The Data Bulletin

Well-being

How long people live, whether they have enough to eat and drink, whether their children survive and whether they have housing, from the WHO, the World Bank and the OECD.

Life Expectancy

Life expectancy at birth

Years a newborn can expect to live if today's death rates held for life, both sexes, for the world.

    Source: WHOSIS_000001, World Health Organization Global Health Observatory. Annual.

    About This Data
    Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn would live if the age-specific death rates of that year applied for its whole life. The WHO estimates it for every member state from national death registration and, where registration is incomplete, from surveys and models. The dashed line is the world; each added country gets its own line.

    Food

    Undernourishment

    Share of the world's people whose usual food intake falls short of the calories they need.

    Source: SN.ITK.DEFC.ZS, FAO via the World Bank. Annual.

    About This Data
    The prevalence of undernourishment is the FAO's estimate of the share of people whose habitual food consumption is below the energy needed for a normal, active life. It is modeled from food balance sheets and household surveys, and published as three-year averages centered on the year shown.

    Food insecurity

    Share of the world's people facing moderate or severe food insecurity.

    Source: SN.ITK.MSFI.ZS, FAO via the World Bank. Annual.

    About This Data
    Food insecurity is measured with the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, eight survey questions about running out of food, skipping meals and worrying about food. Moderate means uncertain access and compromised quality or quantity; severe means going without food. The series starts in 2014, the first year of the survey.

    Children

    Child mortality

    Deaths before age five per 1,000 live births, for the world.

    Source: MDG_0000000007, World Health Organization Global Health Observatory. Annual.

    About This Data
    The under-five mortality rate is the probability that a child born in the year dies before reaching age five, expressed per 1,000 live births. The estimates come from the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, which combines vital registration, censuses and household surveys.

    Water

    Renewable freshwater per person

    Cubic meters of renewable freshwater from rivers and aquifers inside a country's borders, per person per year. The world average is the dashed line.

      Source: ER.H2O.INTR.PC, FAO AQUASTAT via the World Bank. Annual.

      About This Data
      Renewable internal freshwater resources are the long-term average flow of rivers and recharge of aquifers generated by rainfall within a country, excluding water flowing in from neighbors. Dividing by population gives the amount available per person; the figure falls as populations grow even when the water does not change. Each country shows its latest published year.

      Housing

      Homelessness, reported counts

      People counted as homeless in the United States in the 2023 count, per 1,000 residents. Each bar below is that country's own most recent official count.

        Source: curated from OECD Affordable Housing Database, indicator HC3.1, July 20, 2026.

        About This Data
        Countries count differently and in different years: some count households rather than people, and New Zealand's broad definition includes severely crowded housing. Bars are in alphabetical order.