An updated, comprehensive tracker of global inflation

Inflation explained in under 3 minutes

Keep seeing inflation in the news, but don't have a great grasp on what it means or how it works? This overview from 1440 breaks down how economists think about inflation, what it means for the average consumer, and how governments attempt to keep rising prices in check through various policies.

Check the current Consumer Price Index

The Consumer Price Index is a metric that attempts to capture price changes felt by consumers by averaging a basket of about 80,000 items, each weighted to reflect the impact of changes on households.

See how much key commodities are trading for in real time

This tracker shows the current price of common commodities such as crude oil, lumber, nickel, and many more, as well as how much these prices have fluctuated over the past day, year, week, and month.

Visualizing 40 years of interest rates

The history of interest rates are a proxy of macroeconomic conditions, with higher interest rates indicating periods of decline requiring artificial central stimulation. In a series of charts illustrating rates and their background conditions, you can see the movement of the economy over a forty-year period ending in 2020. Dive into the data here.

Visualizing $102T of global debt

Which countries have the most debt? And how does it stack up against their gross domestic product? This visualization, based on data from the International Monetary Fund’s October 2024 outlook, has answers.

Mapping projected food inflation across the world in 2026

Iran tops the list of hardest-hit countries with a projected 56% inflation on food prices in 2026, followed by Argentina (33%) and Turkey (25%). In the opposite direction is Niger, whose food inflation is expected to drop 18% as a result of strong harvests and financial stabilization. The global average of food inflation is expected to be 3%.

A nuanced break down of how tariffs are impacting prices

As tariffs have increased to their highest levels since the 1930s, economists have kept a close eye on retail prices. This chart and accompanying explainer shows correlations between key tariff announcements and news and the costs of roughly 350,000 goods from five major retailers.

The Federal Reserve targets 2% inflation

It’s an arbitrary number originating from an offhand comment made by a New Zealand policymaker. The real objective is to maintain predictable prices for businesses and families to plan around while avoiding the dangers of deflation.

How global conditions have improved over 200 years

In an era of 24-hour news, it can feel as if the world is on a perpetual downward spiral. This set of visualizations zoom out, and show how global living conditions have improved in recent centuries. The percentage of people living in extreme...

US cities where inflation is rising the most

WalletHub compared 22 major metropolitan areas to see how inflation has risen in the last year using the Consumer Price Index, which describes the average cost of a basket of goods. As of April 2024, Honolulu, Hawaii, clocked in with the greatest year-over-year change in prices, with inflation close to 5%. See the full list here.

Worldwide cryptocurrency heists tracker

A look at the biggest cryptocurrency heists, be they from an exchange, smart contract, or a business, including amounts, methods, reparations, and consequences.

Discover trends in Earth's climate system: What are indicators of climate change?

A comprehensive deep dive tracking components of the climate system over time, such as temperature, sea level, sea ice amounts, ocean heat, greenhouse gases, and more (w/charts and graphs).

Explore the state of religious freedom around the world

This interactive tool visualizes government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion across countries worldwide. It enables users to compare nations and monitor changes over time.

Visual deep dive into the collapse of insects

The most diverse group of organisms on the planet are in trouble, with recent research suggesting insect populations are declining at an unprecedented rate. Explore this visual interactive on the issue from Reuters Graphics.

Explore US public health data

This resource tracks key US health metrics, including mortality causes, child survival rates, and life expectancy comparisons, to inform future health improvements, with regularly updated global estimates.

An eye-opening interactive journey into the global drug trade

POPPY Interactive reveals how drug money destabilizes entire countries, fuels global conflicts, and allows a worldwide illegal economy to grow. Navigating the site involves diving into three major routes—the Northern Route, the Balkan Route, and...

Forecasting worldwide 5G adoption and economics

A collection of 10 regional reports from the world on all things 5G, including key trends and a range of technology, socioeconomic, and financial datasets, including forecasts out to 2025. Data charts and graphics included.

The men’s underwear index predicts recessions based on men’s underwear sales

Internet users have been using some nontraditional indicators to predict whether a recession is imminent, including the return of so-called “recession pop.”

Track how college tuition has changed over the years across different types of institutions

The dramatic rise in the cost of higher education has a number of causes, ranging from increased number of students to administrative expansion at institutions. Even when accounting for inflation, the cost to pursue a degree has tripled over the past six decades. See data from the National Center for Education Statistics breaking out costs by institution type and year.

A statistical breakdown of the global film industry

Dive into this collection of stats and infographics explaining the current state of both Hollywood and the global film industry. The page covers a variety of topics, including independent film production, box office revenue, global film markets, movie-going demographics and more. It also addresses the relatively new phenomenon of home video streaming.

See the news with AI-generated data visualizations

Realtime uses generative AI to create immediate data visualizations of news items on its regularly-updated feed, pulling from public data feeds. Peruse stories around sports, economics, politics, and more with the helpful aid of charts and graphs. See the shape of the news with this clever AI tool here.

An interactive periodic table maps every possible combination of cheese variables

Plotting milk type, texture, rind, mold, aging, and processing as intersecting axes, the tool shows which combinations already exist as named cheeses, which survive only as rare regional styles, and which remain entirely unexplored.

How companies track you around the internet, explained

Being able to track how users behave on websites is a massive opportunity for companies to hone their products, target their ads, and more. Dozens of trackers are on the average website you visit, depending on how you deal with that site's cookie policy, and Google is the chief tracker of them all. Learn about these companies and what they are tracking with this informative blog visualization.

What issues Americans are prioritizing in 2022

Inflation, Crime, and Abortion—see a breakdown of voter preferences by age, race, and gender, along with what topics are top of mind for Americans.

Stratospheric balloons: a visual guide

In late January 2023, a Chinese high-altitude balloon, believed to be for surveillance purposes, traversed the US and caused a diplomatic stir. The technology itself is established—though typically used for atmospheric measurements. This visual...

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Explore our favorite visualization of the immense scale of space, from an astronaut to the size of the observable universe

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.