Demographics

Visualizing the World’s Plummeting Fertility Rate

Published

6 months ago

April 10, 2023

Pallavi Rao

Graphics/Design:

Bhabna Banerjee

A line chart tracing the world's falling fertility rates to 2.3 in 2020 along with a heatmap of countries with higher (darker) or lower (lighter) fertility rates

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Visualizing the World’s Plummeting Fertility Rate

At the dawn of the 19th century, the world population hit a big milestone: 1 billion people.

Over the next 220 years, the number grew to eight times that, or the 8 billion people who live on the planet today, with half of the growth occurring since 1975.

This continuous climb in global population has been possible thanks to advancements in healthcare and nutrition. However, the UN forecasts that rapid growth will slow down—and may even stop entirely by 2100—because of falling fertility rates.

What does that mean for modern nation states conditioned to expect a constant influx of new citizens and labor to power their economies? And how can those changing economies adapt to a shrinking population?

To understand that, we need to first untangle fertility rates, and why they’re falling.

Explained: Fertility and Replacement Rates

The total fertility rate is the average number of births per woman over a lifetime. This measurement makes two key assumptions, however:

The woman will live to the end of her childbearing years
The woman will bear children according to the age-specific fertility rates currently observed

Both assumptions add some uncertainty to future fertility rate projections. However, decades of past data collected by the World Bank help show some overall trends around the world, and in many countries.

ℹ️ The age-specific fertility rate (ASFR) “measures the annual number of births to women of a specified age or age group per 1,000 women in that age group,” according to the UN.

The world fertility rate (expressed as the number of children per woman) has been falling steadily since the 1970s.

In 2020, the world’s fertility rate stood at 2.3, slightly above the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman, which allows for one generation to replace itself. This is down more than two times from 4.7 in 1960.

But the world’s average hides the vast disparities between the fertility rate of countries. We dive into the differences below.

Which Country has the Highest Fertility Rate?

According to the UN, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population lives in a region where the fertility rate is below the critical 2.1 threshold. In the table below, countries are ranked from the highest to lowest average births per woman in 2020.

