Hope & Despair

The Atlas / Charts

Charts, by the question they answer

Not a wall of statistics. Each gallery takes a single question and ranks the world several ways at once — and the disagreement between the charts is the point. A chart here always arrives with the lens that keeps it honest, and a way back to the full story.

13Money & Debt

Same world, a different worst list every time

Rank the world’s debt one way and Japan tops it; rank it another and the answer is Ethiopia, or Pakistan, or Venezuela. These are the same countries measured nine ways. The disagreement between the charts is the whole point: the level of a debt tells you little, and the lens you choose decides who looks like they are drowning.

9 charts · Is the world drowning in debt?

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