Data Stories: The World, Charted From Open Data
The world, charted from open data: maps and charts on population, food, energy, space and the planet, each story with its source dataset as a free CSV.
Every chart is drawn in code from an open dataset; each story links its sources and the data as a CSV.
PLANET · MAPPED
The 10 Longest Measured Bird Migrations, and the Flyways They FollowFull annual round trips measured in ten peer-reviewed tracking studies: Dutch Arctic terns average 90,000 km, sooty shearwaters 64,037 km and Stejneger's petrels 54,725 km. Plus the flyways they use and the godwit's 13,560 km non-stop record.
LANGUAGE · MAPPED
How Many Languages Are Endangered? 7,665 Languages by StatusGlottolog's 2026 endangerment ratings put 3,998 of the world's 6,684 living spoken languages at some level of risk. Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, India, China and Mexico have the most; in Australia and the Americas almost every surviving Indigenous language is endangered. Ethnologue and UNESCO count fewer, and the article explains why.
SPORT · MAPPED
Which Countries Have Hosted the Olympics? All 23 Hosts, Summer and WinterTwenty-three countries have hosted the 55 Summer and Winter Olympics held since 1896. The United States leads with eight, France has six, Europe has staged 32 of the 55, and Africa none, with every edition checked against the IOC's list and Olympedia.
SPACE · MAPPED
Which Countries Have Sent the Most People to Space? 65 Years of Orbital Flights, CountedThe United States has sent 374 people into orbit, more than the rest of the world combined. The Soviet Union and Russia follow with 141 and China with 30; 43 countries in all, counted from Wikidata through 12 October 2026.
ENERGY · MAPPED
Which Countries Have the Most Nuclear Reactors? 94 American, 61 Chinese, 36 More Being BuiltThe United States operates 94 nuclear power reactors, more than any other country, followed by China (61) and France (57), according to Global Energy Monitor's August 2026 count, corrected for five recent closures. China is building 36 of the 85 units under construction worldwide, and France still gets the largest share of its electricity from nuclear: 67.3% in 2024.
PEOPLE · MAPPED
Countries With the Youngest Populations: Why Niger, Chad and the Central African Republic Are So YoungIn the UN's 2026 figures the Central African Republic has the world's lowest median age, 14.6, ahead of Somalia, Niger, Chad and DR Congo. The US Census Bureau's estimates still put Niger first. Here is why the two disagree, and why Africa's Sahel and centre are so young.
PEOPLE · COMPARED
Most Densely Populated Islands: Salsette and Manhattan Tie for FirstWe laid every island of 10 km² or more over the JRC's 2025 population grid. Salsette Island (Mumbai) and Manhattan are level at roughly 28,000–30,000 people per km², about double Hong Kong Island; tiny Malé, too small for the grid, is given from its census.
PEOPLE · MAPPED
Most Educated Countries: Ireland and Luxembourg Lead on Degrees, Canada on College DiplomasRanked by the share of adults aged 25 and over with at least a bachelor's degree, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Lithuania lead, on both UNESCO and OECD figures. Counting shorter college diplomas, Canada comes first. Why the UAE's high UNESCO figure is unconfirmed, who is missing, and where women now out-graduate men.
CITIES · MAPPED
Shrinking Cities: Which Cities Are Losing Population, and WhyUN figures show 203 of 1,162 large cities losing people between 2000 and 2025, led by China (45), Russia (37), Japan (23) and Ukraine (15). National censuses agree on the direction but often show smaller losses.
PEOPLE · MAPPED
The Oldest Populations in the World: Japan, Monaco and the Countries Where Half Are Over 45By the UN's projection for 1 July 2026, Monaco has the highest median age of any UN member state at 53.1 and Japan is the oldest country of real size at 50.2, with 30% of its people 65 or older. Italy, Portugal, Greece, Spain and South Korea follow. Rank by the share aged 65 and over instead and Finland and Croatia join the top ten while Spain and South Korea drop out.
FOOD · MAPPED
Which Countries Drink the Most Beer Per Person? Czechia, by a Wide MarginCzechs drink about 134 litres of beer per person a year, more than any other country in FAO's food balance sheets whose figure another source supports. Lithuania, Ireland and Austria follow; China drinks the most in total.
FARMING · MAPPED
Which Countries Have More Sheep Than People? Mongolia Leads, Not New ZealandFAO's 2024 livestock counts and UN population figures put ten countries above one sheep per person, the last two, Libya and Mali, by a whisker. They are led by Mongolia (7.05), New Zealand (4.52) and Australia (2.97). Count territories and the Falkland Islands top everything, with about 121 sheep for every resident.
PLANET · MAPPED
Which Countries Have the Highest Mountains? Every Nation's Summit, Continent by ContinentWe took every sovereign state's highest point from Wikidata and checked each height against the CIA World Factbook. Nepal and China share Everest at the top, nine Asian countries top 7,000 m, and Argentina's Aconcagua leads the rest of the world.
