Visual Capitalist

2022-04-08 23:00:57 Here’s How Reserve Currencies Have Evolved Over 120 Years

Over the last 120 years, the popularity of different reserve currencies have ebbed and flowed, reflecting the shifting fortunes of leading global economies.

For example, in the year 1900, the U.S. dollar and pound sterling made up 0% and 62% of global reserves respectively. But fast forward to 2020, and the pound now represents just 4.7% of global currency reserves, while the U.S. dollar stands at nearly 60%.

Today’s motion graphic from James Eagle looks at the year-over-year change in currency reserves as a portion of total reserves, spread across 120 years.

Read details below, and share your thoughts in the comments Open / Comment

2022-04-07 23:00:45 Who are the Russian Oligarchs?

Russia’s richest individuals have lost more than $38 billion in 2022 because of Western sanctions on Russia in reprisal for the invasion of Ukraine.

Together, the top 10 Russian oligarchs have a net worth of $186 billion, equivalent to the market cap of large publicly-traded companies like McDonald’s and AMD.
But who are the Russian ultra-rich? In today’s graphic, we use data from Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index to show Russia’s richest individuals… and how much they’ve lost due to the war so far.

Read details below , and share your thoughts in the comments Open / Comment

2022-04-06 23:00:43 In One Chart: Money Can Buy Happiness After All
What’s the relationship between money and happiness? Previous studies have indicated that, while money can in fact buy happiness, it plateaus at approximately $75,000/year.

However, new research suggests otherwise.
Using over a million real-time reports from a large U.S. sample group, a recent study found that happiness increases linearly with reported income (logarithmic), and continues to rise beyond the $80,000/year mark.

Read details below and share your thoughts in the comments Open / Comment

2022-04-05 23:01:01 Where Does the World’s Ultra-Wealthy Population Live Today?

The pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and supply chain disruptions have thrown the world into disarray in recent years, but that hasn’t stopped the world’s ultra-wealthy population from growing at a strong clip.

New data from this year’s Wealth Report by Knight Frank shows that the number of Ultra-High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs) grew 9.3% between 2020 and 2021. Nearly all regions saw an increase in ultra-wealthy people over the time period.

The above visualization from the report explores the global distribution of uber-affluent people. Below, we’ll also look at how the populations are projected to grow in the future.

Read details below and share your thoughts in the comments Open / Comment

2022-04-04 23:00:40 How Much Real Estate Could You Buy for $1 Million?

“There are three things that matter in property: location, location, location”

Those are words from Harold Samuel, a British real-estate mogul from the 1900s. Broadly speaking, it’s a quote that still holds true—property values in the world’s best cities have always been worth a pretty penny.

The scarcity of real estate is driven by trends such as urbanization, which is the migration of people into cities. While the first examples of cities were built thousands of years ago, it was only recently that the majority of the population began to live in them. In fact, the urban population just overtook the rural population for the first time in 2007.

Read details below and share your thoughts in the comments Open / Comment

2022-04-03 23:00:53 Visualizing The World’s Loss of Forests Since the Ice-Age

How much of Earth used to be covered by forests, and what portion is covered today?

The effects of deforestation on the climate are already being seen and felt, and these repercussions are expected to increase with time. That’s why more than 100 world leaders pledged to end and reverse deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 climate summit.

As today’s graphic using data from Our World in Data highlights, the world’s forests have been shrinking since the last ice age at an increasingly rapid pace.

Read details below , and share your thoughts in the comments Open / Comment

2022-03-29 14:02:03 A Deep Dive Into the World’s Oceans, Lakes, and Drill Holes

Sailors have been circumnavigating the high seas for centuries now, but what could be found beneath the sunlit surface of the ocean remained a mystery until far more recently. In fact, it wasn’t until 1875, during the Challenger expedition, that humanity got it’s first concrete idea of how deep the ocean actually was.

Today’s graphic, is a unique and entertaining look at everything from Lake Superior’s ice encrusted shoreline down to blackest, inhospitable trench.

The graphic is packed with detail, so we’ll only highlight a few points of interest.

Read details below, and share in the comments your thoughts Open / Comment

2022-03-29 14:02:00 Visualizing The Most Widespread Blood Types in Every Country

Blood is essential to the human body’s functioning. It dispenses crucial nutrients throughout the body, exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide, and carries our immune system’s “militia” of white blood cells and antibodies to stave off infections.

But not all blood is the same. The antigens in one’s blood determine their blood type classification: There are eight common blood type groups, and with different combinations of antigens and classifications, 36 human blood type groups in total.

Using data sourced from Wikipedia, we can map the most widespread blood types across the globe.

Read details below, and share in the comments what is your blood type Open / Comment

2022-03-28 23:00:00 The 50 Highest Cities in the World

When comparing the world’s cities to one another, we often use defining characteristics—largest, greenest, most visited, highest-earning, the list goes on.

Yet elevation is often overlooked, despite the fact that thousands of cities across the globe are nestled in highlands, plateaus, and mountain ranges.

Today’s graphic looks at the top 50 highest cities worldwide, and compares their altitudes to well-known references (the differences are dizzying).

Read details below, and share in the comments which of these cities have you visited Open / Comment

2022-03-27 23:00:00 Over Half of U.S. Young Adults Now Live With Their Parents

In the last few decades, young adults have faced harsh economic realities—from the financial crisis in 2008 to this year’s global pandemic, both triggering catastrophic losses in jobs and financial stability.

And while the widespread effects of COVID-19 have yet to be fully captured, young adults are already now living with their parents to a greater degree than witnessed in 120 years—surpassing even the Depression-era generation.

Read details below, and share your thoughts on this growing trend Open / Comment