Hope & Despair

Sources

Every dataset behind the atlas.

All of it is open and credited — with the licence and the vintage we archived. Per-article citations, with downloadable data and lineage, live at the foot of each piece.

138 sources cited across the atlas

  1. Bank for International Settlements — Total Credit Statisticsdata.bis.org/topics/TOTAL_CREDIT · BIS terms — link-only · vintage 2025
  2. Bank of Canada & Bank of England — Sovereign Default Database 2025www.bankofcanada.ca/2025/10/staff-analytical-note-2025-24 · Bank of Canada — reuse with attribution · vintage 2025
  3. Berkeley Earth — Land/Ocean Temperature Recordberkeleyearth.org/data · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  4. BloombergNEF — Lithium-ion Battery Price Surveyabout.bnef.com/blog/lithium-ion-battery-pack-prices-see-largest-drop-since-2017 · link-only · vintage 2024
  5. Chancel, Piketty, Saez & Zucman — World Inequality Report 2022wir2022.wid.world · link-only · vintage 2022
  6. Charles I. Jones — 'The End of Economic Growth? Unintended Consequences of a Declining Population' (AER, 2022)www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20201605 · academic — link-only · vintage 2022
  7. Chen et al. 2024 — Global mortality from landscape-fire smoke (The Lancet Planetary Health)doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00255-0 · Link-only · vintage 2024
  8. Climate Watch (2026) — greenhouse gas emissions by sectorourworldindata.org/grapher/ghg-emissions-by-sector · CC BY · vintage 2026
  9. Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) — long-run air-pollutant emissionsourworldindata.org/grapher/long-run-air-pollution · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-27
  10. Consumption-based PM2.5 mortality dataset (University of Illinois Databank, IDB-3251572)databank.illinois.edu/datasets/IDB-3251572 · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2017
  11. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) / ECMWF — ERA5pulse.climate.copernicus.eu · Copernicus licence (free reuse with attribution) · vintage 2026
  12. CSIRO & NOAA — Global mean sea level, via U.S. EPAwww.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-sea-level · Public Domain · vintage 2024
  13. Doepke, Hannusch, Kindermann & Tertilt — 'The Economics of Fertility: A New Era' (2022); Myrskylä, Kohler & Billari (Nature, 2009)www.nber.org/papers/w29948 · academic — link-only · vintage 2022
  14. EM-DAT — International Disaster Database, CRED / UCLouvain (link-only)www.emdat.be · restricted — link-only · vintage 2025
  15. Ember — Yearly Electricity Dataember-energy.org/data/yearly-electricity-data · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-13
  16. FAO - CoAHD July 2025 release notewww.fao.org/statistics/events/events-detail/cost-and-affordability-of-a-healthy-diet-%28coahd%29.-july-2025-update/en · FAO terms · vintage 2026-07-02
  17. FAO — Forest area, via Our World in Dataourworldindata.org/grapher/forest-area-km · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2025
  18. FAO — Prevalence of undernourishment (via World Bank WDI)data.worldbank.org/indicator/SN.ITK.DEFC.ZS · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  19. FAO and World Bank - Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet (CoAHD)data360.worldbank.org/en/dataset/FAO_CAHD · CC BY 3.0 IGO / FAOSTAT terms · vintage 2026-07-02
  20. Federation of American Scientists — Nuclear Notebookfas.org/initiative/nuclear-information-project · CC BY 4.0 (via OWID) · vintage 2026
  21. Ghosh et al. 2021 — Ambient and household PM2.5 and adverse birth outcomes (PLOS Medicine)doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003718 · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2021
  22. Global Carbon Budget (2025)globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2025
  23. Global Nutrition Report 2021 - Health and environmental impacts of diets worldwideglobalnutritionreport.org/reports/2021-global-nutrition-report/health-and-environmental-impacts-of-diets-worldwide · Global Nutrition Report terms · vintage 2026-07-02
  24. Global Terrorism Database (START, U. Maryland)www.start.umd.edu/gtd · CC BY 4.0 (via OWID) · vintage 2026
  25. Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) / MODIS — burned area by land coverourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-burned-area-by-landcover · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-27
  26. IEA — CO₂ Emissions / World Energy Outlook (link-only)www.iea.org/topics/global-energy-transitions · restricted — link-only · vintage 2025
  27. IEA — Global EV Data Explorerwww.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/global-ev-data-explorer · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-13
  28. IEA — Global EV Outlook 2024www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024 · link-only · vintage 2024
  29. IEA — Global EV Outlook 2026 (report)www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-product/global-ev-outlook-2026 · link-only · vintage 2026
  30. IEA — Renewables 2024 / Electricity 2025www.iea.org/reports/renewables-2024 · link-only · vintage 2024
  31. IHME — Global Burden of Disease (link-only)vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results · IHME Free-of-Charge Non-Commercial Agreement · vintage GBD 2021
  32. IHME — Global Burden of Disease 2021 (link-only)vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results · IHME Free-of-Charge Non-Commercial — link-only · vintage 2021