Rank	Country Name	1960	1975	1990	2005	2020
1	Niger	7.53	7.54	7.81	7.62	6.89
2	Somalia	7.25	7.03	7.44	7.48	6.42
3	Chad	6.25	6.88	7.22	7.13	6.35
4	Dem. Rep. of Congo	6.08	6.42	6.70	6.60	6.21
5	Mali	7.00	7.24	7.25	6.72	6.04
6	Central African Republic	5.81	5.89	6.05	5.85	5.99
7	Angola	6.71	7.49	7.27	6.46	5.37
8	Nigeria	6.36	6.77	6.46	6.07	5.31
9	Burundi	7.00	7.24	7.37	6.71	5.18
10	Benin	6.28	6.85	6.73	5.68	5.05
11	Burkina Faso	6.25	6.91	7.01	6.18	4.87
12	Tanzania	6.73	7.00	6.20	5.61	4.80
13	Gambia	6.25	6.41	6.22	5.72	4.78
14	Afghanistan	7.28	7.54	7.57	6.91	4.75
15	Mozambique	6.32	6.69	6.22	5.61	4.71
16	Uganda	6.94	7.23	7.04	6.57	4.69
17	Cameroon	5.65	6.39	6.39	5.41	4.54
18	South Sudan	6.72	6.92	7.99	6.17	4.54
19	Sudan	6.65	6.93	6.17	5.04	4.54
20	Guinea	6.11	6.37	6.63	5.70	4.49
21	Cote d'Ivoire	7.69	7.91	6.73	5.46	4.47
22	Mauritania	6.35	6.68	6.06	5.19	4.46
23	Senegal	7.00	7.25	6.40	5.19	4.45
24	Zambia	7.12	7.39	6.53	5.71	4.38
25	Equatorial Guinea	5.65	5.79	5.99	5.56	4.35
26	Togo	6.72	7.15	6.13	5.07	4.32
27	Ethiopia	6.88	7.14	7.24	5.97	4.24
28	Rep. of Congo	6.09	6.36	5.21	4.66	4.23
29	Liberia	6.39	6.74	6.37	5.52	4.17
30	Guinea-Bissau	5.92	6.15	6.51	5.45	4.09
31	Sierra Leone	6.18	6.55	6.57	5.81	4.08
32	Comoros	6.79	7.12	6.50	5.03	4.05
33	Solomon Islands	6.97	7.07	5.66	4.48	4.04
34	Samoa	7.65	6.68	4.93	4.37	4.00
35	Malawi	7.03	7.40	6.81	5.91	4.00
36	Eritrea	6.48	6.59	6.34	4.93	3.93
37	Madagascar	7.30	7.10	6.16	5.10	3.92
38	Sao Tome & Principe	6.24	6.53	5.83	4.96	3.89
39	Yemen	7.94	8.40	8.61	5.58	3.89
40	Rwanda	8.19	8.22	6.87	5.44	3.87
41	Vanuatu	6.86	6.09	5.03	4.16	3.78
42	Ghana	6.85	6.77	5.71	4.54	3.62
43	West Bank & Gaza	NA	NA	6.78	4.84	3.57
44	Pakistan	6.80	6.81	6.36	4.64	3.56
45	Iraq	5.30	6.88	5.88	4.48	3.55
46	Gabon	4.42	5.39	5.46	4.21	3.55
47	Zimbabwe	7.22	6.98	4.87	3.67	3.55
48	Kenya	7.63	7.88	6.13	4.78	3.40
49	Namibia	6.21	6.54	5.32	3.56	3.35
50	Kiribati	6.55	5.03	4.64	3.80	3.33
51	Papua New Guinea	6.02	6.07	5.18	4.22	3.27
52	Tonga	6.89	5.43	4.64	4.18	3.27
53	Timor-Leste	6.32	5.19	5.81	5.71	3.25
54	Tajikistan	6.55	6.60	5.34	3.44	3.24
55	Tuvalu	4.78	3.50	3.91	3.63	3.19
56	Kazakhstan	4.53	3.39	2.72	2.22	3.13
57	Lesotho	5.82	5.90	4.76	3.44	3.05
58	Kyrgyzstan	5.38	4.66	3.63	2.50	3.00
59	Egypt	6.79	5.80	4.48	3.15	2.96
60	Algeria	7.50	7.37	4.56	2.56	2.94
61	Israel	3.87	3.55	2.82	2.84	2.90
62	Mongolia	6.83	7.13	4.23	2.03	2.90
63	Uzbekistan	6.61	5.89	4.07	2.36	2.90
64	Eswatini	6.75	6.75	5.25	3.68	2.89
65	Jordan	7.67	7.89	5.48	3.78	2.87
66	Haiti	6.21	5.69	5.48	3.83	2.87
67	Djibouti	6.83	6.77	5.98	3.99	2.85
68	Botswana	6.63	6.58	4.49	3.08	2.84
