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Comparing Population Pyramids Around the World

by Niccolo Conte
This post is by Niccolo Conte from Visual Capitalist

Population Pyramids

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Visualization comparing countries and their population pyramids

Understanding and Comparing Population Pyramids

Demographic data can reveal all kinds of insights about a population, from the country’s fertility and mortality rates to how certain events and policies have shaped the makeup of a population.

Population pyramids are one of the best ways to visualize population data, and comparing the pyramids of various countries and regions side-by-side can reveal unexpected insights and differences between groups.

This graphic uses population data from the United Nations to compare the demographics of some select nations and regions of the world, showcasing how much age distributions can vary.

Three Types of Population Pyramids

Although population pyramids can come in all shapes and sizes, most generally fall into three distinct categories:

  • Expansive Pyramids: Recognized by their traditional “pyramid-like” shape with a broad base and narrow top, expansive pyramids reflect a population with a high birth rate along with a high mortality rate which is most common in developing countries.
  • Constrictive Pyramids: With a narrow base and thicker middle and top sections of the pyramid, constrictive pyramids often occur in developed economies whose populations have low birth rates and long life expectancies.
  • Stationary Pyramids: These pyramids showcase an evenly distributed population across age groups, often found in newly-developed countries which have stable birth and mortality rates.

Each population pyramid is essentially a visual snapshot of a nation’s current (Read more...)

Charted: The World’s Aging Population from 1950 to 2100

by Freny Fernandes
This post is by Freny Fernandes from Visual Capitalist

World's Aging Population

Charted: The World’s Aging Population from 1950 to 2100

As demographics continue to shift in the 21st century, the world’s aging population will continue to be a focal point for many global decision makers.

Most countries around the world have experienced population explosions, or are about to. Combine this with declining birth rates and falling mortality rates, and it’s clear that the global senior population will continue to reach new heights.

These graphics by Pablo Alvarez use data from the 2022 UN World Population Prospects to visualize this increasing aging population across countries.

The World’s Aging Population from 1950 to 2100

In 2022, there were 771 million people aged 65+ years globally, accounting for almost 10% of the world’s population.

This segment has been growing at an increasing rate, and it’s expected to hit 16% in 2050, and eventually 24% by 2100. Here’s what that’s projected to look like, for every country and territory.

Country by Population Aged +65 Years195020222100
🇦🇫 Afghanistan2.85%2.39%16.03%
🇦🇱 Albania6.04%16.66%49.08%
🇩🇿 Algeria3.49%6.39%28.83%
🇦🇸 American Samoa2.38%7.27%45.41%
🇦🇩 Andorra10.02%14.98%37.04%
🇦🇴 Angola2.93%2.6%12.07%
🇦🇮 Anguilla3.69%10.71%37.49%
🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda4.14%10.63%35.4%
🇦🇷 Argentina4.13%11.92%31.79%
🇦🇲 Armenia8.17%13.15%36.13%
🇦🇼 Aruba1.77%16.15%36.51%
🇦🇺 Australia8.17%16.9%31.38%
🇦🇹 Austria10.42%19.81%33.93%
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan6.89%7.11%30.5%
🇧🇸 Bahamas4.76%8.89%29.58%
🇧🇭 Bahrain2.88%3.76%21.89%
🇧🇩 Bangladesh3.9%6.04%32.56%
🇧🇧 Barbados5.24%16.28%33.19%
🇧🇾 Belarus8.24%17.18%30.45%
🇧🇪 Belgium11.03%19.73%32.83%
🇧🇿 Belize3.57% (Read more...)

Ranked: The World’s Biggest Steel Producers, by Country

by Niccolo Conte
This post is by Niccolo Conte from Visual Capitalist

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data visualization of global steel production by country in 2022 with visualization of China's production over time

Ranked: The World’s Biggest Steel Producers, by Country

This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on real assets and resource megatrends each week.

Steel is a critical component of modern industry and economy, essential for the construction of buildings, automobiles, and many other appliances and infrastructure used in our daily lives.

This graphic uses data from the World Steel Association to visualize the world’s top steel-producing countries, and highlights China’s ascent to the top, as it now makes up more than half of the world’s steel production.