  33. IHME — Vollset et al., 'Fertility, mortality, migration, and population scenarios' (The Lancet, 2020)www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30677-2/fulltext · academic — link-only · vintage 2020
  34. IHME Global Burden of Disease — lead exposure; Larsen & Sánchez-Triana 2023 (Lancet Planetary Health)ourworldindata.org/lead-pollution · Link-only (IHME) · vintage 2021–2023
  35. ILO & UNICEF — Global Estimates of Child Labourwww.ilo.org/childlabour · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  36. ILOSTAT — International Labour Organizationilostat.ilo.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2025
  37. ILOSTAT — International Labour Organization (informal employment, modelled)ilostat.ilo.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  38. ILOSTAT — International Labour Organization (social protection & labour income share)ilostat.ilo.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  39. ILOSTAT — International Labour Organization (working poverty, SDG 1.1.1)ilostat.ilo.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  40. ILOSTAT — Youth not in employment, education or trainingilostat.ilo.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-21
  41. IMF — AI Preparedness Index (Cazzaniga et al. 2024)www.imf.org/en/Publications/Staff-Discussion-Notes/Issues/2024/01/14/Gen-AI-Artificial-Intelligence-and-the-Future-of-Work-542379 · © original authors — shown as published by the World Bank · vintage 2024
  42. IMF — Historical Public Debt Databasewww.imf.org/external/datamapper/datasets/DEBT · IMF — data reuse with attribution · vintage 2015
  43. IMF — Monitoring of Fund Arrangements (MONA)www.imf.org/external/np/fin/mona · IMF — arrangement records (facts); displayed and cited, source files not re-hosted · vintage 1992–2026
  44. IMF–World Bank Debt Sustainability Framework — List of LIC DSAswww.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/dsa/dsalist.pdf · IMF — published risk ratings (facts); displayed and cited, source PDF not re-hosted · vintage 2013–2026
  45. International Labour Organization (ILOSTAT)ilostat.ilo.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  46. International Labour Organization (modelled), via World Bankdata.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.VULN.ZS · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  47. IPCC — Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (link-only)www.ipcc.ch/sr15 · © IPCC — cited with attribution, not re-hosted · vintage 2018
  48. Johnson & Papageorgiou — “What Remains of Cross-Country Convergence?” (J. Econ. Literature)www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.20181207 · link-only · vintage 2020
  49. Jones et al. (2025) — National Contributions to Climate Change / Global Carbon Projectourworldindata.org/grapher/methane-emissions · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2025
  50. Kose & Ohnsorge (2024) — Falling Long-Term Growth Prospects, via World Bankwww.worldbank.org/en/research/publication/global-jobs-challenge · CC BY 3.0 IGO · vintage 2024
  51. Kremer, Willis & You — “Converging to Convergence” (NBER 29484)www.nber.org/papers/w29484 · link-only · vintage 2021
  52. Lutz, Skirbekk & Testa — the low-fertility-trap hypothesis (2006); Pritchett — desired fertility and policy (1994)www.jstor.org/stable/20058983 · academic — link-only · vintage 2006
  53. Maddison Project Databasewww.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison · CC BY 4.0 (via OWID) · vintage 2026
  54. Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-agency Group (MMEIG)www.who.int/data/maternal-newborn-child-adolescent-ageing/maternal-health · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2023
  55. NASA GISS — GISTEMP v4data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp · Public Domain (US Government) · vintage 2026
  56. NASA/JPL — GRACE & GRACE-FO ice-sheet massclimate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/ice-sheets · Public Domain (US Government) · vintage 2026
  57. National Snow and Ice Data Center — Sea Ice Index v3nsidc.org/data/seaice_index · Public Domain · vintage 2026
  58. ND-GAIN — Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Country Index (link-only)gain.nd.edu/our-work/country-index · licence unclear — link-only · vintage 2024
  59. NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory — CH₄ & N₂O concentrationgml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends · Public Domain (US Government) · vintage 2026
  60. NOAA NCEI — Global Ocean Heat Content (0–2000 m)www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/global-ocean-heat-content · Public Domain (US Government) · vintage 2026
  61. Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative — ND-GAIN Country Indexgain.nd.edu/our-work/country-index · ND-GAIN — link-only (licence unstated) · vintage 2026
  62. OpenAlexopenalex.org · CC0 1.0 · vintage 2026-06
  63. OpenAQ — The Air Quality Data Landscape (2024)openaq.org/reports/the-air-quality-data-landscape · Cited · vintage 2024
  64. Our World in Dataourworldindata.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  65. Our World in Data - FAO food security indicatorsourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-with-moderate-or-severe-food-insecurity · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-07-02
  66. Our World in Data — “$3 a day: a new poverty line — what changed, and why?”ourworldindata.org/new-international-poverty-line-3-dollars-per-day · link-only · vintage 2026
  67. Our World in Data — “The end of progress against extreme poverty?” (Max Roser)ourworldindata.org/end-progress-extreme-poverty · link-only · vintage 2026
