Economy
How Global Health and Wealth Has Changed Over Two Centuries
How Global Health and Wealth Has Changed Over 221 Years
At the dawn of the 19th century, global life expectancy was only 28.5 years.
Outbreaks, war, and famine would still kill millions of people at regular intervals. These issues are still stubbornly present in 21st century society, but broadly speaking, the situation around the world has vastly improved. Today, most of humanity lives in countries where the life expectancy is above the typical retirement age of 65.
At the same time, while inequality remains a hot button topic within countries, income disparity between countries is slowing beginning to narrow.
This animated visualization, created by James Eagle, tracks the evolution of health and wealth factors in countries around the world. For further exploration, Gapminder also has a fantastic interactive chart that showcases the same dataset.
The Journey to the Upper-Right Quadrant
In general terms, history has seen health practices improve and countries become increasingly wealthy–trends that are reflected in this visualization. In fact, most countries drift towards the upper-right quadrant over the 221 years covered in the dataset.
However, that path to the top-right, which indicates high levels of both life expectancy and GDP per capita, is rarely a linear journey. Here are some of the noteworthy events and milestones to watch out for while viewing the animation.
1880s: Breaking the 50-Year Barrier
In the late 19th century, Nordic countries such as Sweden and Norway already found themselves past the 50-year life expectancy mark. This was a significant milestone considering the global life expectancy was a full 20 years shorter at the time. It wasn’t until the year 1960 that the global life expectancy would catch up.
1918: The Spanish Flu and WWI
At times, a confluence of factors can impact health and wealth in countries and regions. In this case, World War I coincided with one of the deadliest pandemics in history, leading to global implications. In the animation, this is abundantly clear as the entire cluster of circles takes a nose dive for a short period of time.
1933, 1960: Communist Famines
At various points in history, human decisions can have catastrophic consequences. This was the case in the Soviet Union (1933) and the People’s Republic of China (1960), where life expectancy plummeted during famines that killed millions of people. These extreme events are easy to spot in the animation due to the large populations of the countries in question.
1960s: Oil Economies Kick into High Gear
During this time, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia all experience massive booms in wealth, and in the following decade, smaller countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait rocket to the right edge of the visualization.
In following decades, both Iran and Iraq can be seen experiencing wild fluctuations in both health and wealth as regime changes and conflict begin to destabilize the region.
1990s: AIDS in Africa
In the animation, a number of countries plummet in unison at the end of the 20th century. These are sub-Saharan African countries that were hit hard by the AIDS pandemic. At its peak in the early ’00s, the disease accounted for more than half of deaths in some countries.
1995: Breaking the 65-Year Barrier
Global life expectancy reaches retirement age. At this point in time, there is a clear divide in both health and wealth between African and South Asian countries and the rest of the world. Thankfully, that gap is would continue to narrow in coming years.
1990-2000s: China’s Economic Rise
With a population well over a billion people, it’s impossible to ignore China in any global overview. Starting from the early ’90s, China begins its march from the left to right side of the chart, highlighting the unprecedented economic growth it experienced during that time.
What the Future Holds
If current trends continue, global life expectancy is expected to surpass the 80-year mark by 2100. And, sub-Saharan Africa, which has the lowest life expectancy today, is expected to mostly close the gap, reaching 75 years of age.
Wealth is also expected to increase nearly across the board, with the biggest gains coming from places like Vietnam, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Some experts are projecting the world economy as a whole to double in size by 2050.
There are always bumps along the way, but it appears that the journey to the upper-right quadrant is still very much underway.
Economy
Confidence in the Global Economy, by Country
Will the global economy be stronger in 2024 than in 2023?
Confidence in the Global Economy, by Country
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Measuring consumer confidence in the economy is crucial for understanding both current economic strength, as well as how consumers may be expected to act in the future.
So how do people around the world feel about the global economy?
This visualization uses survey data collected from October 20 to November 3, 2023 by Ipsos. It was first highlighted as part of our 2024 Global Forecast Series.
Which Countries Feel Confident About the Economy in 2024?
Heading into 2024, an average of 50% of polled adults felt confident that the global economy would be stronger than in 2023. But breaking down responses by country shows a vast disparity between responses.
Here are the percentage of respondents who agreed with the following statement: “The global economy will be stronger in 2024 than it was in 2023.” We also note the change in percentage points (p.p.) compared with the same question a year prior.
Country | Agree | Change (Year-over-year) |
---|---|---|
🇮🇳 India | 85% | +12 p.p. |
🇮🇩 Indonesia | 82% | +14 p.p. |
🇨🇳 China | 82% | +4 p.p. |
🇵🇭 Philippines | 74% | N/A |
🇹🇭 Thailand | 68% | +4 p.p. |
🇲🇾 Malaysia | 62% | +8 p.p. |
🇲🇽 Mexico | 62% | +6 p.p. |
🇧🇷 Brazil | 60% | -13 p.p. |
🇸🇬 Singapore | 59% | +4 p.p. |
🇵🇱 Poland | 56% | +20 p.p. |
🇳🇿 New Zealand | 56% | N/A |
🇨🇴 Colombia | 54% | +5 p.p. |
🇨🇱 Chile | 51% | +8 p.p. |
🇵🇪 Peru | 51% | -3 p.p. |
🇦🇷 Argentina | 51% | +3 p.p. |
🇿🇦 South Africa | 49% | +2 p.p. |
🇦🇺 Australia | 48% | +7 p.p. |
🇭🇺 Hungary | 46% | +15 p.p. |
🇷🇴 Romania | 45% | +8 p.p. |
🇺🇸 United States | 45% | +3 p.p. |
🇪🇸 Spain | 44% | +8 p.p. |
🇳🇱 Netherlands | 44% | +12 p.p. |
🇹🇷 Türkiye | 43% | 0 p.p. |
🇬🇧 Great Britain | 43% | +11 p.p. |
🇨🇭 Switzerland | 43% | +8 p.p. |
🇮🇹 Italy | 40% | +8 p.p. |
🇩🇪 Germany | 40% | +3 p.p. |
🇨🇦 Canada | 39% | +2 p.p. |
🇸🇪 Sweden | 34% | +1 p.p. |
🇫🇷 France | 33% | +4 p.p. |
🇰🇷 South Korea | 33% | -5 p.p. |
🇵🇹 Portugal | 33% | N/A |
🇯🇵 Japan | 30% | 0 p.p. |
🌍 Global average | 50% | +4 p.p. |
At the top, India, Indonesia, and China stood as being the most confident about 2024’s economic prospects. 85% of Indian respondents agreed that the global economy will be stronger in 2024 than in 2023, while 82% of Chinese and Indonesian respondents felt the same.
Regional disparities also become evident, with Asian countries making up the top five most confident countries and seven out of the top nine. In fact, South Korea and Japan were the only Asian countries surveyed that were not feeling confident, with Japanese respondents being the least confident (30%) and South Koreans tied for the second-least confident (33%).
Countries in South America ranged from Brazil having a high of 60% of respondents agree with 2024 being stronger than 2023 to Chile having a “low” of 51%. North American countries were more split, with Mexico feeling more confident and Canada feeling less confident.
Lastly, Europe stood out as being the least confident in the global economy in 2024. Only Poland (56%) had more than 50% agree that this year would be better than the last, while major economies like Germany (40%) and France (33%) sat closer to the bottom of the table.
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