The State of Global Steel Production

Global steel production in 2022 reached 1,878 million tonnes, barely surpassing the pre-pandemic production of 1,875 million tonnes in 2019.

Country2022 Production (in million tonnes)Annual Production ChangeGlobal Share
🇨🇳 China1013.0-2.0%53.9%
🇮🇳 India124.85.3%6.6%
🇯🇵 Japan89.2-7.9%4.8%
🇺🇸 United States80.5-6.5%4.3%
🇷🇺 Russia71.5-5.8%3.8%
🇰🇷 South Korea65.9-6.9%3.5%
🇩🇪 Germany36.8-8.8%2.0%
🇹🇷 Türkiye35.1-15.0%1.9%
🇧🇷 Brazil34.0-6.5%1.8%
🇮🇷 Iran30.66.8%1.6%
🇮🇹 Italy21.6-13.0%1.1%
🇹🇼 Taiwan20.7-12.1%1.1%
🇻🇳 Vietnam20.0-15.0%1.1%
🇲🇽 Mexico18.2-1.9%1.0%
🇮🇩 Indonesia15.68.3%0.8%
Rest of World201.0-11.2%10.7%
World Total1878.5-3.9%100.0%

2022’s steel production marked a significant reduction compared to the post-pandemic rebound of 1,960 million tonnes in 2021, with a year-over-year decline of 4.2%–the largest drop since 2009, and prior to (Read more...)

Mapped: All of the World’s Roads, by Continent

by Pallavi Rao
This post is by Pallavi Rao from Visual Capitalist

Click to view this graphic in a higher-resolution.

A road map of the world, visualized by type.

Mapped: All of the World’s Roads, by Continent

Once upon a time, it was said that all roads led to Rome. Now with at least 21 million kilometers of roads spanning the globe, every continent and country has its own web of crisscrossing connections, from major highways to rural drives.

And there’s no better way to see the scale and spread of roads than by visualizing them. Adam Symington from PythonMaps used data from the Global Roads Inventory Project (GRIP) to map all the roads in the world, creating an accurate representation of humanity’s need to connect.

Creating the Global Road Map

The GRIP database pulled information from a variety of sources including governments, research institutes, NGOs, and crowd-sourcing initiatives to create a harmonized dataset of geospatial road information for a 2018 paper, “Global patterns of current and future road infrastructure.”

Researchers categorized roads into types using a UN classification system, which have been visualized in three colors on this map:

CategoryDefinitionColor
Main RoadsHighways + primary roads between and within cities and towns. Multi-lane, limited entry and exit points.White
Secondary RoadsPaved, high-traffic, access between neighborhoodsYellow
Tertiary RoadsPaved or unpaved residential access within neighborhoods, or rural points of interest.Red
Local RoadsAll other smaller roads that don't fit above, and usually are not throughfare.Red

This classification allowed for examining relationships between road infrastructure, development, wealth, and population distribution.

Which Country has the Largest (Read more...)

Ranked: The Cities with the Most Skyscrapers in 2023

by Jeff Desjardins
This post is by Jeff Desjardins from Visual Capitalist

Infographic map shows the top 25 cities with the most skyscrapers in 2023

Ranked: The Cities with the Most Skyscrapers in 2023

When it comes to soaring skylines and architectural marvels, no country has embraced the vertical revolution quite like China.

In this graphic, which uses data from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), we reveal the 25 cities with the most skyscrapers and supertall buildings globally.

Unsurprisingly, China’s cities dominate the list, solidifying the country’s reputation as a global powerhouse of tall buildings.

The 25 Top Cities by Skyscraper Count

Topping the charts is Hong Kong, with an impressive 657 skyscrapers, including six supertalls (buildings over 300 meters tall).

