About GlobeChart

Last reviewed on 2026-04-27.

What GlobeChart is

GlobeChart is an independent, ad-supported reference site. It collects public statistical datasets — from the World Bank, IMF, UN, OECD, IEA, IRENA, FAO, WHO, UNCTAD and similar institutional publishers — and turns them into clear charts and short explanatory pages organized around ten topic areas: economy, global trade, CO₂ emissions, energy, poverty, health, education, population, food & agriculture, and technology.

The goal is narrow and unglamorous: make it easy for a curious reader to look up a topic, see what the headline numbers actually look like, and follow a clean trail back to the original publisher.

Who the site is for

The intended reader is a non-specialist who wants a quick, well-cited orientation: a student writing an essay, a journalist sketching out an article, a teacher preparing a lesson, a policy analyst beginning a desk review, or simply anyone who saw a number quoted somewhere and wants to check whether the picture is more interesting than the headline.

GlobeChart is not a replacement for the underlying data publisher. Where a number really matters for a decision, we link to the source so you can read the methodology and any caveats in the publisher’s own words.

Topic areas

• Economy & finance — GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, stock markets.
• Global trade — flows by region, agreements, barriers, supply chains, digital trade.
• CO₂ emissions — by country and sector, historical totals, intensity, carbon budgets.
• Energy — generation, consumption, fossil fuels, renewables, transition.
• Poverty — extreme and multidimensional poverty, regional trends, SDG-1 progress.
• Health — life expectancy, maternal health, healthcare spending, disease burden.
• Education — literacy, enrollment, learning outcomes, gender gaps, spending.
• Population — growth, urbanization, migration, fertility, aging.
• Food & agriculture — crop yields, production, prices, water scarcity, hunger.
• Technology — internet access, smartphones, social media, AI adoption, digital divide.

Editorial approach

Each topic page collects the headline indicators and a short explanation of what they measure. The aim is general knowledge — definitions, rough orders of magnitude, common comparisons — rather than novel analysis or proprietary forecasting. We do not run our own surveys, manufacture new data, or publish opinion pieces.

Where indicators are contested (different poverty lines, different price-deflator choices, different trade-flow conventions), we try to flag the disagreement plainly rather than pick a side. Where a number depends on a year, we say which year. Where data has been revised, we update the chart and the citation rather than freezing an old figure.

How content is produced

1. An indicator is selected from a public dataset because it is widely cited and reasonably well documented.
2. The data is normalized into a consistent format and rendered with the open-source Chart.js library so every page looks the same.
3. Short explanatory text is drafted from the publisher’s methodology notes plus widely-accepted reference material.
4. The page is reviewed end-to-end before publication; the headline footer carries a “Last reviewed” date.
5. Pages are revisited when the underlying dataset is refreshed or when readers report a problem.

Pages do not carry bylines because no claim of original authorship is being made; the content is a curated digest of the cited sources. Corrections are welcome at [email protected].

Data sources we draw on

• World Bank — World Development Indicators, Poverty & Inequality Platform.
• IMF — World Economic Outlook, fiscal monitors.
• United Nations — population division, SDG indicators, human-development reports (UNDP).
• OECD — economic, education, and environmental statistics.
• IEA & IRENA — energy mix, electricity, renewables.
• FAO — agriculture, food, hunger and malnutrition (FAOSTAT).
• WHO & UNICEF — health, child welfare, vaccination.
• UNCTAD & World Shipping Council — trade flows, container throughput.
• OPHI — multidimensional poverty index.

Each chart names the specific dataset under it. Original data remains the property of the respective publishers and is reused under each publisher’s open-data terms.

Funding and independence

GlobeChart is funded by display advertising — primarily Google AdSense. Advertising pays for hosting and the time it takes to keep pages current; it does not influence which indicators we cover or how we present them. We do not accept paid placements, sponsored content, or commissions for traffic to specific advertisers. Editorial decisions and ad slots are kept separate.

Limitations to be aware of

• Public statistics are revised. A chart that was correct on the day of review may be slightly out of date if the publisher releases a new vintage.
• Country-level data for some indicators is sparse, especially in low-income regions. Regional aggregates can hide large within-region variation.
• This is general reference material, not professional financial, medical, legal or policy advice. See the disclaimer for details.

Get in touch

Corrections, suggestions, or questions about a specific page: [email protected]. Privacy enquiries: [email protected]. See also the contact page, the privacy policy, and the terms of use.