  68. Our World in Data — Annual CO₂ emissions (Global Carbon Budget)ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-13
  69. Our World in Data — Atmospheric CO₂ concentrationourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-long-term-concentration · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  70. Our World in Data — child mortality, life expectancy, literacyourworldindata.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  71. Our World in Data — Children per woman (UN WPP)ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-per-woman-un · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  72. Our World in Data — Cross-country literacy ratesourworldindata.org/grapher/cross-country-literacy-rates · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-21
  73. Our World in Data — Electric car sales (IEA)ourworldindata.org/electric-car-sales · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-13
  74. Our World in Data — Extreme poverty in brief (Max Roser)ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty-in-brief · link-only · vintage 2026
  75. Our World in Data — Life Expectancyourworldindata.org/life-expectancy · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  76. Our World in Data — Mean years of schoolingourworldindata.org/grapher/mean-years-of-schooling · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-21
  77. Our World in Data — Out-of-school children of primary school ageourworldindata.org/grapher/out-of-school-children-of-primary-school-age-by-world-region · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-21
  78. Our World in Data — Population growth rate / births / median age (UN WPP)ourworldindata.org/grapher/population-growth-rates · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  79. Our World in Data — Population, with UN projectionsourworldindata.org/grapher/population-long-run-with-projections · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  80. Our World in Data — Povertyourworldindata.org/poverty · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  81. Our World in Data — Projections of extreme poverty (World Bank)ourworldindata.org/grapher/projections-extreme-poverty-wb · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  82. Our World in Data — Solar PV module prices (Lafond et al. / IRENA)ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  83. Our World in Data — War & Peaceourworldindata.org/war-and-peace · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  84. Outdoor-air-pollution death estimates — Lelieveld et al. 2015 (PNAS); IHME GBD 2021; Vohra et al. 2021 (Environmental Research)ourworldindata.org/air-pollution · Link-only (GBD/IHME-derived) · vintage 2015–2021
  85. Patel, Sandefur & Subramanian — “The New Era of Unconditional Convergence” (J. Development Economics, 2021)www.cgdev.org/publication/new-era-unconditional-convergence · link-only · vintage 2021
  86. Sovereign-debt haircut studies (Cruces & Trebesch 2013; Graf von Luckner et al. 2024; Zettelmeyer et al. 2013)www.nber.org/papers/w32599 · Academic datasets — link-only (displayed and cited, not re-hosted) · vintage 2013–2024
  87. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)www.sipri.org/databases/milex · CC BY 4.0 (via OWID) · vintage 2026
  88. UN IGME — Under-five mortality, via Our World in Datachildmortality.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  89. UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME)childmortality.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  90. UN OCHA — occupied Palestinian territorywww.ochaopt.org/data/casualties · Cited (not re-hosted) · vintage 2026
  91. UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) — A World of Debt 2025unctad.org/publication/world-of-debt · UNCTAD publication terms (display + cite); underlying indicators UNCTAD Data Hub, CC BY 3.0 IGO · vintage 2025
  92. UN World Population Prospects 2024population.un.org/wpp · CC BY 3.0 IGO · vintage 2024
  93. UN World Population Prospects 2024 — Demographic Indicators (direct)population.un.org/wpp · CC BY 3.0 IGO · vintage 2024
  94. UNAIDSaidsinfo.unaids.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  95. UNHCR Refugee Data Finderwww.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics · CC BY 4.0 (via OWID) · vintage 2026
  96. UNICEF - Child Food Poverty: Nutrition deprivation in early childhooddata.unicef.org/resources/child-food-poverty-report-2024 · UNICEF terms · vintage 2026-07-02
  97. UNICEF - Severe food povertydata.humdata.org/dataset/unicef-nt-cf-fg-0-t-2 · CC BY 3.0 IGO · vintage 2026-07-02
  98. UNODC Global Study on Homicidewww.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/global-study-on-homicide.html · Link-only (non-redistributable) · vintage 2025
  99. Uppsala Conflict Data Programucdp.uu.se · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  100. Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP / PRIO)ucdp.uu.se · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  101. V-Dem (Democracy report v16) — via Our World in Dataourworldindata.org/grapher/women-political-empowerment-index · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  102. WHO global air quality guidelines (2021)www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240034228 · Cited (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO) · vintage 2021
  103. WHO Global Health Observatorywww.who.int/data/gho · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO · vintage 2024
  104. WHO Mortality Database / UNODCplatform.who.int/mortality · CC BY 4.0 (via OWID) · vintage 2026
