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All the World’s Carbon Emissions in One Chart
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All the World’s Carbon Emissions in One Chart
Two degrees Celsius may not seem like much, but on our planet, it could be the difference between thriving life and a disastrous climate.
Over two centuries of burning fossil fuels have added up, and global decision-makers and business leaders are focusing in on carbon emissions as a key issue.
Emissions by Country
This week’s chart uses the most recent data from Global Carbon Atlas to demonstrate where most of the world’s CO₂ emissions come from, sorted by country.
Rank | Country | Emissions in 2017 (MtCO₂) | % of Global Emissions |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | 🇨🇳 China | 9,839 | 27.2% |
#2 | 🇺🇸 United States | 5,269 | 14.6% |
#3 | 🇮🇳 India | 2,467 | 6.8% |
#4 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 1,693 | 4.7% |
#5 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 1,205 | 3.3% |
#6 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 799 | 2.2% |
#7 | 🇮🇷 Iran | 672 | 1.9% |
#8 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 635 | 1.8% |
#9 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 616 | 1.7% |
#10 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 573 | 1.6% |
#11 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 490 | 1.4% |
#12 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 487 | 1.3% |
#13 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 476 | 1.3% |
#14 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | 456 | 1.3% |
#15 | 🇹🇷 Turkey | 448 | 1.2% |
🌐 Top 15 | 26,125 | 72.2% | |
🌐 Rest of World | 10,028 | 27.7% |
In terms of absolute emissions, the heavy hitters are immediately obvious. Large economies such as China, the United States, and India alone account for almost half the world’s emissions. Zoom out a little further, and it’s even clearer that just a handful of countries are responsible for the majority of emissions.
Of course, absolute emissions don’t tell the full story. The world is home to over 7.5 billion people, but they aren’t distributed evenly across the globe. How do these carbon emissions shake out on a per capita basis?
Here are the 20 countries with the highest emissions per capita:
Source: Global Carbon Atlas. Note: We’ve only included places with a population above one million, which excludes islands and areas such as Curaçao, Brunei, Luxembourg, Iceland, Greenland, and Bermuda.
Out of the original 30 countries in the main visualization, six countries show up again as top CO₂ emitters when adjusted for population count: Saudi Arabia, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Russia, and Germany.
The CO₂ Conundrum
We know that rapid urbanization and industrialization have had an impact on carbon emissions entering the atmosphere, but at what rate?
Climate data scientist Neil Kaye answers the question from a different perspective, by mapping what percentage of emissions have been created during your lifetime since the Industrial Revolution:
Your Age | % of Total Global Emissions |
---|---|
15 years old | You've been alive for more than 30% of emissions |
30 years old | You've been alive for more than 50% of emissions |
85 years old | You've been alive for more than 90% of emissions |
Put another way, the running total of emissions is growing at an accelerating rate. This is best seen in the dramatic shortening between the time periods taken for 400 billion tonnes of CO₂ to enter the atmosphere:
- First period: 217 years (1751 to 1967)
- Second period: 23 years (1968 to 1990)
- Third period: 16 years (1991 to 2006)
- Fourth period: 11 years (2007 to 2018)
In order to be a decarbonised economy by 2050, we have to bend the (emissions) curve by 2020… Not only is it urgent and necessary, but actually we are very nicely on our way to achieving it.
— Christiana Figueres, Convenor of Mission 2020
Agriculture
Charted: U.S. Egg Prices More Than Double in 2022
This chart shows the increase in the national average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in the U.S. in 2022.

Charted: U.S. Egg Prices Double in 2022
Eggs are a staple food for many countries around the world, and the U.S. is no exception. Americans eat between 250‒280 eggs a year on average.
Eggs are also easy to cook, protein-dense and supply many daily vitamins needed for healthy living, making them a popular meal or ingredient. So when egg prices rise, people notice.
MetalytIQ charted the rapid rise of egg prices in the U.S. during 2022, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS).
Eggs-asperating Prices
Over the course of 12 months, the national average price for a dozen large Grade A eggs more than doubled, to $4.25 in December from $1.93 in January.
Egg Prices Per Month (2022) | Price per dozen |
---|---|
January | $1.30 |
February | $2.10 |
March | $2.50 |
April | $2.52 |
May | $2.86 |
June | $2.71 |
July | $2.94 |
August | $3.12 |
September | $2.90 |
October | $3.42 |
November | $3.59 |
December | $4.25 |
The biggest culprit has been an avian flu outbreak that resulted in 43 million chickens culled to prevent the spread of the disease.
This led to a severe shortfall in egg supply. Egg inventories in December had fallen by one-third compared to January. Combined with increasing demand during the holiday season, prices skyrocketed and empty shelves became apparent in some states.
This is not the first time avian flu has disrupted the industry.. In 2015, a similar outbreak pushed egg prices up 40% in nine months, reaching a high of $2.97 per dozen eggs in September 2015.
Will Egg Prices Drop in 2023?
Avian flu isn’t the only storm the egg industry has been facing in 2022.
The prices of soybean and corn—the main components of bird feed—account for half of the cost of eggs. They’ve been heavily affected by the war in Ukraine, which has driven grain prices higher.
In the near-term, egg prices are expected to remain high. Containing the avian flu outbreak will remain the biggest factor in determining the prices, but as suppliers increase production, prices may cool off a little in 2023.
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