?

Max Roser

March 04

Article

If the world adopted a plant-based diet, we would reduce global agricultural land use from 4 to 1 billion hectares

We could reduce the amount of land used for grazing and croplands used to grow animal feed.

Hannah Ritchie

March 01

Article

Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas?

Rich countries import foods produced on deforested land in the tropics. How much deforestation do they import?

Hannah Ritchie

February 22

Article

The economies that are home to the poorest billions of people need to grow if we want global poverty to decline substantially

The majority of the world today is poor: 85% of the world live on less than $30 per day. We need economic growth to alleviate global poverty.

Max Roser

February 19

Article

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.

Hannah Ritchie