The world's most (and least) corrupt countries

The world's most peaceful countries

Global Peace Index presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to date on trends in peace, including the most and least peaceful countries in the world.

The United States currently ranks number one for countries that enable the most financial secrecy

Financial secrecy refers to complex systems that make it easy for people and companies to hide assets. High levels of financial secrecy are associated with illegal activity, like drug trafficking and money laundering. Lax regulations around reporting who owns trusts, real estate, and businesses impact the United States' global financial secrecy ranking.

The world's 10 best places to live

The Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Liveability Index ranked 173 cities based on stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. The report shows an overall increase in livability scores compared to previous...

Roughly half of the world's nations are (relatively young) electoral democracies

Classifying countries by governance type involves leaning into technical systems like the Regimes of the World classification. In this data dive, see a map of the world's oldest and youngest electoral democracies, as well as liberal democracies (which are measured by the protection of minorities and checks on executive power from the legislature).

View a map of countries with the safest and most dangerous drinking water

More than a quarter of the world's population lives in water-stressed countries, and a similar number use contaminated drinking water sources, which can lead to widespread disease, according to the World Health Organization. The Environmental Performance Index shows which countries have safe drinking water.

See the increase in financial crimes globally on a map

The Global Organized Crime Index tracks annual shifts in organized crime, ranging from drug and human trafficking to financial crimes. The map shows crime levels for each country, as well as a profile of the country's annual shifts.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Which countries have the fastest internet speeds?

Ever wonder about how fast internet speeds are around the world? Take a look at this graphic which lists out the countries with the highest mobile internet speeds in 2023. Countries in the Middle East and East Asia dominate the list while America lags behind in eighteenth place. Learn more about why a high-income country like the US fall behind in speed, and why other countries are internet powerhouses.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year

Analysts attribute Finland's joy factor to its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among factors. The results were based on answers from roughly 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories. Respondents were asked to rank their life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. Finnish respondents gave an average life satisfaction score of 7.7; Afghans answered 1.4. The US, in 23rd place, reported an average score of 6.8.

Ranking the world's highest paid athletes in 2022

The top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world include players from 10 sports and 24 countries. They earned $4.46 billion in total income, including $3.24 billion in salary and prize money, as well…

The most expensive EU countries

Among countries in the European Union, Luxembourg has the highest prices (52% higher than the EU average). Romania seems like it's the cheapest option in the EU at 46% below the EU average. Want to see how other countries such as Italy, France and Germany rank? Explore this color-coded map to learn more.

How life ranks in South Korea

As South Korea developed over the last half of the 20th century, quality of life soared. The country now outperforms the world average when it comes to education, health, and civic engagement, according to the OECD’s Better Life Index. In this dashboard, you can see where South Korea ranks in terms of housing, jobs, income, and more, and compare it against other developed countries.

Geneva, Switzerland, has some of the highest grocery prices worldwide

Other cities that made the top 20 on the list of the global cities with the highest grocery prices around the world include Boston, Hong Kong, and Toronto, at least as of 2025.

States with the highest (and lowest) tax rates

WalletHub researchers evaluated not just income taxes but real estate, sales, and other levies in order to rank every state by its total effective local and state tax rate (not including federal). Alaska scored the lowest total tax rate and Illinois...

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.

China reports the highest prevalence of hearing loss and South Africa reports the lowest

This conclusion comes from research published in 2025 that analyzed self-reported hearing loss and hearing aid use from long-term studies that covered 28 countries. Its findings included that the countries with the greatest prevalence of hearing loss (China, South Korea, Mexico, and Brazil) also had the lowest levels of hearing aid use.

Major scandals have undermined the reputation of the Olympics

With billions in public money in play and the high stakes of winning gold for one's country, the Olympics have had their fair share of scandals. This Global Investigative Journalism Network list highlights eight groundbreaking investigations by journalists about the Olympics. It includes the 2014 Russian doping scandal, venue corruption in Rio, and the decadeslong cycle of sexual abuse by an Olympic doctor.

Norway operates the largest SWF in the world—managing more than $2T in assets

The fund is considered the gold standard SWF because of its transparency around investments, politically independent governance, and strong ethical boundaries that serve as the backbone of the investment philosophy. For example, fund managers will not invest in coal, tobacco, or nuclear weapons, because these investments are considered harmful to humanity.

Global support for free speech and press freedom has declined since 2019

A 2025 Pew Research survey found that the share of people worldwide who consider free speech and press freedom important has declined over the past several years, even though majorities in most countries still say these rights matter.

Compare how justice ministries and courts are structured around the world

The Federal Judicial Center's "Judiciaries Worldwide" series provides clear and accessible comparisons of how various countries organize their justice ministries, prosecutors, courts, and judicial councils—emphasizing global models of independence, oversight, and institutional structure.

Mapping Claude's relative usage worldwide, led by Israel, Singapore, and the US

According to Anthropic's AI Usage Index, the US leads in total users, but Israel and Singapore have higher adoption rates among their working populations. Excluding nations with insufficient numbers of conversations for analysis, Tanzania and Angola rank last in the index.

A 2025 study explored the common words to describe body odor across 17 countries

The work identified the 25 most frequent words used to describe body odors across languages, ranked by frequency, and found that "sweaty" topped the list, followed by "sour" and "stinky."

Why some nations reach economic success and others don’t

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson, were honored for their compelling research on the factors that influence a nation’s prosperity. Spanning two decades, their work presents insights into how societal organization can explain the income discrepancies between different countries. In general, their research shows that economic success favors more free and open societies. Listen for more fascinating insights.

10 ways that Saudi Arabia violates human rights

This article outlines the ways Saudi Arabia is violating human rights. Saudi Arabia is among the world’s top executioners, employing torture both while in police custody and as a punishment following unfair trials. In addition, Saudi Arabian...

How drug trafficking undermines West Africa

The rise of drug trafficking is undermining institutions, public health, and development efforts in West Africa. According to the West African Commission on Drugs, civil wars have receded, democracy has gained ground, and economies are growing in...

The top 200 most common passwords—you probably shouldn't use

Many people use the same weak passwords year after year. Check out the 2022 list of top 200 most common passwords used around the world.

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

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

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

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

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

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

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.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

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.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

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.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.