Child mortality is an everyday tragedy of enormous scale that rarely makes the headlines
5 million children under 5 die every year – that’s 14,000 every day. Yet this is an everyday tragedy that never makes the headlines.
Our latest work
The world population is changing: For the first time there are more people over 64 than children younger than 5
The human population has been a young one for most of its history: high fertility rates and short lifespans mean children have accounted for a large share of the population. But the world is ageing: there are now more people older than 64 than younger than 5 years old. This marks a historic demographic change.Top incomes: more women, but still very male-dominated
How hard is it for women to make it to the top? Research using income tax data from a number of high-income countries casts light on this. Although improving, we see that women are still very under-represented at the top of the income distribution.Oceans, land and deep subsurface: how is life distributed across environments?
Where do we find life on earth? Despite being vast, the oceans are home to just 1% of life – but the majority of animals. See how the different lifeforms are split across these global environments.Net Results: We are winning the fight against malaria and you can help
The last few decades have been extraordinarily successful in the fight against malaria. But we still need to – and can – do much more. See our global progress & why GiveWell recommends to donate to organizations that fight malaria.Malaria was common across half the world – since then it has been eliminated in many regions
Humans make up just 0.01% of Earth’s life – what’s the rest?
How is life on Earth distributed across the taxonomic kingdoms? Humans make up just 0.01% of life: but we’ve had much larger impacts on shaping the animal kingdom. Livestock now outweighs wild mammals and birds ten-fold.Child mortality: achieving the global goal for 2030 would be a huge achievement – but we are currently far away
15,000 children die on average every single day. Reducing child mortality is a key target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). What would it take for the world to reach it?The global population pyramid: How global demography has changed and what we can expect for the 21st century
How do we know the history of extreme poverty?
The death of UK coal in five charts
Our World in Data is at Y Combinator
How many children are not in school?
The number of children dying each year has more than halved since 1990
Number of people in the world without electricity falls below one billion
India’s population growth will come to an end: the number of children has already peaked
Who emits more than their share of CO₂ emissions?
Global inequalities in CO₂ emissions, based on consumption
Is income inequality rising around the world?
Can the world eradicate another disease?
What makes a disease eradicable?