RankCityCountrySkyscrapers (>150m)Supertalls (>300m)
1Hong Kong🇨🇳 China6576
2Shenzhen🇨🇳 China51316
3New York City🇺🇸 United States42116
4Dubai🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates39528
5Guangzhou🇨🇳 China25411
6Shanghai🇨🇳 China2505
7Kuala Lumpur🇲🇾 Malaysia2115
8Chongqing🇨🇳 China2055
9Tokyo🇯🇵 Japan2000
10Wuhan🇨🇳 China1835
11Chicago🇺🇸 United States1787
12Jakarta🇮🇩 Indonesia1601
13Chengdu🇨🇳 China1500
14Bangkok🇹🇭 Thailand1333
15Shenyang🇨🇳 China1293
16Singapore🇸🇬 Singapore1280
17Nanning🇨🇳 China1226
18Mumbai🇮🇳 India1140
19Tianjin🇨🇳 China1093
20Nanjing🇨🇳 China1087
21Toronto🇨🇦 Canada1060
22Busan🇰🇷 South Korea1064
23Seoul🇰🇷 South Korea1042
24Changsha🇨🇳 China975
25Melbourne🇦🇺 Australia941

Hong Kong, along with Shenzhen (#2), (Read more...)

Ranking the Trade Policies of the G20

by Marcus Lu
This post is by Marcus Lu from Visual Capitalist

Published • Updated •
The following content is sponsored by The Hinrich Foundation
The Great Wave Off the G20

Ranking the Trade Policies of the G20

In October 2021, the leaders of the G20 nations met for their annual summit in Rome. On the agenda were important items such as climate change, corporate taxation, and of course, the issue of global trade.

Altogether, the G20 represents 85% of global GDP and 66% of the world’s population. It is therefore important to track their trade policy regimes, as they have a significant impact on growth and development.

With this in mind, The Hinrich Foundation has analyzed the policy interventions of every G20 member following the Rome summit to see how global protectionism has advanced.

Liberalizing vs. Harmful Interventions

The first chart in this infographic measures the percentage of each nation’s total value of goods trade that has been affected by harmful or liberalizing interventions.

We define liberalizing interventions as those that liberalize on a non-discriminatory or most favored nation basis. On the other hand, harmful interventions are those that discriminate against the commercial interests of a foreign country.

From this data we can see that Brazil is the only G20 member to have liberalized more trade than it discriminated against.

Note that our data only includes 17 economies. This is because the G20 includes France, Germany, and Italy, while our dataset aggregates them under EU.

(Read more...)

China Has Arrived: A Deep Dive Into China’s Tech Surge and Increased Standard of Living with Chris…

by MPD
This post is by MPD from @MPD - Medium

China Has Arrived: A Deep Dive Into China’s Tech Surge and Increased Standard of Living with Chris Zhang, Partner & CIO of Interplay Family Office

This week’s episode is a special one. I have a chat with my partner and CIO of the Interplay Family Office, Chis Zhang, to discuss China’s remarkable advancements over the past few decades and what its current status looks like.

Chris is uniquely positioned to opine on this topic. He was born in China and spent the first 16 years of his life there, moving to the United States for high school. Since his move, he has visited China annually until Covid-19 halted all travel. After a three year hiatus, Chris visited this past April and was astounded at the progress he witnessed, including how built up his hometown of Zhengzhou had become (known as the iPhone city since they’ve produced most iPhones there).

That’s what inspired this episode. By challenging outdated perceptions and showcasing China’s progress, this conversation is meant to highlight the need for a nuanced understanding of China’s current status as a global powerhouse.

Here are some of the main topics covered:

  • Education and work ethic: Chris shares insights into his rigorous Chinese middle school experience, highlighting the dedication and discipline ingrained in the system.
  • China’s private sector contributes over 50% to GDP more than 80% of employment opportunities, fostering a competitive landscape and driving innovation.
  • China’s middle class has grown significantly, with the number of Chinese citizens enjoying a standard of living comparable to the US (Read more...)

Visualizing Global Attitudes Towards AI

by Marcus Lu
This post is by Marcus Lu from Visual Capitalist

global attitudes towards AI

Comparing Public Sentiment Towards AI, by Country

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the fastest growing and most disruptive technologies in the world today. Because it has the potential to drastically impact society, it’s important to measure how people are feeling towards it.

This infographic visualizes survey data from market research firm, Ipsos, to see how attitudes towards AI varies by country. By including each country’s GDP per capita, we can see that wealthier populations are more skeptical about products and services that use the technology.