69	Syria	7.49	7.47	5.38	3.81	2.80
70	Philippines	7.15	5.60	4.35	3.49	2.78
71	Micronesia	6.69	6.68	4.96	3.60	2.75
72	Turkmenistan	6.59	5.90	4.24	2.66	2.70
73	Oman	7.25	7.75	6.61	3.05	2.69
74	Bolivia	6.36	5.79	4.89	3.56	2.65
75	Guam	5.91	3.91	3.05	2.76	2.59
76	Lao	6.29	6.29	6.08	3.67	2.54
77	Libya	7.37	7.96	4.97	2.77	2.51
78	Paraguay	6.50	5.21	4.55	3.04	2.50
79	Fiji	6.46	4.10	3.41	2.89	2.50
80	Guatemala	6.96	6.41	5.48	3.97	2.48
81	Saudi Arabia	7.63	7.37	5.83	3.24	2.47
82	Guyana	6.37	4.50	3.07	2.84	2.42
83	South Africa	6.16	5.19	3.72	2.51	2.40
84	Honduras	7.46	6.86	5.29	3.55	2.39
85	Cambodia	6.25	4.10	5.64	3.24	2.38
86	Suriname	6.61	4.73	3.27	2.75	2.37
87	Morocco	7.04	6.27	4.02	2.57	2.35
88	Nicaragua	7.16	6.50	4.60	2.77	2.35
89	Panama	5.84	4.42	3.10	2.67	2.34
90	Dominican Republic	7.56	5.24	3.41	2.61	2.30
91	Faroe Islands	NA	2.90	2.80	2.60	2.30
92	World	4.70	4.08	3.31	2.60	2.30
93	Seychelles	NA	NA	NA	2.20	2.29
94	Venezuela, RB	6.36	4.69	3.45	2.63	2.23
95	Peru	6.94	5.71	3.91	2.69	2.22
96	Indonesia	5.55	5.04	3.10	2.43	2.19
97	Myanmar	5.98	5.29	3.54	2.55	2.17
98	Kuwait	7.16	6.09	3.32	2.66	2.14
99	Tunisia	6.94	6.03	3.47	1.98	2.11
100	Lebanon	5.82	4.56	3.30	2.20	2.10
101	Nepal	6.03	5.75	5.21	3.14	2.06
102	Ecuador	6.72	5.43	3.74	2.80	2.05
103	India	5.92	5.20	4.05	2.96	2.05
104	New Caledonia	6.28	3.70	3.18	2.20	2.04
105	Virgin Islands	5.45	3.63	2.99	2.24	2.03
106	Grenada	6.74	4.02	3.49	2.34	2.02
107	Greenland	NA	2.35	2.44	2.38	2.02
108	Bangladesh	6.78	6.74	4.48	2.81	2.00
109	Sri Lanka	5.47	3.79	2.52	2.28	2.00
110	Belize	6.50	6.28	4.70	3.13	2.00
111	Georgia	2.94	2.53	2.31	1.61	1.97
112	Vietnam	6.28	5.64	3.60	1.96	1.96
113	Turkiye	6.38	5.07	3.13	2.22	1.92
114	Argentina	3.08	3.30	3.03	2.43	1.91
115	Cabo Verde	6.89	6.77	5.39	2.93	1.91
116	Mexico	6.76	5.79	3.45	2.50	1.91
117	Gibraltar	3.01	2.62	2.44	1.70	1.86
118	Bahrain	7.15	5.62	3.76	2.62	1.83
119	France	2.85	2.09	1.77	1.94	1.83
120	El Salvador	6.63	5.68	3.95	2.46	1.82
121	Malaysia	6.41	4.52	3.37	2.33	1.82
122	North Korea	3.57	3.05	2.35	1.96	1.82
123	Qatar	6.65	6.10	4.18	2.58	1.82
124	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	7.29	4.98	2.83	2.07	1.81
125	Brunei Darussalam	6.84	4.99	3.29	2.02	1.80
126	Moldova	3.33	2.53	2.39	1.53	1.77
127	Montenegro	3.50	2.40	1.94	1.69	1.75
128	Colombia	6.74	4.40	3.08	2.26	1.74
129	Iceland	4.29	2.65	2.30	2.05	1.72
130	Maldives	6.80	7.19	6.09	2.24	1.71
131	Czechia	2.09	2.43	1.90	1.29	1.71
132	Iran	7.30	6.01	4.86	1.78	1.71
133	French Polynesia	5.89	4.71	3.44	2.19	1.71
134	Azerbaijan	5.88	4.18	2.74	2.00	1.70
135	Denmark	2.57	1.92	1.67	1.80	1.67