RESOURCES · MAPPED
Which Countries Produce the Most Diamonds? Russia by the Carat, Namibia by the StoneUSGS figures for 2024 put Russia first with 36.9 million carats, twice Botswana's 17.7 million. Value tells another story: Kimberley Process data value Namibia's stones at $417 a carat and Congo's at $10.84.
FOOD · MAPPED
Which Country Produces the Most Rice? India Has Overtaken ChinaFAO's 2024 figures put India first with 217.9 million tonnes of paddy to China's 207.5 million; mainland China had led every year from 1961, when FAO's records begin, to 2022. USDA's milled-rice series agrees. The story from the Green Revolution to the crossover, with every country's data.
FOOD · MAPPED
Countries That Drink the Most Coffee: Five Myths Tested Against the DataFAO's food balance sheets put Laos, Estonia and Lithuania above Finland, but every country ahead of it shrinks to under 70% of FAO's figure in a second source. Finland's 12.5 kg holds up; the United States drinks the most in total.
ENERGY · RANKED
Countries That Produce the Most Oil, and How the Top Spot Changed Hands Since 1980In 2025 the United States produced 13.6 million barrels of crude a day, more than Russia (9.9 million) and Saudi Arabia (9.6 million), according to the US Energy Information Administration. Count every petroleum liquid and the US produces more than twice as much as anyone else. Here is how the ranking changed hands, era by era, since 1980.
FOOD · MAPPED
Countries That Produce the Most Sugar, and Why Cane and Beet Split the MapUSDA's May 2026 estimate for 2025/26 puts Brazil first with 43.8 million tonnes of sugar (raw value), India second with 30.0 million and China and Thailand next. Cane gives 78% of world sugar and beet the rest, from two very different belts of the map.
FOOD · RANKED
Countries That Produce the Most Wine, Then and Now: 1961 vs 2025Italy produced 44.4 million hectolitres of wine in 2025, France 36.1 and Spain 28.7, per the OIV: the same top three as in 1961. Below them Algeria and the Soviet Union left the table, the Americas, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa went from 16.6% of world output to about 30%, and 2024 was the smallest harvest since 1961.
ENERGY · MAPPED
Countries With the Most Natural Gas, Mapped From the Gulf to SiberiaRussia, Iran and Qatar hold 51% of the world's proved natural gas, and the Persian Gulf and former Soviet Union together 70%. Yet the United States produced 25% of the world's gas in 2024, while all of North America holds 7.6% of reserves.
ENERGY · CHARTED
Countries With the Most Oil Reserves, and Why Nobody Agrees on the CountVenezuela leads with 303.7 billion barrels of proved reserves at the end of 2025 by OPEC's count, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Iran, with Canada fourth on its own government's figures. But about three-quarters of Venezuela's total and most of Canada's is extra-heavy oil or bitumen that standard counts left out until the 2000s, and seven OPEC members reported the same figure five years running.
SPACE · CHARTED
Countries With the Most Satellites: The Ranking From Sputnik to StarlinkOn 9 October 2026 the United States owned 12,926 of the 16,732 working satellites in Earth orbit, 11,099 of them Starlink. China (1,411), the United Kingdom (743), Russia (359) and Japan (132) follow. At every year-end from 1976 to 1991 the Soviet Union had more working satellites than the US.
TRAVEL · RANKED
Countries With the Most Tourists: 2019 Against 2025, Country by CountryFrance (about 102 million, an Atout France estimate) and Spain (96.8 million, INE) led the world in 2025. Japan is a third above 2019; Thailand and the United States are still well below it. Official figures from 12 countries, with what each one actually counts.
CITIES · MAPPED
Fastest Urbanizing Countries: Nepal, Malawi and China Show Why the Answer Depends on the RulerUN figures for 2000 to 2025 give two different answers. Counting each country's own urban areas, Nepal, Equatorial Guinea, Thailand, Türkiye and China rose fastest. On the UN's harmonised grid, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea and Malawi lead, while Malawi's own count barely moved.
CITIES · CHARTED
Highest Cities in the World: A Climb from 2,000 m to La Paz–El AltoWe placed every city of 100,000+ people in the UN's 2025 database on NASA's elevation model. La Paz–El Alto comes out on top at 4,066 m where its people are centred, followed by Potosí, Juliaca, Puno, Oruro and Lhasa; Quito is the next city of a million.
CITIES · MAPPED
India vs China: Which Country Has the Most Cities Over a Million?UN data released in November 2025 count 79 million-plus cities in India and 72 in China, with the United States third on 24. China's census counts 105. Here is why the two methods disagree, and where the UN projects the next 109 will appear by 2050.