Data and Methodology

This data is based on a 28-country survey of 19,504 adults aged 18 to 74. Polling took place between November and December 2021, and the results were published in January 2022.

This survey took place before the recent explosion in popularity of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Midjourney, but forms the foundation for how people view this rapidly improving technology.

The table below lists the percentage of respondents who agreed with the following statement:

“Products and services using artificial intelligence have more benefits than drawbacks”

Country% Agreeing With StatementGDP per capita
China78%$12,556
Saudi Arabia76%$23,186
India71%$2,257
Peru70%$6,622
Malaysia65%$11,109
Mexico65%$10,046
Colombia64%$6,104
Chile63%$16,265
South Korea62%$34,998
Türkiye60%$9,661
Brazil57%$7,507
South Africa57%$7,055
Argentina55%$10,636
Russia53%$12,195
Spain53%$30,104
Italy50%$35,658
Hungary49%$18,728
Poland48%$18,000
Japan42%$39,313
Sweden40%$61,029
Belgium (Read more...)

Charting and Mapping China’s Exports Since 2001

by Pallavi Rao
This post is by Pallavi Rao from Visual Capitalist

A map and graph of the destination and growth of China's exports in the 21st century.

Charting and Mapping China’s Exports Since 2001

Between the dawn of the Roman Empire and the first factory built in the Industrial Revolution, China was one of the most powerful economies on the planet, with a gross domestic product that made up roughly 30% of the global economy.

By the 1970s, the country’s economy had regressed to a shadow of its historic self, with a per-capita income equal to one-third of sub-Saharan Africa. But over the next four decades, China’s rapid industrial transformation made it the manufacturing powerhouse of the world, and exports rapidly ballooned.

Which markets are receiving all of these exports? This graphic from Ehsan Soltani uses data from the World Trade Organization and the customs office of China to track the biggest destinations of China’s merchandise exports—defined as goods that leave the territory of a country—since the 2000s.

China’s Top Export Markets from 2001‒2022

In 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization, the value of its merchandise exports stood at $266 billion. Over the next seven years, the country’s exports grew uninterrupted until the 2008 financial crisis caused a sharp decline in global trade.

This cycle would repeat again with consecutive growth until 2015 (another global trade slowdown), followed by slowed growth until 2020 (the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic).

But merchandise exports skyrocketed by 30% in 2021, and by the end of 2022 had grown to an estimated $3.6 trillion per year. That means China’s exports alone are bigger than the entire economies of (Read more...)

Which Countries are Granted the Most New Patents?

by Freny Fernandes
This post is by Freny Fernandes from Visual Capitalist

Click to view this graphic in a higher-resolution.

Which Countries are Granted the Most New Patents?

Which Countries are Granted the Most New Patents?

Every year, the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) tracks hundreds of thousands of patents across industries.

These patents grant their inventors exclusive intellectual property rights over their creations. They encourage new ideas, spur scientific development, and lead to new technologies and entire sectors being born.

However, the number of patents granted varies greatly across nations. When viewing the origin of each patent’s applicant, we see a handful of countries dominating certain industries.

In this graphic, Jacqueline Ann DeStefano-Tangorra uses 2021 WIPO data to showcase which countries were granted the most new patents, along with their sector categorizations.

Countries with the Most New Patents

In 2021, out of 1,608,375 patents across multiple fields, 87% were granted to innovators from just six countries.

Applicants by CountryGranted Patents (2021)% of Total
🇨🇳 China607,75837.8%
🇺🇸 United States286,20517.8%
🇯🇵 Japan256,89016.0%
🇰🇷 South Korea156,9729.8%
🇩🇪 Germany69,6724.3%
🇬🇧 United Kingdom20,0091.2%
❓ Unknown24,6771.5%
🌎 Other Countries186,19211.6%
World Total1,608,375100.0%

After rapidly increasing its patent output in recent years, China topped the chart in 29 out of 36 total fields including computer technology, electrical machinery, and digital communication. The Chinese government’s focus on innovation led to the nation’s applicants receiving 38% of the 1.6 million patents granted in 2021.

The United States—home to the world’s largest tech companies—came in second with 286,205 granted patents by origin. The (Read more...)