136	Sweden	2.17	1.77	2.13	1.77	1.66
137	Brazil	6.06	4.42	2.91	1.97	1.65
138	U.S.	3.65	1.77	2.08	2.06	1.64
139	Trinidad and Tobago	5.35	3.24	2.38	1.68	1.63
140	Ireland	3.78	3.37	2.11	1.86	1.63
141	Barbados	4.33	2.39	1.74	1.79	1.63
142	New Zealand	4.24	2.33	2.18	1.97	1.61
143	Curacao	NA	NA	NA	NA	1.60
144	Romania	2.34	2.59	1.83	1.40	1.60
145	Slovenia	2.19	2.18	1.46	1.26	1.60
146	Australia	3.45	2.15	1.90	1.81	1.58
147	Estonia	1.98	2.04	2.05	1.52	1.58
148	Armenia	4.79	2.96	2.71	1.54	1.58
149	Slovak Republic	3.04	2.55	2.09	1.27	1.57
150	Antigua and Barbuda	4.60	2.77	2.25	1.83	1.57
151	Isle of Man	2.88	2.05	1.92	1.85	1.57
152	Bulgaria	2.31	2.23	1.82	1.37	1.56
153	United Kingdom	2.69	1.81	1.83	1.76	1.56
154	Hungary	2.02	2.35	1.87	1.31	1.56
155	Costa Rica	6.71	3.80	3.21	2.04	1.56
156	Belgium	2.54	1.74	1.62	1.76	1.55
157	Latvia	1.94	1.96	2.02	1.39	1.55
158	Netherlands	3.12	1.66	1.62	1.71	1.55
159	Chile	4.70	3.18	2.58	1.80	1.54
160	Germany	2.37	1.45	1.45	1.34	1.53
161	Kosovo	6.36	5.25	3.65	2.61	1.53
162	Russia	2.52	1.98	1.89	1.29	1.51
163	Cuba	4.13	2.85	1.80	1.47	1.50
164	Croatia	2.23	1.96	1.63	1.50	1.48
165	Lithuania	2.56	2.18	2.03	1.29	1.48
166	Norway	2.85	1.98	1.93	1.84	1.48
167	Serbia	NA	NA	NA	1.45	1.48
168	Uruguay	2.83	3.02	2.43	2.10	1.48
169	U.A.E	6.72	6.26	4.54	2.20	1.46
170	Switzerland	2.44	1.61	1.58	1.42	1.46
171	Austria	2.69	1.83	1.46	1.41	1.44
172	Mauritius	6.17	3.20	2.32	1.88	1.44
173	Bhutan	6.70	6.62	5.60	2.80	1.43
174	St. Lucia	6.97	5.46	3.40	1.68	1.41
175	Albania	6.46	4.52	2.90	1.80	1.40
176	Canada	3.81	1.82	1.83	1.57	1.40
177	Portugal	3.16	2.75	1.56	1.41	1.40
178	Bahamas	4.82	3.26	2.53	2.05	1.39
179	Belarus	2.67	2.17	1.91	1.25	1.38
180	Poland	2.98	2.27	2.06	1.24	1.38
181	Finland	2.72	1.68	1.78	1.80	1.37
182	Luxembourg	2.29	1.55	1.60	1.63	1.37
183	Bosnia & Herzegovina	3.91	2.36	1.79	1.20	1.36
184	Jamaica	5.58	4.50	2.85	2.06	1.36
185	Thailand	6.25	4.40	2.09	1.59	1.34
186	Greece	2.23	2.33	1.39	1.34	1.34
187	Japan	2.00	1.91	1.54	1.26	1.34
188	Cyprus	3.51	2.11	2.41	1.48	1.33
189	Aruba	4.82	2.51	2.30	1.78	1.33
190	Bermuda	NA	NA	NA	1.76	1.30
191	North Macedonia	3.97	2.59	2.19	1.50	1.30
192	China	4.45	3.57	2.51	1.62	1.28
193	Italy	2.40	2.17	1.33	1.34	1.24
194	Spain	2.86	2.77	1.36	1.33	1.23
195	Ukraine	2.24	2.02	1.85	1.21	1.22
196	Malta	3.62	2.27	2.02	1.38	1.13
197	Singapore	5.76	2.07	1.83	1.26	1.10
198	Macao SAR, China	4.93	1.60	1.74	0.83	1.07
199	British Virgin Islands	5.16	3.36	1.59	1.34	0.98
200	Puerto Rico	4.80	2.77	2.38	1.77	0.90
201	Hong Kong	5.07	2.67	1.27	0.96	0.87
202	South Korea	5.95	3.43	1.57	1.09	0.84