PLANET · COMPARED
Largest Islands in the World, Measured From the Map UpWe measured every island on Natural Earth's 1:10m map on the same equal-area basis. Greenland (2.11 million km²) leads New Guinea and Borneo; Australia, 3.6 times bigger, counts as a continent. Where the map and the survey offices disagree, we show both.
WATER · COMPARED
The Largest Man-Made Lakes in the World, by Area and by VolumeTwo rankings of the world's biggest reservoirs from the Global Dam Watch database: Lake Volta leads on surface area, Lake Kariba on volume, and Lake Victoria is left out because its dam only regulates a natural lake.
FOOD · CHARTED
Which Countries Grow the Most Tea? China, India, Kenya and a Close Race for FourthFAO's 2024 figures put China first with 16.26 million tonnes of fresh tea leaf, then India and Kenya. National made-tea counts agree on the top three; Sri Lanka and Türkiye swap fourth and fifth depending on the measure.
FARMING · MAPPED
Which Countries Have the Most Cattle? Brazil's Herd, India's Buffaloes and Uruguay's Lead per PersonFAO's 2024 livestock counts put Brazil first with 238.2 million cattle, ahead of India (194.8 million), the United States, Ethiopia and China. Count buffaloes and India leads with 307.1 million. Per person, Uruguay leads with 3.53 head each, one of ten countries with more cattle than people.
PLANET · MAPPED
Which Country Sits Highest? Average Elevation of 187 Countries, MeasuredWe averaged every 1.85 km grid cell of land in NOAA's ETOPO 2022 relief model. Tajikistan comes first at 2,964 m, Bhutan second at 2,828 m and Kyrgyzstan third, and six countries average more than 2,000 m. The Factbook's figures for Bhutan and Nepal turn out to be well off.
ENERGY · RANKED
Countries That Generate the Most Solar Power: 2025, Counted Down From 15 to 1China made 1,173 TWh of solar electricity in 2025, about 42% of the world's and more than the next 11 countries combined. The United States, India, Japan and Germany follow. Counted by share of electricity, the order of these 15 changes: Spain, Pakistan, the Netherlands and Australia each get about a fifth of their power from the sun.
FOOD · MAPPED
Countries That Produce the Most Coffee, From Brazil's Half to Vietnam's RiseFAO figures for 2024 put Brazil first with 3.39 million tonnes of green coffee and Vietnam second with 2.02 million. In 1961 Brazil grew half the world's coffee and Vietnam 4,100 tonnes; Vietnam passed Colombia in 1999.
PEOPLE · MAPPED
Countries With the Highest Population Density: The Myths and the 2026 DataMonaco is the world's most densely populated country in 2026, with about 18,300 people per square kilometre of land on UN population projections and FAO land areas. Macao, a territory, is denser still. Among countries of 10 million or more, Bangladesh is the most crowded by a wide margin, at about 1,370 per km².
PLANET · MAPPED
Countries With the Most Glaciers, and the Two Losing the Most IceChina counts 48,535 glaciers, more than any other country, but Canada holds 26% of the world's glacier area. Fifty years of WGMS data show Canada and the United States accounting for 54% of all the glacier ice lost since 1976.
PEOPLE · MAPPED
Countries With the Most Refugees: Who Hosts Them, Where They Fled FromUNHCR's end-2025 figures put Colombia first among host countries with 2.8 million, almost all Venezuelans, ahead of Germany and Türkiye. Venezuela, Ukraine and Syria are the largest countries of origin. Count only UNHCR's refugee category, or add Palestine refugees or asylum-seekers, and the top host changes.
CITIES · MAPPED
Most Populated Cities in the World: Jakarta Now Outranks TokyoUN figures released in November 2025 put Jakarta first at 41.9 million, Dhaka second and Tokyo third. On the UN's new city definition the two were level around 2010, and Dhaka is projected to draw level with Jakarta in the late 2040s.
PEOPLE · MAPPED
Most Populated Countries in 2026, and Which Ones Have Already PeakedIndia leads the 2026 ranking with 1.48 billion people and China follows with 1.41 billion. In the UN's projections China and Russia have already peaked, India tops out in 2061, and four of the top 10 are still growing in 2100, though the US Census Bureau expects the US itself to peak around 2080.
BORDERS · CHARTED
Which Countries Have the Longest Land Borders? We Measured Every OneWe measured every land border on Natural Earth's detailed 1:10m map. China comes first with 19,039 km, 154 km ahead of Russia, followed by Brazil, Kazakhstan and the United States; Canada–US is the longest border between two countries.
WATER · MAPPED
Which Country Has the Most Dams? Three Counts, One AnswerICOLD's World Register lists 62,362 large dams, Global Dam Watch maps 41,145, and China alone counts 94,300 reservoirs. China leads both global counts, but the rest of the ranking depends on which number you trust.