  105. WHO, UNICEF & UN — maternal mortality and immunization (via World Bank WDI)data.worldbank.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  106. WHO/UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC)www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/immunization-analysis-and-insights/global-monitoring/immunization-coverage · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  107. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programmewashdata.org · CC BY 4.0 (via the World Bank) · vintage 2026
  108. World Bank - Country API metadatadatahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/898590-country-api-queries · World Bank terms · vintage 2026-07-02
  109. World Bank - Food Prices for Nutrition DataHubwww.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp/brief/foodpricesfornutrition · World Bank terms · vintage 2026-07-02
  110. World Bank — “Lifting 800 Million People Out of Poverty: Lessons from China’s Experience” (2022)www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/lifting-800-million-people-out-of-poverty-new-report-looks-at-lessons-from-china-s-experience · link-only · vintage 2022
  111. World Bank — Access to electricity (EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS)data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  112. World Bank — aging & dependency (SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS, SP.POP.DPND.OL)data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  113. World Bank — Atlas of Global Development 2026data360.worldbank.org/en/atlas/global-progress · Cited for the question and framing, not re-hosted · vintage 2026
  114. World Bank — Fertility rate, total (SP.DYN.TFRT.IN)data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  115. World Bank — Forest area (% of land area, AG.LND.FRST.ZS)data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.FRST.ZS · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2025
  116. World Bank — GDP per capita, PPP (NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD)data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-12
  117. World Bank — girls' secondary enrolment, women's labour force, adolescent fertilitydata.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.ADO.TFRT · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  118. World Bank — Global Economic Prospects, June 2026www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects · CC BY 3.0 IGO · vintage 2026 (data cutoff 2 June 2026)
  119. World Bank — International Debt Statisticsdatabank.worldbank.org/source/international-debt-statistics · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  120. World Bank — Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL)data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-12
  121. World Bank — Poverty and Inequality Platformpip.worldbank.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  122. World Bank — Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP)pip.worldbank.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  123. World Bank — The Global Jobs Challenge (2026)www.worldbank.org/en/research/publication/global-jobs-challenge · CC BY 3.0 IGO · vintage 2026
  124. World Bank — World Development Indicatorsdata.worldbank.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  125. World Bank — World Development Indicators (education)data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.ENRR · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-21
  126. World Bank — World Development Indicators (literacy)data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-21
  127. World Bank — World Development Indicators & Poverty and Inequality Platformdata.worldbank.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  128. World Bank — World Development Indicators, via Data360data360.worldbank.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  129. World Bank & Maddison Project — via Our World in Dataourworldindata.org/economic-growth · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2024
  130. World Bank Data Blog - Can everyone afford to eat healthy?blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/can-everyone-afford-to-eat-healthy--new-data-show-progress--but- · World Bank terms · vintage 2026-07-02
  131. World Bank HNP — Health, Nutrition & Population by wealth quintile (DHS & UNICEF MICS)databank.worldbank.org/source/health-nutrition-and-population-statistics-by-wealth-quintile · CC BY 4.0 · vintage various surveys
  132. World Bank Open Datadata.worldbank.org · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06
  133. World Bank WDI — Access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking (EG.CFT.ACCS.ZS)data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.CFT.ACCS.ZS · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-26
  134. World Bank WDI — PM2.5 air pollution, mean annual exposure (EN.ATM.PM25.MC.M3)data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.ATM.PM25.MC.M3 · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026-06-26
  135. World Glacier Monitoring Service — reference-glacier mass balancewgms.ch · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2026
  136. World Health Organization - Healthy diet fact sheetwww.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet · WHO terms · vintage 2026-07-02
  137. World Inequality Database (WID)wid.world · CC BY 4.0 (via OWID) · vintage 2026
  138. Xue et al. 2022 — Stillbirths attributable to ambient PM2.5 (Nature Communications)doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34250-4 · CC BY 4.0 · vintage 2022

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