The African country of Niger currently has the highest fertility rate, at 6.9, which means on average, a woman in Niger will have seven children in her lifetime.

With the exception of Afghanistan (14th), all of the top 30 countries are found on the African continent. In fact, it’s estimated that Africa will add 2.5 billion new people by 2100, while most continents will actually flatline in terms of population growth.

At the bottom of the rankings, the country with the lowest fertility rate is South Korea, at 0.84.

Interestingly, many of the current most populous countries of the world—including China, India, and the U.S.—are all below replacement levels of fertility, with parts of Europe and North America having had persistently low fertility levels since the 1970s.

However, even the countries that currently have high fertility rates have seen a steep decline over the last 60 years. Why?

Why are Fertility Rates Falling All Over The World?

Declining fertility rates are a consequence of a confluence of many related factors, including (but not limited to):

Better access to contraception
Improving opportunities for women, outside of childbearing
Robust healthcare that lowers mortality rates of children

In the past, a larger number of children meant more chances of some making it to adulthood since infant mortality was so high. Women were also restricted to childbearing and rearing, and lacked access to contraception which led to increased—and sometimes unwanted—pregnancies.

Declining fertility rates are thus a triumph of improved socioeconomic development for many countries.

Consequences of Declining Fertility Rates

Although there are obvious issues with our large global population today, a different set of issues arise when fertility rates fall below replacement levels.

Dropping fertility rates can lead to shrinking populations and a higher ratio of the elderly to working adults—which will have unwanted economic consequences like increased healthcare costs and a reduced tax base.

Short-term solutions like immigration can help until populations are shrinking in every country. Longer-term solutions—reducing the cost of raising a child, and providing better support for families with children—are common strategies deployed to ward off demographic disaster.

The current crop of humanity has never had to contend with shrinking populations on a global scale. How will this reshape human livelihoods, priorities and expectations from life? We might soon find out.

Source: The World Bank.

Data note: The World Bank uses a number of sources to aggregate their data including the UN population division, Eurostat, and several national statistics programs. Data for some years is missing and has been marked as “NA.” Please visit their website for more information.

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Charted: The World’s Biggest Oil Producers

Just three countries—the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia—make up the lion’s share of global oil supply. Here are the biggest oil producers in 2022.

Published

7 days ago

September 21, 2023

Pallavi Rao

A cropped chart with the per day production by the biggest oil producers in 2022.

Charted: The World’s Biggest Oil Producers in 2022

In 2022 oil prices peaked at more than $100 per barrel, hitting an eight-year high, after a full year of turmoil in the energy markets in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Oil companies doubled their profits and the economies of the biggest oil producers in the world got a major boost.

But which countries are responsible for most of the world’s oil supply? Using data from the Statistical Review of World Energy by the Energy Institute, we’ve visualized and ranked the world’s biggest oil producers.

Ranked: Oil Production By Country, in 2022

The U.S. has been the world’s biggest oil producer since 2018 and continued its dominance in 2022 by producing close to 18 million barrels per day (B/D). This accounted for nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

Almost three-fourths of the country’s oil production is centered around five states: Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska, and Colorado.

We rank the other major oil producers in the world below.

