![]() ![]() On Our World in Data we provide thousands of measures that try to capture these many different dimensions, covering topics such as biodiversity, pollution, time use, human rights and democracy.Įconomic growth is, however, central to shaping people's overall living conditions. Of course, economic growth does not reflect everything we value. In some countries, the quantity and quality of the goods and services underpinning these outcomes grew substantially over the past two centuries in others, they did not. Similarly, the history of economic growth is also the history of how large global inequalities emerged – in nutrition, health, education, basic infrastructure, and many other dimensions. The work of historians shows this was not the case in the past. In places that have seen substantial economic growth, few now go without food, almost all have access to education, and parents rarely suffer the loss of a child. The history of economic growth is, therefore, the history of how societies left widespread poverty behind. Humanity can navigate this tempest to assure a more resilient, sustainable planet, but the window grows smaller by the day.Good health, nutrition, a place to live, education… Many of the things we care most about require goods and services produced by people: the care that nurses and doctors give the food we eat the homes we live in the education that teachers provide.Įconomic growth means an increase in the quantity or quality of the many goods and services that people produce. ![]() The upside is that there is still an opportunity to make drastic and lasting structural change. Leaders must step up to extinguish the flames right now, or else humanity faces dire potential ramifications for ignoring so many warning signs. So many places throwing sparks threatens to create a conflagration. The hard times spread the social fabric thin, but this is the mildest of consequences. The complexity that led to thriving 21st century consumer markets is wobbling at multiple weak junctures and the global economy is suffering from interconnected maladies that lead to food and commodity shortages, leaner wallets, and less goods available. In turn, it’s much more expensive to ship what’s been harvested to textile factories in Southeast Asia. Megadroughts in West Texas sap product from the plant. Cotton is also suffering this supply side nightmare, leading to doubled prices in the last two years. Roasters are ripping through reserve inventories as stockpiles dwindle to their lowest levels in two decades. Arabica beans makeup 60% of the world’s traded coffee, but it’s more difficult to deliver them across continents with supply chain turmoil and almost absurd freight costs. Bloomberg notes that dry weather in Brazil has led Arabica bean prices to more than double over the past year. ![]() and continuing low water levels across the world are pushing corn prices up. In concert with the above factors, a decades-long megadrought in the western U.S. According to Axios, the grain’s price also spiked after India announced a mid-May ban on wheat exports to combat its own rising prices and demand for the commodity. A staple found in a huge variety of foods, a lower wheat supply leads to higher grocery bills. ![]() This is what will happen when Ukraine, the “breadbasket of Europe,” comes under attack. Up over 110% in the last two years, this conflict has had a debilitating effect on wheat prices as well. Russia produces more oil than all but two other countries, and now this flow is slowing to a trickle as European sanctions escalate. Prices began to stabilize in early 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Prices shot up throughout the second half of 2021 when vaccines become more available and people were again able to travel. Gas prices bottomed out at $1.78 per gallon in May 2020 as most of the planet shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Why has fossil fuel jumped so much? An almost unprecedented combination of economic forces and geopolitical actions, the economy’s rapid post-pandemic recovery, and a huge oil producer deciding to attack its agricultural neighbor. As of June 13, prices averaged $5 per gallon, which meant it’s now $73 to fill up the same car (and even more if you live in California). Energy Information Association indicates that retail gas prices averaged $2.58 two-and-a-half years ago, which meant that filling up a midsize sedan cost around $38. Using data from several leading economic evaluators (including Morningstar and Bloomberg), DataIsBeautiful created a bar graph that animates two-and-a-half of falling and frighteningly rising prices for 10 critical commodities.ĭataIsBeautiful’s moving graph ends at an astounding 233.5% rise in prices at the pump since January 2020. We can throw out statistics all day, but Reddit user DataIsBeautiful helps visualize how much more raw goods like cotton, corn, wheat, oil, and gas cost since 2020. ![]()
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