Rank	Country	2022 Production (Thousand B/D)	YoY Change	Share of World Supply
1	🇺🇸 U.S.	17,770	+6.5%	18.9%
2	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	12,136	+10.8%	12.9%
3	🇷🇺 Russia	11,202	+1.8%	11.9%
4	🇨🇦 Canada	5,576	+3.0%	5.9%
5	🇮🇶 Iraq	4,520	+10.2%	4.8%
6	🇨🇳 China	4,111	+2.9%	4.4%
7	🇦🇪 UAE	4,020	+10.4%	4.3%
8	🇮🇷 Iran	3,822	+4.6%	4.1%
9	🇧🇷 Brazil	3,107	+3.9%	3.3%
10	🇰🇼 Kuwait	3,028	+12.0%	3.2%
11	🇲🇽 Mexico	1,944	+0.9%	2.1%
12	🇳🇴 Norway	1,901	-6.3%	2.0%
13	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	1,769	-2.0%	1.9%
14	🇶🇦 Qatar	1,768	+1.8%	1.9%
15	🇩🇿 Algeria	1,474	+8.9%	1.6%
16	🇳🇬 Nigeria	1,450	-11.2%	1.5%
17	🇦🇴 Angola	1,190	+1.1%	1.3%
18	🇱🇾 Libya	1,088	-14.3%	1.2%
19	🇴🇲 Oman	1,064	+9.6%	1.1%
20	🇬🇧 UK	778	-11.0%	0.8%
21	🇨🇴 Colombia	754	+2.4%	0.8%
22	🇮🇳 India	737	-3.8%	0.8%
23	🇻🇪 Venezuela	731	+8.1%	0.8%
24	🇦🇷 Argentina	706	+12.4%	0.8%
25	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	685	-5.6%	0.7%
26	🇮🇩 Indonesia	644	-6.9%	0.7%
27	🇪🇬 Egypt	613	+0.8%	0.7%
28	🇲🇾 Malaysia	567	-1.7%	0.6%
29	🇪🇨 Ecuador	481	+1.7%	0.5%
30	🇦🇺 Australia	420	-5.2%	0.4%
31	🇹🇭 Thailand	331	-17.5%	0.4%
32	🇨🇩 Congo	269	-1.7%	0.3%
33	🇹🇲 Turkmenistan	244	+1.0%	0.3%
34	🇻🇳 Vietnam	194	-1.2%	0.2%
35	🇬🇦 Gabon	191	+5.4%	0.2%
36	🇸🇸 South Sudan	141	-7.6%	0.2%
37	🇵🇪 Peru	128	+0.5%	0.1%
38	🇹🇩 Chad	124	+6.2%	0.1%
39	🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	119	-9.2%	0.1%
40	🇸🇾 Syria	93	-2.7%	0.1%
41	🇮🇹 Italy	92	-7.9%	0.1%
42	🇧🇳 Brunei	92	-13.8%	0.1%
43	🇾🇪 Yemen	81	-2.4%	0.1%
44	🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago	74	-3.6%	0.1%
45	🇷🇴 Romania	65	-6.2%	0.1%
46	🇩🇰 Denmark	65	-1.6%	0.1%
47	🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	63	-0.9%	0.1%
48	🇸🇩 Sudan	62	-3.3%	0.1%
49	🇹🇳 Tunisia	40	-12.9%	0.0%
50	Other CIS	43	+4.4%	0.0%
51	Other Middle East	210	+1.2%	0.2%
52	Other Africa	283	-3.4%	0.3%
53	Other Europe	230	-20.5%	0.2%
54	Other Asia Pacific	177	-10.6%	0.2%
55	Other S. & Cent. America	381	+68.5%	0.4%
	Total World	93,848	+4.2%	100.0%

Behind America’s considerable lead in oil production, Saudi Arabia (ranked 2nd) produced 12 million B/D, accounting for about 13% of global supply.

Russia came in third with 11 million B/D in 2022. Together, these top three oil producing behemoths, along with Canada (4th) and Iraq (5th), make up more than half of the entire world’s oil supply.

Meanwhile, the top 10 oil producers, including those ranked 6th to 10th—China, UAE, Iran, Brazil, and Kuwait—are responsible for more than 70% of the world’s oil production.

Notably, all top 10 oil giants increased their production between 2021–2022, and as a result, global output rose 4.2% year-on-year.

Major Oil Producing Regions in 2022

The Middle East accounts for one-third of global oil production and North America makes up almost another one-third of production. The Commonwealth of Independent States—an organization of post-Soviet Union countries—is another major regional producer of oil, with a 15% share of world production.

Region	2022 Production (Thousand B/D)	YoY Change	Share of World Supply
Middle East	30,743	+9.2%	32.8%
North America	25,290	+5.3%	27.0%
CIS	14,006	+0.9%	14.9%
Africa	7,043	-3.5%	7.5%
Asia Pacific	7,273	-1.4%	7.8%
South & Central America	6,361	7.2%	6.8%
Europe	3,131	-8.6%	3.3%

What’s starkly apparent in the data however is Europe’s declining share of oil production, now at 3% of the world’s supply. In the last 20 years the EU’s oil output has dropped by more than 50% due to a variety of factors, including stricter environmental regulations and a shift to natural gas.

Another lens to look at regional production is through OPEC members, which control about 35% of the world’s oil output and about 70% of the world’s oil reserves.

A pictogram of the regional per day production by the biggest oil producers in 2022.

When taking into account the group of 10 oil exporting countries OPEC has relationships with, known as OPEC+, the share of oil production increases to more than half of the world’s supply.

Oil’s Big Balancing Act

Since it’s the very lifeblood of the modern economy, the countries that control significant amounts of oil production also reap immense political and economic benefits. Entire regions have been catapulted into prosperity and wars have been fought over the control of the resource.

At the same time, the ongoing effort to pivot to renewable energy is pushing many major oil exporters to diversify their economies. A notable example is Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth fund has invested in companies like Uber and WeWork.

However, the world still needs oil, as it supplies nearly one-third of global energy demand.